We’ve cautioned many times that Apple patents a huge number of inventions that will never see the light of day. Last year alone, the company was awarded 2,566 ‘utility’ patents–those covering actual technologies, rather than mere designs. The fact that Apple has patented something tells us absolutely nothing about its future product line.
But that didn’t stop traders going crazy yesterday over a patent awarded for a GoPro-like action camera: GoPro shares fell as much as 15% as panicking traders dumped the stock. The ‘thinking’ was that if Apple was entering the action camera market, GoPro was doomed. The slump was so dramatic that it even tripped a Nasdaq safeguard at one point, reports MarketWatch.
It’s even more absurd in this case: not only is the patent one of thousands of things that Apple probably won’t do, it isn’t even an Apple patent in the first place–it was, as Fortune notes in passing, just one of a number of patents acquired by Apple from Kodak.
Yep, if Apple really were moving into a new market, established players would indeed be sweating. But there is precisely zero evidence that Apple has any plans to move into GoPro’s territory.
For those who do heavy duty video editing and want to take advantage of the Thunderbolt 2 speeds offered in Apple’s latest Pro products, LaCie introduced some interesting new products at the 2014 NAB Show. Three new storage solutions are on tap: The LaCie 8big Rack, 5big and 2big feature industry leading speeds and the latest 6TB hard drives from Seagate. This combination of speed and capacity make these products ideal for 4K workflows. Built–in hardware RAID keeps data safe, while cutting–edge industrial design delivers user efficiency and stunning appearance. From LaCie:
LACIE 8BIG RACK
The LaCie 8big Rack Thunderbolt 2 is the company’s first Thunderbolt 2 rackmount storage solution. Compact and stylish, the LaCie 8big Rack features up to eight 6TB 7200RPM hard drives from Seagate, for an impressive 48TB in a mere 1U size. Delivering speeds of up to 1330MB/s*, it is the most powerful plug and play rackmount solution for 4K video editing.
Now featuring Thunderbolt 2 technology, hardware RAID 5 and industry–leading capacity, the new LaCie 5big is nearly two times faster — delivering speeds of up to 1050MB/s*. Thanks to Seagate’s new 6TB 7200RPM hard drives, it boasts a 20% capacity increase, which makes it the most compact 30TB storage device on the market. With these advances, the new LaCie 5big gives video professionals huge capacity and ample bandwidth for improving 4K workflows — right on the desktop. view full press release
LACIE 2BIG
The new LaCie 2big boasts a host of features including Thunderbolt 2 technology, hardware RAID and a new industrial design. Speeds of up to 420MB/s* along with two 6TB 7200RPM hard drives from Seagate make the new LaCie 2big the fastest, highest capacity dual–bay external storage solution on the market. It features USB 3.0 for compatibility with nearly any computer. Plus, its all–new industrial design sets a new standard for versatility and reliability.
The new LaCie 8big Rack, 5big and 2big join the Little Big Disk (shipping since February 2014) to create the most comprehensive Thunderbolt 2 storage range on the market. LaCie will demonstrate these products at the NAB Show in Las Vegas from April 7–10, 2014. Customers attending the show are encouraged to stop by the LaCie booth (SL9927) to see first hand how these products excel in 4K workflows. For an exclusive sneak peek of these demonstrations, watch this video filmed earlier today: www.lacie.com/nab2014
AVAILABILITY
The LaCie 8big Rack, 5big and 2big, featuring Thunderbolt 2, will be available this quarter through the LaCie online store and LaCie resellers. Pricing will be announced when the product is available for purchase.
WARRANTY
LaCie professional products are protected by a three-year limited warranty. The warranty includes complimentary web–based resources, expert in–house technical support and worldwide repair and/or replacement coverage. Warranty extension and Advance Care Option can also be purchased. For details, visit www.lacie.com/warranties.
ABOUT LACIE
LaCie, the premium brand from Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX), designs world–class external storage products for Apple®, Linux and PC users. LaCie differentiates itself with sleek design and unmatched technical performance. Find out more at www.lacie.com.
For the second time this year, Apple’s stock has dipped below $400 per share. The share price touched below $400 in April, after dropping hundreds of dollars per share from its all-time-high of over $700 in fall of 2012. This new drop follows Apple CEO Tim Cook adjusting his bonus compensation to better reflect Apple’s stock performance and several Apple executives cashing in on tens of thousands of shares. The NASDAQ, itself, is down nearly 2%, which likely plays into Apple’s drop today.
AAPL stock has been in the news a lot lately, whether it comes to Warren Buffett’s opinion on buy-backs, the issue of preferred stock, or even its teetering market cap, but a closer look at the company’s NASDAQ fluctuation over the last year oddly shows a parallel to GOOG.
The graph above illustrates both Apple and Google’s highs and lows since September 2012, and, for the most part, they clearly mirror each other. The companies notably entered the zero-sum game in December 2012 and have continued this trend to present day.
The graph above is a more micro look at 2013, and it shows, again, that Google goes up every time Apple goes down.
