However, the iPhone 4S's support of Bluetooth 4.0 -- which includes the low-power specification that began as WiBree -- may tip Apple's hand a bit as to its ultimate intentions for the nano.
All of this means that Dell's rivals--from HP to Apple--may wind up being the next ones restructuring.
More price-conscious consumers may also like Apple's eMac line, originally introduced as an educational computer but now sold as a bargain-priced (for Apple) consumer machine.
Meanwhile, the Kindle Fire tablet -- which may become the strongest challenger yet to Apple's iPad -- led the way for a big day for Amazon.
But the fact that many of the phones were sold at Apple outlets--and those who buy their phones from Apple's Web site may never have to set foot inside a store at all--is portentous.
The preliminary ruling follows an anonymous request in May to re-examine some of Apple's patents for touch-screen heuristics.
There has been speculation among company-watchers that Apple may launch a cheaper iPhone, or a premium model with a bigger screen, but CEO Tim Cook put a damper on those rumors in his comments on a conference call following the report.
If it is real, however, Apple may have a found a market ripe for another Apple game-changing product.
While opening-day iPhone lines vary by location -- what passes as early enough at a Radio Shack in Nevada may not work for an Apple store in New York -- analysts generally say advance consumer demand for the iPhone 5 is outpacing previous models.
Second, and perhaps bigger news, is that Apple may well turn the negative news about antenna-gate into a new market leadership stake for Apple.
There have also been rumours that Apple may offer a lower-priced iPhone model.
Sacconaghi took a deep look into the question, and finds that Apple may have a 750-975 point cost advantage over its rivals in the tablet space.
FORBES: Apple: Why No Tablet Makers Can Compete With The iPad On Price
Huawei may close in on Apple by year-end for second place, Lenovo likely enters the Top 5 and Coolpad will almost definitely throw out Nokia from the Top 10 when it enters this Spring, like Lenovo did for Motorola last year.
FORBES: Apple Will Revert To Niche Status As Chinese Advance, Expert Says
While AMDwould love to have some heavyweights visibly on its side--as Netscape had Sun and Apple during the Microsoft antitrust trial--it may have to settle for finding a pattern of documentary evidence while digging through the hard drives of an estimated 800 people at 37 companies, plus whatever Intel coughs up.
Apple may still have the best-selling smartphone in the world, but the many others powered by rival Google's Android operating system -- and especially those made by Samsung -- far exceed the iPhone.
Sports fans may project an all-American image of baseball and apple pie, but they are bilking most of the population out of billions of dollars every year.
Research in Motion may have had a five-year head start on Apple, but they failed to build out a developer community and made the BlackBerry platform too complex for third-party developers.
FORBES: Why One Canadian Developer Won't Build BlackBerry Apps
The result: Max Wang, at Digitimes pointed out Friday that if you factor in count tablet computers, it looks like Apple may be poised to replace Hewlett-Packard as the top notebook vendor.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs may be gone, but the other Steve, Steve Wozniak was alive, well, and at the front of the line Friday morning for a new iPhone in Los Gatos, California.
FORBES: Woz Was Here: Customers Line Up For iPhone 4S In Los Gatos
Apple may likewise be going all old-school iPhone on us, with a modern twist: we could be reverting to an aluminum back with more receptive materials (likely glass) at the ends, just in a much thinner form that keeps the steel antenna band.
Jody Lurie, corporate credit analyst at broker-dealer Janney Capital Markets, said the Apple offering could be so popular it may end up with lower relative yields than rival, triple-A rated Microsoft Corp.
Apple may have killed off the ubiquitous 30-pin connector, but that doesn't mean the dock is dead.
But consumers' insatiable appetite for Apple devices aside, e-reading may be too small a market for more new entrants.
Apple Computer's cash-rich stock may be one of the best buys of the season.
In addition to Amazon, Apple and Google may turn out to be long-term beneficiaries of a Borders bankruptcy.
Pure Food and Wine 's menu of raw vegetable concoctions may make this the Big Apple's most unusual restaurant--as well as one of its best.
FORBES: The Forbes 2008 All-Star Eateries in New York: Three Stars
Still, if you're running such an operation of your own, it may be worth your while to peruse Apple's non-disclosure agreement in full -- a site shut down could be but the beginning of the company's actions to control OS releases, and prevent third parties from illegally capitalizing on Cupertino's creations.
Analysts fear Apple may have lost its way since its visionary co-founder, Steve Jobs, died in October 2011.
Since the iMac was unveiled in May, Apple says new Mac versions of more than 175 consumer-oriented software titles have been announced.
WSJ: Apple Unveils iMac, A Fast and Potent PC With Sleek New Look
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