Apple Offering $10K Prize for 50 Billionth App Download

Image Credit: Apple(NEW YORK) -- Apple is celebrating its approach of the 50 billion App Store download milestone with a big contest.

Be the lucky user to download the 50 billionth app and Apple will send you an App Store gift card worth $10,000. The very next 50 app downloaders after number 50 billion will each get a $500 App Store gift card.

Before you Apple users go app download crazy, know that the contest will only register 25 entries per account per day. To be eligible, users must also be at least 13 years old.

Now the big question is: how would you spend a $10,000 App Store gift card?

There’s obviously plenty of music, movie, and book content to sift through, but if you need app suggestions, Business Insider put together a list of some of the most expensive apps available for iPhone and iPad.

Among the pricey apps are BarMax CA, priced at $999 and created by a group of Harvard alumni as a study app for law students preparing for the California bar exam and DDS GP Yes!, a graphic presentation app for dentists to educate their patients on dental procedures, for $499.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple's Upcoming iOS 7 May Have New Look

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Speculation is rampant about what visual changes Apple may work into the latest version of its mobile device software, iOS 7, set to be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, June 10-14.

Sources familiar with the changes in the software that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch have said Apple is moving away from a realism look -- the way elements and apps have been built to replicate real life with three-dimensional layering and faux texturing -- and introducing a simpler, “flatter” design, according to Bloomberg News. A report by 9to5Mac corroborates this report, citing sources that said the new elements in iOS 7 will be moving in the direction of Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Metro” UI.

The event invitation for WWDC is even being sniffed for clues. “Apple’s WWDC 2013 logo, the art for the conference in which iOS 7 will be announced, has sparked speculation about flat interface design with its modern, lightweight text and other elements,” 9to5Mac posted.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, a known Apple speculator, has also commented on an “apparently rather significant system-wide UI overhaul” for the newest version of Apple’s mobile OS. He posted that Apple employees have been asked to use polarizing filters on their iPhone displays, making it difficult for observers see the design changes ahead of the iOS 7 announcement.

These purported software changes are attributed to the new oversight of software design by Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design. Ive, head of the team responsible for the lauded iPhone and iPod hardware, has been given extended influence over mobile software design after the Apple Maps blunder and exit of former senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall, Bloomberg News reported.

The general look and style of Apple’s iOS has remained the same since being introduced in 2007. Since then, Google’s Android has been visually revamped a number of times, most recently under the supervision of Palm WebOS convert Matias Duarte. New designs have also been brought to market by Microsoft with Windows Phone offerings and by Blackberry with the latest line of Blackberry 10 devices.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Sources: Google Working on Smartwatch, Too

KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The year of the smartwatch is upon us. According to rumors, Apple has a team of 100 working on a watch that works with the iPhone, and Samsung has confirmed that it is working on a watch of its own. And now sources tell The Financial Times that Google is developing a watch to work “as an extension to the smartphones using [Android].”

According to a “person briefed on the project,” Google’s Android team is developing the smartwatch. The source also said that “the [Android] project is separate from Samsung’s efforts.”

When asked about the smartwatch rumor, a Google spokesperson told ABC News that the company “doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.”

The watch, like other smartwatches, will likely pair with an Android phone and allow one to view messages and incoming call notifications right on the watch’s display. Google did file for a patent describing a “smart-watch including flip up display” in 2011. This patent was approved late last year.

The wearable gadget space seems to be drawing the interest of many companies. Pebble, the smartwatch that works with the iPhone and Android, beat all the odds on Kickstarter, receiving more than 85,000 orders for the watch and more than $10 million from people who wanted to back the company. Many companies have also joined the fitness tracker market, including Nike, Motorola and Jawbone.

Of course, Google is no stranger to wearable computing items right now. Google Glass, those futuristic, Internet-connected eyeglasses that show digital data right before your eyes, is now undergoing testing, and Google plans to release a version by the end of the year. Google is expected to talk more about its Glass project and its next versions of Android at its annual Google I/O conference in May.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

CEO's Severance Will Include iPads, iPhone, No Cash

Courtesy of Apple(NEW YORK) -- The former CEO of insurer Marsh & McLennan will receive an unusual severance package that included his company-issued iPads, iPhone and Blackberry, but no cash.

Brian Duperreault, 65, announced in September that, after five years as CEO and one month as chief financial officer, he will retire at the end of the year. The financial documents investigative website, Footnoted, found the details in an exhibit of the 312-page document Marsh & McLennan filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

His most recent employment agreement indicates that he won’t receive any severance in the form of cash, however, spokeswoman for the company confirmed that Duperreault will not receive any cash severance.

According to the 10-K document, after retirement, Duperreault will have access to to a Bloomberg terminal subscription, which is worth about $1,500 a month through Feb. 2014, says Footnoted.

