Barron's, a weekly financial newspaper by the Wall Street Journal folks, is something I subscribe to and read. To my surprise they had a full page article in Barron's talking more or less about Apple Rumors. It wasn't a slow news week in the financial markets and the corporate world of investments, it would seem that Apple'mania is spreading if these straight laced guys are taking the time to talk about it.

I'm not able to link to the URL for the story 1) because it's subscription only, and 2) because it is copyright protected. However, I don't see anything wrong with summarizing the article, I don't think that breaks any copyright issues.


Here is the summary:


● Apple prepares for September 12th event where it will unveil several new services and gadget upgrades.
● Excitement of the event has driven AAPL up 6% this past week to $72.52
● “It's Showtime” is leading expectations of new product announcements in the Video and film distribution area AND mobile AND home AV viewing areas.
● Jonathan Hoopes of ThinkEquity Partners believes that Apple picked September 12th for their event because the event will end just hours before Dell's analyst event set for that evening.
● David Bailey of Goldman Sachs things the event will focus on overdue updates to the iPod AND the kick off of a movie / iTMS download service. He thinks a new higher capacity Nano will be unveiled and possibly the 'Video iPod'.
● He things the 'back to school' and Holiday shopping season will be big this year and the new iPod's will be big hits.
● Bailey goes on to say that as big as these items are, the big disrupter he sees in the near future, which will NOT be brought announced this week, is the iPhone. He things the iPhone will come to market in 2007, probably July.
● Shaw Wu of American Technology Research agrees that the iPhone is closer than many realize. Noting that Apple has recently filed for several mobile handset patents. He says he found out that kinds have been worked out of the prototype phones and they are ready for mass production. He says that while Apple is in discussions with two mobile carriers, they are also exploring the option of doing an MVNO.

Side Note: Ken Rutkowski of www.KenRadio.com has also been vocal about Apple possibly doing an MVNO deal instead of just selling handsets.

● Wu goes on to say that the iPhone will be a major player and that it will disrupt the mobile phone industry. His rationale is that nobody thought iTunes / iTMS would do anything and look what it's done, why not the iPhone too.
● The iPhone has the potential to bring in an additional $2,000,000,000 sales to Apple in the first year alone.
● Barron's also says that the Apple Retail stores are getting a face lift, 2 east coast stores will get the makeover first, $3,000,000 per store to upgrade! (WOW) The whitewash look will be gone, and the new look will focus on Apple's new products that are currently in the pipeline.


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