For a couple of seconds this morning Apple’s stock hit 600. It is currently dropping slightly, but we imagine some of you aren’t about to sell your yachts. Expand Expanding Close
Update: AAPL closed at 535.41 but is at 536.37 pushing its market cap over $500B
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Some folks noticed that shares of Apple, Inc. surged yesterday morning amid favorable market conditions. Today’s announcement of the March 7 iPad 3 unveiling has managed to push the Cupertino, Calif.-headquartered designer of shiny electronics to a new lifetime high. The Apple stock, which trades on NASDAQ under the AAPL symbol, was up nearly nine points, or more than 1.5-percent, in early afternoon trading.
Valued at $534.08 a share, the company was just shy of $500 billion in market valuation at the time of this writing. Wow, just wow. Talk about the iPad effect.
That is still below Microsoft’s $583 billion valuation from 1999, but the iPhone maker’s getting closer and closer with each passing day. AAPL first crossed the $500 a share milestone the day before Valentine’s Day. Earlier on Feb. 9, 2012, shares of Apple, Inc. passed 10 percent of all of NASDAQ value and traded at $431 a share. In addition, right following Valentine’s Day, Apple first passed the psychological $500 a share barrier. For comparison’s sake, AAPL on Steve Jobs’ Oct. 5, 2011 passing traded at $378.25.
Apple’s record-breaking holiday quarter catapulted the stock north of $500 a share for the first time, and now the company’s market size is skewing some pretty important market indices, including the S&P 500 index. Already Apple of California passed 10 percent of all of NASDAQ value and now the company won an “ex-” designation on the S&P 500 index. Beginning in 1957, S&P has published prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States through the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ. S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings increased a whopping 6.6-percent year-over-year due to Apple’s gangbuster quarter. Without Apple, S&P 500 grew only 2.8 percent (click the illustration).
The company’s share of S&P 500 now stands at 3.8-percent. For comparison’s sake, Exxon Mobil’s share of S&P 500 is 3.3-percent, Microsoft’s 1.9-percent and IBM’s 1.85-percent. This prompted institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, Wells Fargo, and UBS AG to begin publishing one version of market updates for the companies that make up the S&P 500 and the other for S&P 500 excluding Apple.
Crazy or what? Here are some more nuggets from Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Cheng:
Shares of California-based Apple broke a new record today. Image via Chronic
Shares of Apple, Inc. hit a new high this morning. Just as you thought passing 10 percent of all of NASDAQ value was too good to be true, shares of Apple continue to rise and challenge the most intrepid analyst out there. Blame it on an early-March iPad 3 launch hype, but in NASDAQ trading this morning, AAPL crossed $500 a share for a market valuation north of $460 billion. In other words, a single share of Apple now commands a higher price than an iPad 2—remarkable. It rather makes you want to bang your head against the wall for not buying shares at $7 each back in 2003.
Essentially, Apple is now worth a whopping $70 billion more than the oil giant Exxon Mobil, whose market cap stands at $397.85 billion. Moreover, BGRnoted Apple is worth more than each one of its smartphone vendor rivals combined. As of Friday’s close, the publication explained, the combined market value of Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Sony and LG is $225.36 billion, which is less than half Apple’s today valuation. Oh, and remember Apple was weeks from bankruptcy 15 years ago.
Another way to look at it: On Steve Jobs’ Oct. 5, 2011 passing, AAPL traded at $378.25. Note that Microsoft was worth $583 billion in 1999, so Apple still has some catching up to do to become the most valuable company of all time. However, Apple is still undervalued even at $500 a share. Therefore, beating Microsoft’s all-time high market valuation should be a matter of when, and not if.
Apple’s blockbuster holiday quarter sent shares to an all-time high of $431 a share, which is enough to close in on a market valuation of $400 billion. However, that was last month. Today, AAPL briefly passed a record $460 billion market cap with new historical stock price high at $493.97 a share. Exxon Mobil Corporation’s [XOM] market valuation is just $402.72 billion. Analysts featured onBloomberg Television said Apple is an “absolute phenomenon.”
Both Needham and Canaccord raised their price target for Apple shares to $620 and $650, respectively, maintaining a Buy rating on the stock. At the current market cap, Apple weighs more than 10 percent of NASDAQ and has 52 times Research In Motion’s [RIMM] valuation of just $8.45 billion.
Apple’s market capitalization is double the size of IBM and almost double the size of Microsoft [MSFT]. Heck, it is now almost the size of IBM and MSFT combined, and it surpassed the joint GOOG ($198.9 billion) and MSFT ($256.7 billion) market cap. However, some analysts still deem the company’s valuation “tepid.”
AAPL shares are trading at a relatively small loss of anywhere from 1.5-2.5% from yesterday’s close against a slightly up broader market. Overnight, shares had been down 5-6% in after hours trading on the news that Steve Jobs would be leaving his CEO role and taking the Chairman role. This morning Apple opened at 365 and at the time of this writing, Apple is heading towards yesterday’s close, at 370.
I think the truth is that Jobs resignation from the CEO role, while shocking in the short term, had been baked into the share price for a long time now. Expand Expanding Close
COMPUTERWORLD: Smart investors are paying attention to Apple’s [AAPL] rapidly expanding iOS value chain, taking strategic holdings in Apple’s component supply partners, and this last few days has seen markets whisper one name, Skyworks Solutions [SWKS] — will that company drive LTE support to iPhone and iPad 2.0?