“As a courtesy, MMC did agree to provide Mr. Duperreault with post-retirement transitional support in the form of administrative support, an office at the Company’s office where he is domiciled and access to his existing technology support for one year,” she said.

But don’t feel bad for Duperreault. He will get an office and administrative support at the company’s offices in Bermuda through the end of the year and his third tranche of 400,000 stock options granted in 2008, which Footnoted points out are trading at about the same price today as when they were granted.

Shares of Marsh & McLennan closed at $37.24 on Friday, up 0.27 percent.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Judge Grants Hedge Fund’s Injunction Against Apple Inc.

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A federal court judge in New York Friday granted a request by hedge fund Greenlight Capital to block Apple Inc. from including a measure on its shareholder ballot that would limit the iPhone maker’s ability to issue preferred stock.

Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn, whose firm owns more than 1.3 million Apple shares, sought the injunction after complaining that Apple was hurting shareholder value by holding too much of its $137 billion cash hoard, the most of any firm.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan granted the preliminary injunction stopping the vote on that proposal, set for Feb. 27 at the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting. He ordered the two sides to submit briefs outlining the next steps in the case.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the company’s use of its cash: “We do have some cash, but it’s a privilege to be in this position …where we can seriously consider returning additional cash to our shareholders,” he told the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

“Apple doesn’t have a depression-era mentality” about cash, he said. The company, he added, makes “bold bets,” investing $10 billion in research and development last year.

Cook said Apple will “thoroughly consider” a proposal by Einhorn, who wants the company to issue preferred shares that pay a high dividend.

“Apple must examine all of its options to unlock the growing value of its balance sheet for all shareholders,” Einhorn said.

He’s urging Apple shareholders to vote down a proposal to eliminate preferred stock and sought a federal court order to bar the firm from certifying votes cast in favor the proposal. Preferred shares often pay a higher dividend than common shares.

Cook had called the Einhorn suit a “silly sideshow” that detracts from Apple’s real mission of creating top products. “Our north star is great products. When everyone comes to work every day they think about that.  We wouldn’t do anything we don’t think is a great product,” he said.

A Greenlight Capital spokesman had said in an email in response to Cook’s comments, “If Apple thinks the lawsuit is a waste of resources, it could simply end the matter by complying with existing law and filing a new proxy that unbundles the proposed changes to the charter so that shareholders can express their views on each matter separately.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple Stores 'Aren't Big Enough,' Says CEO

Apple, Inc.(SAN FRANCISCO) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook made an appearance Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, emphasizing the importance of Apple's retail stores.

"Some of our stores aren't big enough," Cook said according to the Los Angeles Times. "It's a privilege to have this kind of issue."

Cook told those in attendance that Apple is shutting down 20 stores and moving them elsewhere so that they can be expanded. The company will also open 30 stores in new locations, most of which will be located outside the United States.

Apple's 400 stores see almost 10 million people per week with an average of $50 million in annual revenue.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple Reduces Price on MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Apple, Inc.(NEW YORK) -- President Obama mentioned Apple's plans to make some Mac computers in America during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, and on Wednesday Apple followed up that Mac momentum with an announcement that it is lowering prices on some of its MacBooks.

The MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which was first introduced last June, is being refreshed with new processor options, and the smaller, 13-inch version is now $200 cheaper.

Some consumers criticized the $1,699 starting price of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina when it was released in November. Now, the 128GB version will start at $1,499, and the version with a faster 2.6GHz processor and 256GB of storage will cost $1,699.

Apple is also dropping the price of the 256GB 13-inch MacBook Air to $1,399 from $1,499.

The price of the larger 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina display has not been lowered -- it still starts at $2,199 -- but it will be getting some internal tune ups. It will be available with a faster 2.4GHz and 2.7GHz quad-core processors and up to 16GB of memory.

According to Ben Bajarin, a principal analyst at Creative Strategies, Apple's decision to lower prices on the computers has to do with the falling prices of components -- RAM, flash storage, etc.

"When prices of components come down, they are willing to lower prices when they can," he said. "We don't expect Apple to make the cheapest products on the market, but they are committed to being affordable in the market."

In its last quarter, Apple reported lower sales of Mac products (4.1 million, down from 5.2 million in the same quarter the year before). Tim Cook attributed the drop off to component supply and the iMac hitting shelves later in the quarter than he would have liked. He also said that Apple was aware that the iPad was cannibalizing part of the Mac business.

"I think cannibalization is a huge opportunity for us," Cook said on an Apple earnings call. "Our base philosophy is to never fear cannibalization. If we do, somebody else will just cannibalize it… We know iPad has cannibalized some Macs, and that doesn't worry us."

Bajarin said he doesn't believe the price drops on the Macs have anything to do with those Mac earnings, however.

