Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Apple bond sale attracts wide response as CEO looks to appease shareholders (The Guardian)
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched a new product on Tuesday: the iBond. And it looks set to attract the sort of frenzy once reserved for past hits including the iPad and the iPhone. The tech giant started the process of selling billions of dollars in bonds in what may amount to the largest bond sale ever. By noon in New York the bond sale, Apple’s first in close to two decades, looked to have attracted at least three times the money the company was seeking. Apple chief executive Tim Cook made the move as the company attempts to appease shareholders unhappy with slowing sales and a plummeting share price. Last week Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) pledged to hand back $100bn to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), feels very confident about its newest smartphones, especially the BlackBerry Q10. The company jumped to its highest level in more than a month, after BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said he expects the new Q10 smartphone to sell “tens of millions” of units. “We have very, very good first signs already after the launch in the UK,” Heins told Bloomberg on Thursday, April 29, referring to the new QWERTY smartphone running on BlackBerry 10 OS. “This is going into the installed base of more than 70 million Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) users so we have quite some expectations. We expect several tens of millions of units.”
Google Inc (GOOG): How Austin Just Received a Dose of Fiber (Insider Monkey)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has recently expanded its fiber-network footprint to Austin, Texas. Google’s fiber role out to its second city has definitely gotten attention from other ISPs. Google Inc offers up to seven years of free Internet to residents, who can then upgrade for a cost of $70, add in cable and it comes to $120. Just after Google fiber was announced, Dallas-based AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced a roll out of its own — Gigabit Internet. It seems like competition is heating up in the ISP space. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s push into the ISP business has worried the large dominant companies that provide Internet to large cities. Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) is the largest ISP in the Kansas City, MO area and has the most to lose with Google moving into the neighborhood. Time Warner even offered $50 to people in Kansas City with information on the new Google-fiber roll out.
Microsoft wants beta testers for new Win Phone Facebook app (CNET)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is seeking beta testers for a refreshed version of the official Facebook app for Windows Phone, which was developed by Microsoft in conjunction with Facebook. Microsoft officials blogged on April 30 that the company is seeking testers for the refreshed Facebook app for Windows Phone 8. The beta isn’t available via the Windows Store (to avoid confusion, according to the Softies). The refreshed Facebook app is “undergoing a major redesign,” according to the blog post, and will include several “much-requested” features, including…
