Carl Icahn Asks for Accelerated Stock Repurchase Program in Letter to Apple’s Tim Cook

In a letter addressed to Tim Cook today, activist investor Carl Icahn praises Apple for its innovation, while again asking the company to accelerate its stock repurchase program. Icahn previously pressured Apple to increase its stock buyback program to as much as $150 billion, but dropped that bid following Apple’s decision to repurchase $14 billion shares in February of this year.

Icahn continues to note that Apple is “dramatically undervalued in today’s market” with its shares trading at half of Icahn’s estimated $203 value. This valuation is likely to change as Apple’s new product lineup chips away at Android’s market share.

While we recognize and applaud the company’s previously increased share repurchase authorization, we ask you to consider our advice once again (to the benefit of all shareholders) and consider accelerating share repurchases again via a tender offer. Our valuation analysis tells us that Apple should trade at $203 per share today, and we believe the disconnect between that price and today’s price reflects an undervaluation anomaly that will soon disappear.

Icahn calls Apple’s new iPhone models “best in class” and applauds Apple for growing its mobile ecosystem of services that surround the handset, including Apple Pay, HealthKit, and more.

Beyond simple price comparison, we see the iPhone as best in class, supported by expert reviews and by the lines of people all over the world waiting to buy it. Perhaps most importantly, we believe the iPhone will take market share because its merits are no longer viewed in isolation from the overall Apple ecosystem of products and services, which include iOS, iPad, Mac, Apps, App Store, iCloud, iTunes, and (more recently) Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Home, Health, Continuity, Beats. With the iPhone as the foundation, Apple’s ecosystem has come to play an important role in the daily life of Apple users, and while Apple continues to make impressive strides to improve it, the competition falls behind in what is arguably the most important race of this technological era.

For its part, Apple has acknowledged Icahn’s letter but made given indication on its plans for the future beyond its current policy of reviewing the capital return program on an annual basis.

We always appreciate hearing from our shareholders. Since 2013 we’ve been aggressively executing the largest capital return program in corporate history. As we’ve said before, we will review the program annually and take into account the input from all of our shareholders.

Icahn disclosed last year that his holding company had taken a large position in Apple with Icahn now owning 53 million shares of AAPL. Icahn’s note follows Apple’s April announcement of an increased stock repurchase program that authorizes the purchase of up to $90 billion in stock and a 7:1 stock split that was instituted in June 2014. As part of its capital return program, Apple pledged to return more than $130 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.

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Apple Delaying Mass Production of 12.9-Inch iPad to Deal with Strong iPhone 6 Plus Demand

Apple and its suppliers are delaying plans to mass produce the larger 12.9-inch iPad in order to deal with strong demand for the iPhone 6 Plus, reports The Wall Street Journal. Apple was originally planning to mass produce the larger tablet in December, however the company has remained unsatisfied with the production output from its suppliers for its larger iPhone.

Mockup of a 12.9-inch iPad next to a 13-inch MacBook Air

“The top priority for the supply chain is to meet the overwhelming demand for the larger screen iPhones. The output of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus remains unsatisfactory,” said a person at a supplier. “It would be challenging for display makers to split resources and spend a few months to ramp up production for a new larger screen iPad now.”

The report also states that Foxconn is having issues with hiring enough factory workers to assemble the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus at its factory in Zhengzhou, China, making it even more difficult to begin production on a new device. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that the 12.9-inch iPad will feature a resolution similar to the current iPad Air’s 2048 x 1536 display. Suppliers are also said to be preparing for mass production of the 12-inch MacBook Air in December, which follows similar information from a report yesterday.

A report from Bloomberg in August claimed that Apple would be launching the 12.9-inch iPad in early 2015 after plans for the tablet was put on hold earlier this year. However, that report also noted that the larger iPad would include a high pixel density that nears ultra high-definition quality. The larger tablet was said to be an effort to “shake up the iPad line” as sales of the iPad have been on the decline for the past two quarters.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPad Air 2 and next-generation Retina iPad mini along with new iMacs and perhaps a new Mac Mini at a special event next Thursday, October 16.

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Video Walkthrough of Apple CarPlay on Pioneer Receiver Shows Siri, Phone, Maps, and More

Last week, Pioneer announced that it became the first company to offer support for Apple’s CarPlay vehicle integration feature in five of its 2014 NEX in-dash multimedia receivers through a firmware update. Now, Josh Carr of technology repair firm Fix Denver (via TUAW) has put together a four-part video walkthrough of downloading, installing and using CarPlay on Pioneer’s $700 AVH-4000NEX receiver, giving an overview of various apps and features.