"I don't think they looked at their last Mac quarter and started freaking out," he said. "The PC business is in decline; they know no one is going to turn that around."

Last month, Apple announced a $799 version of the iPad with a 128GB flash drive, which gives the tablet as much storage as some laptops. Apple, unlike Microsoft with its Windows 8 operating system, continues to keep its laptop and iPad lines separate, even though some iPad features have made their way over to the Mac. Cook has famously said converging the two would be like trying to combine a refrigerator and a toaster.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple Testing Watch that Works with Your Phone?

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Apple might just be working on the product we all remember from those Dick Tracy movies -- a watch that has some phone-like capabilities.

According to a report in The New York Times on Sunday, Apple is testing or “experimenting” with a “wristwatch-like device made of curved glass.”

While the newspaper does not name its sources, they have shared that Apple plans to differentiate itself from the competition with a new glass technology and its “understanding of how such glass can curve around the human body.”  The Times points out that Corning, the maker of very durable Gorilla Glass, which covers the iPhone, has been experimenting with bendable glass over the last few years.

Following the Times’ report, The Wall Street Journal corroborated that Apple is working on a watch that would “perform some functions of a smartphone.”  The Journal reports that Apple has discussed the plans with its major manufacturing partner in China. 

Apple did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment about the watch rumors.

The Times and Journal reports come after Chinese technology site Tech 163 reported earlier this year that Apple was talking to supply partners about a smart watch with a 1.5-inch OLED screen that would pair to an iPhone via Bluetooth. 

The last version of the iPod Nano, which had a 1.5-inch display, was turned into a watch by many early adopters; Apple even sold watch bands in its stores that turned the music player into a wearable accessory.  The newest version of the Nano is longer and no longer lends itself to being a wristwatch.

Rumors of Apple’s watch, or iWatch as many have called it, join a number of other rumored Apple products at the moment, including an iPhone with a larger screen and a standalone TV set.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple Shares Drop on Slowdown Worries

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Apple stock took a hit the morning after its first-quarter earnings were released, falling about 10 percent.  Investors are worried that growth is slowing at Apple, the world's most valuable company.

Shares of Apple dropped $52 to $462 at 10 a.m. EST Thursday.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq index, in which Apple trades, was also down 0.27 percent to 3,145.

On Wednesday, after the market closed, the company reported that it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared with 37 million in the same quarter a year ago.  Many investors had hoped that the company would sell 50 million iPhones, which drives Apple's earnings.

"No technology company has ever reported these kinds of results," Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said on the earnings call Wednesday.

Investors eagerly awaited Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, Calif., to report its earnings, seeking clarity after a number of rumors about iPhone parts and sales.

Earlier this week, there were reports about the next iPhone being released in June.

"Certainly a new product line is in the works," said Brian Colello, Morningstar senior equity analyst.  "It remains to be seen what Apple will ultimately come out with and when.  Those are certainly factors to keep an eye on."

Last week, a report that Apple had decreased its order for iPhone parts may have contributed to a decrease in its stock price to near $500.

"It will be interesting to see if Apple is really pushing the envelope in terms of innovation and shortening the product cycle," Colello said.

Colello said Apple is facing growing competition from Samsung.  Last summer, when Apple released the iPhone 4S, Samsung also released its Galaxy S 3, which saw strong sales.

On Wednesday, Apple said it sold a "record" 22.9 million iPads in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million a year ago.  The company also sold 4.1 million Mac computers, compared to 5.2 million in the same quarter last year.

On Apple's earnings call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer attributed the Mac slide to the refreshed Mac products not being released until December.  Its new iMac desktops were not sold until early December.

"We believe our Mac sales would have been much higher without those constraints," Oppenheimer said on the call.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Apple Stock Closes Near $500

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) closed at $501.75 in New York trading Monday, falling 3.57 percent after reports that the tech company has decreased its orders for parts, but analysts will wait until its earnings next week to learn whether fewer people have ordered the iPhone 5 than expected.

Apple’s orders for iPhone 5 screens for the first quarter have dropped to around half of what the company planned previously, the Wall Street Journal reported. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported two Apple LCD panel suppliers in Asia reduced production.

The tech-heavy exchange, Nasdaq, closed down 0.26 percent to 3,117.50.

Brian Colello, a senior equity analyst, said there is a chance the report about the orders has more to do with supply chain issues and less to do with iPhone 5 demand.

“Screens were believed to be an area of shortages a couple months ago,” Colello said, shortly after the iPhone 5 release in September. “When that happens, customers tend to double order to make sure they have enough screens on hands. That leads to double orders and cancellations once supply and demand tend to balance out.”

Morningstar’s fair value of Apple stock is $770, and it has a “buy” rating, the highest of the financial firm’s five-rating scale.

Colello said all eyes will be on the company’s first-quarter earnings report on Jan. 23.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio