By Edwin Chan and Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc will begin selling its new watch on April 24, with the high end model starting at $10,000, the company said, rolling out its first new product in five years in a bid to extend its preeminence in mobile devices. The Apple Watch sport will start at $349 for the smaller, 38-mm model. Apple shares trimmed earlier gains and were nearly flat in mid-afternoon trade on Nasdaq.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc will delay the start of production on a larger, 12.9-inch iPad until around September because of problems involving the display panel supply, said a report by Bloomberg News citing people familiar with the company's plans as saying. Production on the bigger tablet had been scheduled to begin this quarter, Bloomberg cited one of the people as saying. (Reporting by Edwin Chan)
A year and a half ago, Apple Inc had applied for just eight patents related to auto batteries. Recently, it has hired a bevy of engineers, just one of whom had already filed for 17 in his former career, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis. The recent spate of hires and patent filings reviewed by Reuters shows that Apple is fast building its industrial lithium-ion battery capabilities, adding to evidence the iPhone maker may be developing a car. Quiet, clean electric cars are viewed in Silicon Valley and elsewhere as a promising technology for the future, but high costs and “range anxiety”, the concern that batteries will run out of power and cannot be recharged quickly, remain obstacles.
Microsoft Corp said on Monday fiscal second-quarter profit fell, in line with Wall Street's forecasts, as sluggish personal computer sales dampened demand for Windows software and the company struggled with unfavorable currency moves against the strong U.S. dollar. “While currency is a headwind for Microsoft and other large international companies, we would characterize the headline numbers as good enough, although some bulls may have been hoping for a bigger beat,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. Microsoft reported profit of $5.86 billion, or 71 cents per share for the latest quarter, compared with $6.56 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Apple Inc won the dismissal on Thursday of a lawsuit accusing it of defrauding consumers by selling MacBook laptop computers that contained “logic boards” it knew were defective, and which routinely failed within two years. U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said the plaintiffs, Uriel Marcus and Benedict Verceles, failed to show that Apple made “affirmative misrepresentations,” despite citing online complaints and Apple marketing statements calling the laptops “state of the art” or the “most advanced” on the market. …
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – A federal judge rejected Uber Technologies Inc's bid that it not be required to disclose emails from Chief Executive Travis Kalanick in a California lawsuit accusing the popular ride-booking service of deceiving customers about how it shares tips with drivers. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's order in San Francisco was the latest setback for Uber, which has drawn criticism around the globe over whether its service complies with local licensing and safety laws and whether its drivers have been adequately vetted. Chen said a Nov. 26 ruling by U.S.