Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, said today that the purchase had been made, while declining to elaborate. The statement confirmed a December report from in the Israeli newspaper Cacalist.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Dowling said in a telephone interview.

A credible purchase price has not been revealed, but reports suggest that Apple paid anywhere from $400-500 million for Anobit. It is also reported that Anobit operates key flash memory controllers for the iPad and iPhone. It can be assumed that Apple acquired Anobit for control over the in-house production of iPhone and iPad flash memory.

Apple currently develops its own low power A5 chip in house, but acquires parts from other companies such as Samsung. With Anobit, Apple would have far more control over speed, production, and manufacturing of the flash memory for both iOS devices and Macbook Air.

{via MacRumors}

This is outlined on the Nasdaq’s own site quite succinctly:

Nasdaq decided to enact a special rebalance in order to bring the weights of the index securities closer in line with their actual market capitalizations.

Unfortunately this rebalancing will mean that Apple’s share of the index will drop to around 12.33 percent from its current share of 20.49. In real terms Apple is still a hugely profitable company, with massive market growth, experiencing undeniable success with its iOS ecosystem (which includes the iPod touch, iPad, iPad 2 and iPhone), as well as the increasing growth of its OS X based workstations and portable Macintosh computers – partly driven by a “Halo” effect of Apple’s success with iOS devices.

For those of you that are interested this is a brief description of what the Nasdaq-100 is, from Wikipedia:

The NASDAQ-100 is a stock market index of 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ. It is a modified capitalization-weighted index. The companies’ weights in the index are based on their market capitalizations, with certain rules capping the influence of the largest components. It does not contain financial companies, and includes companies incorporated outside the United States. Both of those factors differentiate it from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the exclusion of financial companies distinguishes it from the S&P 500 Index.

But this re-scaling is sure to cause volatility in trades in Apple’s shares (AAPL) in coming days, and has already caused a drop from just above $340 per share today to the mid to high $330s. Ironically Microsoft and Google have benefited in this re-indexing of the Nasdaq-100. The latter certainly being more deserving than the latter with its continued growth of its own mobile Android based eco-system. Where as Microsoft seems to be stalled in its attempts to grow both of its smartphone and search products.

On the flip side, most analysts are still listing AAPL as a $400+ share moving forwards. So frankly this period of uncertainty might be a good time to pick up some AAPL, if you haven’t already. And if you already have some I’d hang on to them.

The beginning of the end for Apple? Or more stock market shenanigans? Have your say in the comments…

It is well known that Apple has granted some preferential treatment to a few high profile companies (including The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and digital magazine newsstand Zinio) to publish to the iPad, bypass Apple’s usual cut, and take consumer subscriptions directly. But by and large Apple has made most periodicals sell a retail “e-zine” as a monthly stand alone product.

One of the advantages that selling direct to consumers (i.e. you and me), and more importantly being able to solicit subscriptions directly, is that any outlet doing so keeps a treasure trove of user data to use in future marketing efforts. Apple, to date as we reported last week, has been quite protective of its users personal info, and this is still a sticking point between many publishers and Apple.

However, with Apple obviously willing to float projects that are not completely finished (like the new AppleTV) in order to grow a market place, they feel it is a vacuum waiting for either them or their rivals to expand into. Media outlets are failing dismally with their efforts to conquer (or rather kill) the free web and it seems that the potential threat of other manufacturers offering better deals to these media outlets next year, may just be enough to push these two sides together and force a deal through sooner rather than later.

It’s also possible, of course, that those media outlets think that selling to over 160 Million iTunes users is worth giving 30% of their revenues away for, and forgoing some user data. The WSJ theorizes that in any case publishers will soon find ways to get their user’s data, by simply offering incentives like free Sunday editions of their products for the keys to their personal lives!

Either way, iPad Subscriptions, and ultimately iPhone and iPod Touch subscriptions are just around the corner…

Are you looking forward to daily news deliveries to your iOS device? Or do you get that already with Mobile Safari?
Have your say in the comments…

Adjusting the figures from last year Apple generated about $2.00 per share, on revenues of around $10 Billion. This year the prediction is for $3.00 per share and revenues of $15 Billion.

This new accounting practice may be one reason that the markets have seen AAPL slide back to almost $240 per share today. Another may still be uncertainty over the iPhone 4 reception issue.

For those who want to listen in there is a live webcast of the event.

WEBCAST: Apple will provide live audio streaming of its FY 10 Third Quarter Results Conference Call using Apple’s industry-leading QuickTime® multimedia software. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 20, 2010 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq310/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. Viewers simply need a copy of QuickTime, available for download from www.apple.com/quicktime, to listen to the conference call.

Are you expecting Apple to beat analysts expectations or fall short? Make your guess in the comments…