The Iphone Blog

If you have any stock in Apple, you’re probably a very happy person right now. Not only has AAPL been performing extremely well of late, but the shares are now worth so much, that Apple is “the second-biggest company in the world by market value.”

Apple stocks climbed up to $292.76 per share, giving it a market value of $267.5 billion. That’s puts it above PetroChina at $265.5 billion, but still below Exxon Mobil Corp. By closing, Apple’s stock had slipped low enough that it went under PetroChina again, but given the share’s upward trend, I wouldn’t be surprised if the change became permanent.

Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster has boosted his price target on the stock from $371 to $390.

If you pre-ordered one of the brand spanking new, cheap, Apple TVs, then you might have received a notice saying that the charges have gone through, meaning you’ve now actually paid for the device. While they haven’t shipped out yet, they should arrive before October 1.

Or will they?

At the same time, we’re hearing reports that people who paid extra for extradited shipping are getting emails from Apple saying that they’re getting a refund for the upgraded shipping due to the possibility of delays. The email says “our records indicate that when you placed your order you paid for upgraded shipping. Due to a delay, we may have not been able to meet our delivery commitment.”

How about you? Let us know in the Apple TV Forums.

Chinese website Shanzai is reporting that the design for a new, smaller iPad is completed, and it will look similar to the iPhone 4, just larger.

Yes there will be a 7” tablet, yes it’s well underway in terms of product development and in fact it’s a finished product. Yes 5 plus different designs have been floating around to help Apple protect itself from people discovering its next product look and feel but… the final design will in fact bear more resemblance to the iPhone 4 stylings than the original iPad design.

That’s not a huge amount of information to go on, but if the newer tablets from Apple need to also include new features like cameras and buttons to accommodate apps like Facetime then it just might make sense. It also begs the question that if all these whispers come true… will the new 7” tablet from Apple make phone calls?

The rumors of a smaller iPad 2/iPad Mini have been flying thick and fast for some time. I’m hesitant to equate volume of rumors to credibility, because if that was the case, the Verizon iPhone would be on my desk right now. However, smoke, fire, all that nonsense. We’ll keep an eye on this rumor, to be sure.

[via AppleInsider]

For the first time, an officially licensed Lord of the Rings game for the iPhone will be available in the App Store, seven years after the last of the franchise hit theaters.

Gizmodo got their hands on Lord of the Rings: Middle Earth Defense, which won’t launch until sometime in December. The brief video makes the graphics and gameplay look pretty solid, and considering the developer, Glu, has released some best sellers like Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and Deer Hunter, the game should be a guaranteed win.

[via Gizmodo]

In this edition of Apps of the Week, we prepare for the “Dexter” premiere with some killer trivia, get the Bed Intruder star himself in our pockets, bring back the classic Mr. Bill just to launch him out of a cannon, and challenge our mateys to a game of Words with Pirates (LIMITED TIME!).

SnapText Expander
Price: $0.99

If you get as frustrated as we do with Apple’s consistently wrong spellcheck and autofix function while texting, this app could be a roundabout way of fixing the issue. SnapText helps train your iPhone to recognize and convert specific shorthand terms you use to send an SMS or e-mail, as well as type notes. Save a list of your shorthand terms to convert, start typing in the app, then send your text as an SMS, send it as an e-mail, or save to your clipboard to paste into your notes app. (The app should really add on a notes function to simply let the app double as a notes app, really.)

The Clients From Hell blog is a go-to frustration box for graphic designers to submit the craziest stories, anecdotes, and quotes from their experiences working with clueless clients. But for anyone who has worked with a client who doesn’t quite seem to understand computers in general, this is an excellent blog-to-app time waster. An example: “I wanted to touch base just to let you know that my boss is not interested in any costs associated with this project.”

Mega-fans are biting off what’s left of their fingernails in anticipation of the season premiere of Showtime’s “Dexter,” back in action this Sunday night. After last season’s mind-blowing finale and a killer trailer for the new season, it’s set to be a great one. The new app for the show follows suit with some fun games and trivia for hardcore fans, and a few videos and clips are thrown in for good measure.

Just this week, several apps dedicated to the star of the now iconic “Bed Intruder” meme popped up in the App Store, all mostly soundboards. So, of course, this week’s Soundboard App of the Week goes to Antoine Dodson, in general, for providing such a catchy song and soundbytes to listen to over and over again. (This particular app provides a soundboard, the original video, and the hit song remix.)

