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Obama Backs Set-Top TV Change; Critics Say It’s Too Google-Friendly

Phone and cable TV companies slammed the White House after President Obama signaled his support for a regulatory proposal to open up the set-top box market to more competition, a move that critics say is too friendly for companies such as  Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google and  Apple ( AAPL ), benefiting them at the expense of pay-TV providers. AT&T ( T ), Comcast ( CMCSA ) and other pay-TV players have opposed the proposal. Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, says he plans to make it easier for consumers to switch from pay-TV companies’ set-top boxes leased monthly to new devices sold on a retail basis by consumer electronics or Internet companies. “Instead of spending nearly $1,000 over four years to lease a set of behind-the-times boxes, American families will have options to own a device for much less money that will integrate everything they want,” said the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a blog post . Obama is expected to file comments with the FCC supporting Wheeler’s proposal. “The Google proposal the White House endorsed today will box consumers into yesterday’s technology and impede the innovation consumers so desperately want,” said the Future of TV Coalition, a lobbying group formed by cable TV companies, programmers and others. The FCC has three Democratic and two Republican members. Walter McCormick, president of the USTelecom industry trade group, said in a statement: “The legitimacy of this rule-making proceeding has now been irreparably compromised.” Potential new suppliers such as Apple ,  Google or Amazon.com ( AMZN ) would likely provide their own programming guide to consumers, analysts say. One worry for pay-TV firms is losing the ability to collect viewership data, the key for targeted advertising . Google, critics say, aims to swap its own advertising for the local ads sold by cable TV companies. Under the new set-top rules, the FCC says that only pay-TV subscribers will gain access to programming, and that copyright protections will be preserved. The FCC could clear a path for Apple, which reportedly shelved plans for an Internet video service after negotiations with programmers stalled.

How Much Will Apple Increase Its Dividend, Stock Buybacks?

With iPhone sales expected to fall on a year-over-year basis for the first time in the March quarter, Apple ( AAPL ) investors are shifting their focus toward the company’s annual adjustments to its capital return program. Apple is expected to increase its quarterly cash dividend and raise its stock buyback plan when it announces fiscal-second-quarter earnings on April 25. The question is: How much will Apple boost its capital return outlay? Last year, Apple increased its quarterly dividend by 11% to 52 cents a share and raised its share repurchase authorization to $140 billion from the $90 billion level announced in 2014. In total, Apple’s directors last year authorized an increase of more than 50% to the company’s program to return capital to shareholders. Under that plan, Apple expected to use a cumulative total of $200 billion in cash by the end of March 2017. Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha on Friday said Apple could comfortably raise its capital return by about $10 billion per year over the next two to three years. “This would result in a capital return of about $53 billion per year, or roughly 8.5% of Apple’s market cap,” Garcha said in a report. Garcha reiterated his outperform rating on Apple stock with a price target of 150. Apple stock was flat, near 112, in midday trading on the stock market today . RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani said March 27 that Apple could raise its dividend by 10% to 15% to get its yield above 2%. Apple also could boost its stock buyback program to $40 billion to $50 billion a year, compared with $35 billion last year, he said in a report. Earlier last month, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted Apple would raise its dividend by 5% to 10%. Apple Car Strategy Is Likely A Software Initiative Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba on Friday reiterated his buy rating on Apple with a price target of 120. In a report, Lamba said Apple could make a bigger push into the automotive market with software-led developments in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). “We think Apple is likely to participate in the ADAS market in some way, even though it has yet to highlight its plans,” Lamba said. “Apple has clearly communicated its intentions of becoming a more pervasive part of the consumer lifestyle experience over time. “As it pertains to the auto market, CEO Tim Cook believes the industry could be poised for disruption with ‘electrification and autonomous driving’ in the near term. As an anecdote, we find evidence to support these ambitions in the company’s recent, aggressive hiring plans across engineering and operations.” While some analysts believe Apple is working on its own car, Lamba says it’s more likely the company will provide technology to current automakers. It already offers its CarPlay software to several major automakers. On Thursday, Motor Trend magazine provided its best guess at what an Apple Car might look like . Its artist conceptions show an almost egg-shaped vehicle with a glass ceiling and double-wide gull wing doors. RELATED: Apple iPhone Sales Could Fall For 3 Straight Quarters, Analyst Says Apple Should Be Valued Like Internet, Not Hardware, Company .

Apple Car Will Look Like Egg On Wheels If Motor Trend Design Right

Apple ( AAPL ) has not revealed whether it is making an electric car, but rumors of the vehicle have imaginations firing. Motor Trend, one of the most respected car magazines, on Thursday published its own speculation about the Apple Car . For its deep dive into what the Apple Car would look like, it consulted auto industry experts and faculty at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. It produced illustrations for a possible Apple Car based on the company’s design ethos around simplicity and elegance as well as knowledge of where technology is headed. The artist’s conception of the Apple Car by Motor Trend shows an almost egg-shaped vehicle with a glass ceiling and light gold body lacking traditional features like door handles and rear-view mirrors. It sports double-wide gull wing doors and a Tron-like light bar that wraps around the car to provide turn signals and other indicators. As Motor Trend sees it, the Apple Car would be packed with artificial intelligence for autonomous driving and for accepting voice commands via Siri. It would recognize the driver from their Apple Watch or iPhone or biometrics. No keys would be required to start it. The centerpiece of the interior would be an augmented reality windshield on which important information would be projected, the magazine said. Cameras plus windshield or dashboard screens would replace rear-view mirrors, it said. “An augmented reality ‘windshield’ is among the most persistent Apple Car rumors and thought to be the likeliest part to survive if the rest of Project Titan is canceled,” Motor Trend said. The electric car could be charged from below using wireless induction charging so it wouldn’t need a power cord, the publication said. An estimated 1,000 people are believed to be working on an Apple car at a complex in Sunnyvale, Calif., under the name SixtyEight Research. Apple has been poaching engineers from Telsa Motors ( TSLA ) and other car companies. Apple is targeting a 2019 release for the car, according to media reports. The speculative Motor Trend report and artist’s conception of the Apple Car were widely mocked on social media. Many readers called the science-fiction pod design ugly.