Jim Cramer Blog

Scale out of Apple AAPL Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment Monday.
Cramer told investors to sell as Apple CEO Steve Jobs discussed the next-generation iPhone at the Worldwide Developer Conference. The phone has faster data downloads and may outpace devices from Apple rivals Palm PALM and Research In Motion RIMM.
Cramer called the news "marginally positive," saying, "You wanted to sell most of your position into this launch because of the hoopla." He said that he would have changed this strategy if the new phone had a camera that could simulate Apple's iChat software for its Mac computers. "I'm not changing my view," he said.
"I think Apple has been a great trade in a really bad market," Cramer said. However, "the odds do not favor another run on top of this."
As for RIM's prospects, Cramer said he doesn't want to sell the stock. "I still think that BlackBerry is a terrific name." He said he would be a buyer of RIM shares at around $120.
Cramer ended the segment by saying that debt downgrades in the homebuilders sector spell more pain for the space. He said that regional banks Washington Mutual (WM) and National City (NCC) also face similar difficulties. "When I see the homebuilders being downgraded, I know there's more pain ahead," he said.
Published By TheStreet.com

Labels: Apple Inc., Blackberry, iChat, iPhone, Jim Cramer, NCC, PALM, RIMM, Steve Jobs, Stop Trading, WM

Negotiations between Apple Inc. and China's largest mobile phone company have broken down, according to reports Friday.
China's Southern Daily newspaper cited unnamed sources and said negotiations to launch Cupertino-based Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) iPhone through China Mobile Ltd. failed because of differences over revenue sharing.
The newspaper said Apple plans to sell the iPhones directly now by opening stores in Beijing, and is in negotiations with Chinese mobile phone distributors.
Published November 30, 2007 by the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

Labels: AAPL, Apple Inc., iPhone

By the BullMarket.com Staff
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all started the week up despite some concerns that China and the factory orders report would drive U.S. stocks down. New highs again marked the close of both the Dow and S&P 500, and all three indices are on track to post their best quarter in at least three years. Stocks in Shanghai took another tumble as the government continues to try and control the stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped -8.3% overnight, but the effect seemed minimal as most other Asian markets closed up, including five record highs. Factory orders grew in April, but the gains were weaker than expected. New orders increased by only 0.3%, which was the smallest gain in three months. Analysts had expected gains of up to 0.8%. While the overall gains were weak, analysts were encouraged by the 2.1% growth for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft. This sub-metric is considered a good read on business investment.

M&A news once again dominated the headlines. Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM ) signed a deal with private equity firm Elevation Partners for the firm to buy 25% of the smartphone manufacturer. As part of the deal, two Palm executives will resign and shareholders will receive a special $9 per share distribution. Analysts have noted that Palm is facing more competition in the smartphone market lately and it will only get worse as Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone prepares to release at the end of the month. Palm is also adding former Apple hardware engineer Jon Rubenstein to its board as executive chairman. Mr. Rubenstein has settled with the SEC in an investigation surrounding his role in Apple's backdating issues. He paid a fine without admitting guilt. Mr. Rubenstein most notably ran the iPod division from 2004-2005.
Private equity fund Lone Star V LP has entered into an agreement to buy Accredited Home Lenders (Nasdaq: LEND) for $15.10 per share, or a total of approximately $400 million in cash. This is a 10% premium over the stock's Friday close of $13.76. Accredited offers loans to high-risk borrowers, more commonly known as subprime mortgages. This industry, of course, recently suffered a well-publicized collapse.
Telecommunications equipment company Avaya (NYSE: AV), meanwhile, is said to be near closing its deal with private equity firms TPG Capital LLP and Silver Lake Partners. While the deal is not finalized and Avaya could still fall to another suitor, the private equity group seems to be in the leading position.
News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch met with the Bancroft family, who own a controlling interest in Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ), publishers of the The Wall Street Journal. The Bancroft family has been reluctant to meet with Mr. Murdoch, who has made overtures of late trying to buy the company. While the family has been reluctant to sell its stake, this meeting may represent a warming towards the purchase.
According to reports, American Express (NYSE: AXP) is planning to sell its private banking unit within the next one to two weeks. The unit could be worth between $1 and $2 billion. While no suitors have been named publicly, analysts believe that a large international bank could be the purchaser.
Struggling Puerto Rican lender Doral (NYSE: DRL), who last month agreed to be bought out by a private equity fund run by Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), has received a rival bid. Privately held FBOP Corp. has made an offer of $1.41 per share in order to take an 80% stake in the lender. This is more than twice what Bear Stearns offered in May.

Labels: AAPL, AV, AXP, BSC, DJ, iPhone, LEND, NWS, PALM

Apple Inc.'s highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to both TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and a company spokesman.
The combination cell phone, media player and wireless Web-surfing device will retail for $499 and $599, depending on configuration. It will be offered exclusively by AT&T Inc.'s wireless division, formerly known as Cingular.

Labels: AAPL, Apple Inc., iPhone

Apple Inc. said it won't be shipping its next-generation operating system in June as planned, saying it had to divert resources from the project so that it could launch its highly anticipated iPhone on time.
The new shipment date for Mac OS X "Leopard" will be in October, the company said Thursday. The iPhone will make its debut in June as planned.
Apple shares dropped nearly 3 percent to $89.50 in extended-session trading after the announcement. Earlier, they had closed at $92.19, down 40 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Labels: AAPL, Apple Inc., iPhone, Leopard

Cingular Wireless, the mobile unit of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - News), has received about 1 million inquiries about Apple Inc.'s (NasdaqGS:AAPL - News) upcoming iPhone, AT&T Chief Operating Officer Randall Stephenson said on Tuesday.
Cingular, the largest U.S. wireless service being rebranded as AT&T, will be the first to sell the music-playing iPhone when Apple, the maker of the popular iPod music player, begins shipments in June.
While Cingular is not taking advance orders for the iPhone, it set up a section on its Web site inviting visitors to leave their e-mail addresses to receive information about the phone when it is released.
"One million people have asked us to call when this phone is available," Stephenson said in his keynote speech at the CTIA wireless technology conference.

