Apple Inc. (AAPL) News: iPhone Rumors, Direct-to-Customer, Decreased Price Objective & More

Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple iPhone 5S Rumors: Release Date Coming This Fall With Faster A7 Chip, Enhanced Specs; iPhone 6 To Follow Suit? (IBTimes)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may have plans to release two new iPhone models this year, but only the highest-end iPhone in 2013, the alleged iPhone 5S, has convincing photos to corroborate rumors about the next-gen smartphone. After MacRumors received a pair of photos of the alleged iPhone 5S rear and inside specs, the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rumors site posted additional photos of the iPhone 5S that not only line up with the previously leaked photos, but also further illustrate the differences between last year’s iPhone 5 and this year’s iPhone 5 successor in terms of specs and components.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple’s Jordan Hubbard Joins iXsystems (BroadwayWorld)
iXsystems, Inc. is delighted to welcome Jordan Hubbard, former Director of UNIX Technology at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), as Chief Technical Officer. Hubbard will lead engineering and development at iXsystems, take the reins of FreeNAS (the wildly popular open source storage platform) and work to bring the TrueNAS Unified Storage Appliance to a wider audience by adding new capabilities, such as object storage, simpler cloud integration, and high-performance real-time data deduplication, to name a few. He will also work to create future products and services which better serve the needs of emerging enterprise and consumer markets.

Apple Begins Direct-to-Customer Selling in Russia (AAPL) (Dividend)
On Wednesday it was reported that tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is beginning to sell directly to customers in one of the key emerging markets, Russia. Apple launched its online Apple store in Russia, giving the company a direct selling ability to Russian consumers. Previously, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products like the iPhone or iPad were only available to consumers through third-party retailers. Many analysts expect that Apple will soon open up physical Apple retail stores in the country. Apple shares were down $1.29, or 0.32%, during morning trading on Wednesday. The stock is down 24.06% year-to-date.

Apple PT Lowered to $460.00 (AAPL) (WatchListNews)
Stock analysts at Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from $480.00 to $460.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Stock Ratings Network reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.25% from the stock’s previous close. The analysts wrote, “mixed” Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) opened at 402.63 on Tuesday. Apple has a 52-week low of $385.10 and a 52-week high of $705.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $431.. The company has a market cap of $377.9 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61.