Every week, makes news with technology developments, business deals and, more often than not, controversies.
That’s where our weekly "Core Bytes" column on Apple comes in. We’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our favorite backyard tech giant.
Controversies
Apple pulled iTunes from the “Christian Values Network,” at least partly because of a Change.org petition that points out the network’s inclusion of hate groups. Not long after 30,000 people signed the petition, they left the site, followed by other companies, such as Macy's, REI, Delta Airlines, BBC America and Wells Fargo.
New Products
Apple will release the iPhone 5 in the fall, with some rumoring that the date may be as early as September. Consumer confidence in the product is already high: A survey released by pricegrabber.com shows that 35 percent of U.S. consumers already want the yet-to-be-released iPhone 5.
Business Deals and Developments
New figures from the U.S. Treasury Department show that the total cash reserves for the U.S. government amount to $73.768 billion, slightly less than Apple’s total cash reserves of $75.876 billion.
We all knew that Apple was big—but this big?
iPhone growth shot up by 142 percent in Q2, outpacing the global phone market by 12 times. Apple’s record shipments of 20.3 million gave it a 5.6 million share of the market, way up from 2.6 percent a year ago.
Once uber-popular gaming company Nintendo is now “Apple’s latest prey,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in a news analysis. Nintendo sold 3.3 million fewer gaming devices this quarter than in previous ones, as more and more customers gravitate to the free games found on Apple iPhones, among other smartphones.
The Big Apple is now worth more than the combined value of Google ($199 billion) and Walmart ($187 billion), according to one report. Bloomberg furthermore reports that Apple’s market capitalization is a whooping $374 billion.