Labels: AAPL, Apple Inc., AT and T Inc., iPhone, T

Apple Computer Inc. unveiled a flurry of new products Tuesday, including its long-rumored cell phone.
"Apple is going to reinvent the phone," Chief Executive Steve Jobs told an audience at the MacWorld show in San Francisco.
The mobile phone, with a 3.5-inch diagonal screen and be 11.6 millimeters thick, will sync with iTunes, have a 2 megapixel camera and use new "multi-touch" technology. It will be offered in a new partnership with Cingular Wireless.
There will be two versions of the phone which is expected to be available in June: One with four gigabytes of storage for $499 and an eight gigabyte version for $599.
Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) also said it plans to begin shipping a product called Apple TV in February. The device will allow users to play television shows and movies downloaded from the Internet on their televisions. It will contain a 40 gigabyte hard drive and cost $299.
Jobs also said its iTune service will begin selling digital movies from Paramount, bringing the number of movies it offers for download up to 250. It already offers about 100 Disney movies.
Published January 9, 2007 by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., iPhone

The rumored iPhone may soon be here.
Apple Computer Inc. has filed for a patent that suggests plans for a wireless phone that combines the company's hugely successful iPod MP3 music player and a cellular telephone may be in the works, according to an application with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The patent does not specifically announce an iPod and phone combination, but the application describes a "portable computing device capable of wireless communications" and said the application is a continuation in part of older patent applications fo

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., iPhone

Apple Computer Inc. has asked for a patent to protect a planned device combining a mobile phone with its iPod music player, according to reports Thursday.
With the public revelation of the patent application, which was filed in August, Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) fueled expectations that it may soon may sell a so-called iPhone.
Analysts have expected CEO Steve Jobs to branch out into an iPod-related line, capitalizing on the device's intense popularity, and speculated recently that an iPod may be in the works that merges a phone and adds up to $1.5 billion to the company's annual sales.
Published November 30, 2006 by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., iPhone, iPod

Shares of Apple Computer Inc. rose to a record after analysts said faster Macintosh computers and low- priced iPod players will spur holiday sales, and that a new music phone may buoy revenue next year. Mac and iPod shipments may reach record highs this quarter, said UBS AG analyst Benjamin Reitzes, who today raised his profit estimate for the period to 80 cents a share from 78 cents. Analysts on average expect 77 cents. He foresees Mac sales of 1.8 million units and iPod sales of 16.6 million. ``The phone market is just a whole new market for them, and the potential number of units could dwarf what the iPod alone could do,'' said in Minneapolis-based Munster, who has rated Apple's shares ``outperform'' since June 2004. The shares, which have gained 25 percent this year, climbed $2.27 to $91.81 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The previous record high of $91.63 was set Nov. 24. This stock is a buy with great sales expectations leading all the way until Christmas. This is a great chance to make some "Mad Money".
Source: Bloomberg.com

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., Apple. iPod, iPhone, Mad Money

The long-rumored arrival of a hybrid mobile phone and iPod music player from Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) has morphed from a question of "If" to "When" among fans and analysts.
Since Apple's introduction of the iPod five years ago, the company has sold more than 67 million of the devices and more than 1.5 billion songs from its iTunes online music store.
Now, Chief Executive Steve Jobs and Apple are poised to roll out what has been dubbed the "iPhone," perhaps as soon as January next year at the Macworld conference that kicks off every new year, analysts say.
"From a technical standpoint, the phone is pretty much done," said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. "It's a big endeavor and we believe it's beyond speculation."
Speculation has simmered since even before the introduction of the ROKR phone from Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - News) that uses a slimmed-down version of the iTunes digital music jukebox to play 100 songs. But sales were lackluster as users complained the phone did not hold more songs.
By Duncan Martell

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., Apple. iPod, iPhone

Apple may release an iPhone within the first six months of next year, according to a published report.
Foxconn Electronics will make the music handset, said DigiTimes.com, which covers Taiwan IT companies, citing the Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times.
The first shipment of 12 million units is reportedly to be released in the first half of 2007.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
Apple launched a co-branded music phone with Motorola last year, but the phone, called the ROKR, didn't live up to expectations.
According to reports, Apple's much talked about iPhone has been confirmed for mass production at Hon Hai Precision, otherwise known as Foxconn. The report was issued today when sources close to Foxconn told reporters in Taiwan. If the sources are correct, Foxconn secured the order from Apple to produce roughly 12 million iPhone units. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone sometime in the first half of 2007. The product has been long in waiting and is expected to combine the functionality of Apple's popular iPod with the communications capabilities of a mobile phone. Some analysts are expecting that while the first generation iPhone units will lack smart phone features, Apple will follow-up with an "iPhone Pro" for business folks. DailyTech previously reported that the iPhone trademark was officially filed by Apple roughly a month ago, but the iPhone domain has been around for quite some time. Earlier reports also indicated that Apple entered into a partnership with Cingular Wireless to launch the iPhone as a Cingular exclusive product -- Apple is expected to make the phone available at its retail locations as well."

Labels: AAPL, Apple Computer Inc., Apple. iPod, iPhone