- One of the most-famous lines from George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm" was when Napoleon the pig said, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." When looking at all the activity in the tech sector this past week, there is one company for which that statement applies: Apple.
- More than a decade after unveiling the first iPhone, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still able to create a palpable buzz around the ubiquitous smart phone. And once a year, usually in September or October, Apple shows off the newest version of the iPhone. Everyone knows it's coming, and yet, everyone still likes to speculate about what Apple has up its sleeve and how it will stoke excitement for the end-of-the-year holiday shopping season.
- And, that's just what Apple did on Tuesday, when Chief Executive Tim Cook showed the world the iPhone 13. Actually, there were four new iPhones--iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The phones prices range from $699 for the Mini and 128 gigabytes of storage, to a whopping $1,599 for the Pro Max with a massive 1 terabyte storage capacity.
- Apple also took the wraps of new models of the iPad, and Apple Watch Series 7. Analysts said the refreshed product line puts Apple in a good position heading into the end of the year.
- And some evidence of that was seen in reports that the iPhone 13 is seeing stronger pre-orders in China that the iPhone 12 a year ago.
- AT&T (NYSE:T) wasted little time trying to appeal to potential iPhone 13 customers. Almost as soon as Apple's release event ended, AT&T announced a promotion to give away the iPhone 13 Pro for free.
- But, prior to all of that, Apple had to send out a security patch for the iPhone to keep it from falling prey to a new piece of spyware that could have infected iPhones all over the world.
- And, after all the product announcements, Apple's Cook found out that he was influential enough to be named to Time magazine's list of the 100 most-influential people in the world for 2021. Cook was joined on the list with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) boss Jensen Huang, and the inimitable CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Elon Musk.
- Meanwhile, opinions also emerged regarding how things might eventually work out regarding the antitrust decision in the case between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games. Both companies have said they will appeal what was, in effect, a split decision in the case.
- But, even with all that Apple going on, there were some other notable tech happening over the last week.
- After less than a year on the job, Uber's chief technical officer stepped down from the ride-sharing giant. Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) also got some love from Wall Street, as Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan started coverage of both companies with buy ratings and $64-a-share-price targets.
- Bad Facebook, good Facebook. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) apparently knows its Instagram service is harming teens perceptions of themselves. Facebook is also reportedly taking steps against coordinated harmful acts coming from real accounts.
- Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) got some negative news at the end of the week from proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services. ISS recommended that Five9 (NASDAQ:FIVN) shareholders vote down Zoom's deal to acquire Five9 on the grounds that a decline in Zoom's share price has dragged down the value of the deal.
- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) made its shareholders happy by raising its dividend payment by 11%, and setting a new $60 billion share repurchase program.
- The tech sector also saw some acquisition activity take place, starting with Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), which said it would put up $12 billion in cash and stock for email marketing company Mailchimp.
- The battle for driving technology developer Veoneer (NYSE:VNE) heated up with reports that Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) has made an offer of $37 a share, or $4.6 billion, for the Stockholm-based company.
- Chipmakers Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices appeared to make moves aimed at countering one another. Intel reportedly is looking at cutting prices of some chips in order to attract customers who switched over to AMD. Meanwhile, AMD was said to be considering making microprocessors based on ARM technology.