After the 200 MB firmware update is downloaded from Pioneer’s website, the user is required to create a bootable USB drive for the update which can be done through Disk Utility on OS X. From there, users plug the USB drive into the powered-on receiver and scroll to the device’s settings to initiate the firmware update. Carr notes that the vehicle containing the deck must be on during the process with its emergency brake enabled. CarPlay then pops up on the receiver’s home screen as an option, and boots into its own interface once selected.

Carr demonstrates a variety of different apps on CarPlay including Phone, Music, Spotify and Apple Maps along with how Siri integrates itself into the interface. Like on the iPhone, the Phone app contains options for Favorites, Recents, Contacts, Keypad and Visual Voicemail and uses Siri to tell the driver who is calling. The Music app contains options for iTunes Radio, Genius playlists, Artists and Now Playing, as Siri can also play a song when requested.

Meanwhile, launching the Messages app allows users to compose a message and send it to a specific contact through Siri. Incoming messages can also be read back to the user, and can also be replied to. When showing the Spotify app, Carr notes that there is no way to search for songs and that its interface is generally buggy and unresponsive at this time. Apple Maps and its GPS directions appears to be as responsive as the iOS app, and also allows for routes to be read back to the user.

Early reviews of CarPlay from Consumer Reports and Australian technology EFTM gave the system positive reviews, saying that it was easy and safe to use because of exceptional Siri integration. Aside from the $700 AVH-4000NEX, Pioneer is also bringing CarPlay support to the $1400 AVIC-8000NEX, the $1200 AVIC-7000NEX, the $900 AVIC-6000NEX, and the $750 AVIC-5000NEX. CarPlay is also compatible with Pioneer’s new $600 AppRadio 4 smartphone receiver.

CarPlay for supported Pioneer NEX in-dash systems is enabled through a free firmware update available on the manufacturer’s website. The interface requires an iPhone 5 or later along with iOS 7.1 or newer.

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Apple Retains Top Spot as World’s Most Valuable Brand in Latest Interbrand Rankings

Apple has retained its top spot as the world’s most valuable company in the latest rankings from consulting firm Interbrand, reports The New York Times. With its top spot in the rankings, Apple also bested fellow technology companies Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Samsung, which came in 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th place, respectively.

On September 9, 2014, Tim Cook held up a wallet and said, “Our ambition is to replace this.” A bold statement to be sure—but we’d expect nothing less from Apple, #1 on the Best Global Brands list for the second year in a row. Referring to Apple Pay, a new mobile payments platform that enables consumers to pay for items with Apple devices, Cook signaled that Steve Jobs’s 2001 vision of Apple becoming the “digital hub” of its consumers’ lives (Macworld Expo 2001) has finally been fulfilled.

In what CNNMoney.com called “one of the most ambitious product launches in its history,” Apple unveiled not only Apple Pay, but also the long-anticipated Apple Watch, a wearable device that combines health and fitness monitoring with mobile computer capabilities, and launched two new iPhones that are faster and smarter than previous versions and feature larger screens. The iPhone 6 Plus, which embraces the larger-form factors, could pose a serious challenge to Samsung’s GALAXY Note. Though iPhone sales were up prior to the new product launch, particularly in China where China Mobile is now signed as a carrier, the iPhone 6 Plus may further assist penetration in Asian markets where larger-screened devices are preferred.

In last year’s survey, Apple overtook Coca-Cola as the most valuable brand in the world after the beverage corporation spent 13 years in the top spot. Apple was valued at $118.9 billion in this year’s survey, up $20.6 billion from its $98.3 billion valuation in 2013.

Apple launched the larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 last month, with both devices selling a record-breaking ten million units during their first three days on sale. The company also announced its highly-anticipated Apple Watch wearable device in September, which will come in multiple screen sizes and collections when it launches next year. Apple is expected to unveil new iPads, a 27-inch iMac with Retina Display and perhaps a new Mac Mini at an event next Thursday, October 16.

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Apple Opening Princes Street Retail Store in Edinburgh, Scotland on October 18 [Mac Blog]

Apple today announced (via ifoAppleStore) that its new Princes Street retail store in Edinburgh, Scotland will open next Saturday, October 18. The date was revealed this morning on the multi-colored banner that has been surrounding the location since July. Apple spent over a year constructing the store, which was followed by nine months of delays as it attempted to finalize its design.

Image credit: ifoAppleStore
According to the Edinburgh News, the building containing the retail space was built in 1769 as the Crown Hotel. Throughout the past 40 years, the location has been occupied by a number of tenants including Woolworth’s, Burger King, Waterstones, and Evans. The new store will also follow Apple’s recent trend of constructing retail stores in historical buildings, most recently done with its MacArthur Chambers Store in Brisbane, Australia.

Image credit: ifoAppleStore
The Princes Street location will be Apple’s 38th in the United Kingdom, and will join the company’s Braehead and Buchanan Street stores in Glasgow. Like with other store openings, it is likely that Apple will give out free shirts to the first 1,000 customers to visit the new location.

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