iPhone Coming to Verizon?

Now comes the news that everyone that doesn't have AT&T has been waiting for. Verizon is reportedly in talks with Apple (USA Today) to bring the iPhone to its current phone line up. Originally, if Apple were to make their iPhone for Verizon, they would have to use the CDMA technology, which the rest of the world doesn't use. Because of this, Apple would have to make one phone for the US and a GSM one for the rest of the world. But now, with the aspect of bringing 4G GSM into play by Verizon, this is no longer the case. There is no doubt that loosing the iPhone exclusivity to Verizon would make a major blow to the AT&T bottom line. With Verizon's first quarter results being strong and the continued success of their fiber-optic network service FIOS, VZ could be a buy. According to stock analyst and avid trader Jim Cramer (The Street), the stock should be a "strong buy". If the talks do form into an agreement between Verizon and Apple, it would be good news for VZ and AAPL investors, as well as Verizon customers who love the network and service, but considered switching to AT&T for the iPhone. Verizon (VZ) ended the trading day at $30.54 (-0.46 -1.48%) and Apple (AAPL) ended the trading day at $124.73 (+0.86 +0.67%).

Links:

The Street - (http://www.thestreet.com/story/10492462/1/cramers-stop-trading-buy-verizon.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN)

USA Today - (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2009-04-26-apple-verizon-iphone_N.htm)

Can Apple Do It?

Before the economy went down the tubes Apple reached an all time high of $199.83. Now once again, it has been one of the most aggressive movers on the market as the economy starts to recover. Many analysts are rating the stock BUY and STRONG BUY, with one firm even putting the target price at nearly $200. With the speculation over an Apple "NetBook", strong iPhone and iPod sales, and the upcoming iPhone carrier contract expiration, all things are looking sky high. As a previous PC with Windows user I can attest to the company's success. I find Windows Vista just plain hard to use. Although I must say that many of the OS issues are due to crappy hardware from a four letter word company I won't mention. With Mac OS X, everything just works. Many people will argue their point about which OS is better, but it truly is up to the user to decide. Windows 7 does look very promising, however. Having played around with the Beta versions of the software, they truly have corrected a lot of the issues that Windows Vista had. 

Now don't get a false idea of what I stand for, I don't hate Microsoft. I hate some of the products they make. Hands down, Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for the business world, as is Windows Server and Microsoft Exchange. These software products are quite good actually and explain their prevalence in the corporate world. As I stated before, I have been and still am a Windows user from time to time, but Windows Vista has turned me off to PC. I will give Windows 7 another chance, but for now I see no need to venture away from my quick, aesthetically pleasing, and rock-solid MacBook Pro with OS 10.5.

Billion App Countdown

It was bound to happen, Apple has served up it's billionth download from the App Store. I was a little confused however to how the winner was selected. From my own interpretation of the Apple website I thought each download entered you for a chance to win, however, it seemed that the actual person to download the billionth application was pronounced the winner. (Similar to the iTunes contest they had a few years ago). One lucky thirteen year old won a new laptop, an iPod, and a $10,000 gift card for iTunes! I guess he won't be getting in trouble any time soon because of illegal downloading... He's set. I just wish it was me... 

Every so often I get an idea that I really want to write about. Despite my procrastination in the past, I finally got around to creating this blog. I haven't yet decided whether to make this private just for my own personal use or open it up to let the world see it. For now, I'll leave it public. 

Check back soon...