Napster has been avoiding the iPhone app game for quite a while now, but it looks like they’ve finally given in. This app isn’t much different from other subscription music site’s apps: It includes streaming access to the full Napster library, the ability to save favorites, playlist creation, “genius”-style mixes, etc. You can also flip through Billboard top song charts dating back to 1955, which is definitely a plus, but it’s not quite enough to get us to shell out $10 every month.

AR is a companion app to the original Plane Finder app, which tracks incoming and outgoing flights. This app incorporates augmented reality on the 4G to make your iPhone detect real-time information on flights by simply pointing up at the sky. Buyer beware, though: Coverage is severely limited. So even though the app is amazing when and where it actually works, be sure to check the coverage areas with the original Plane Finder app (FREE).

This week in Nostalgia Apps…Mr. Bill, everyone’s favorite Play-doh character of “The Mr. Bill Show” fame from Saturday Night Live in the ’70s and ’80s, is back with an explosive game app. Per the usual, Mr. Bill is caught in some sticky situations, being flung as a human cannonball at his new job, for example, and you have to help him get through it. Ohhhh nooooooooooooooo…

The new season of Tina Fey’s star vehicle “30 Rock” premiered last night, and it looks like we can expect much of the same hilarity. Show your true fandom with trivia in this new Scene It? game. Challenge friends in multiplayer mode with themed puzzles like “Muffin Top,” “What the What?!” or “That’s a Dealbreaker!” We’re laughing already.

Run don’t walk to download this app, matey! A fun new play on the Words with Friends phenom is in the App Store for a limited time to celebrate National Pirate Day, challenging players to “dastardly” words (pirate speak) to beat their friends or walk the plank. Shiver me timbers, Batman. (Oops, mixed jokes.)

At an investor conference, Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg briefly took time to talk about Apple and the iPhone. “We don’t feel like we have an iPhone deficit,” Mr. Seidenberg said. “We would love to carry it, but we have to earn it.” When asked about a Verizon iPhone, he said that “I can’t speak for Apple.”

However, he hopes that Verizon’s move to 4G will spur manufacturers will create devices to meet those specifications. “At some point, Apple will get with the program,” he said.

Meanwhile we’re hearing rumors that Apple is gearing up CDMA iPhone production for December — though that sort of rumor pops up with surprising regularity, so I wouldn’t put too much weight on it.

Ooh, shiny. A fair amount of info here, though not always well displayed. The circle inside a circle graph is particularly poorly done.

[Meet The Boss, via Gizmodo]

Train riders in New York are now able to pay for their subway, bus and train fares via waving their iPhones, thanks to a push by Visa to get their new payWave system into more places. The pilot program is being run through New York City Transit, NJ TRANSIT and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , though right now subway riders are limited to using it on the Lexington subway line.

As cool as Near Field Communications is, the iPhone doesn’t have the chips necessary to do this on its own, so I’m pretty sure you’re stuck with a goofy case from Visa rather than just being able to use your iPhone as is for the service.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

Facebook founder, and head creepy guy, Mark Zuckerberg is now officially worth more than Steve Jobs. Forbes has published its annual list of most wealthy Americans, and Zuckerberg has jumped up the listing considerably. He’s now worth an estimated $6.9 billion, putting him at #35 on the list, and Steve Jobs is #42, worth a paltry $6.1 billion.

I don’t particularly trust either gentlemen, but Zuckerberg still gives me the heebie-jeebies on all sorts of privacy issues.

Unsurprisingly, Bill Gates still tops the list at a whopping $54 billion, followed by Warren Buffet, $45 billion, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison rounding out the top 3 at $27 billion.

NBC has decided that it’s having none of Apple’s $0.99 TV show rental model, according to Reuters. At an investor’s conference, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said “we do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content. … We thought it would devalue our content.” You can already download NBC shows on iTunes for $1.99, but obviously Zucker isn’t cool with the cheaper, more immediate, rental method.

While News Corp is on board with the service, they’re obviously treading carefully, as at the same meeting, News Corp President Chase Carey called the deal a “short-term test.”

Fear change! Fear the future!

[via LoopInsight]