Apple Sells 1.5B iPhone Apps in First Year

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint lose out by subsidizing Apple's cell phone

(NEWSER) - Apple's profits are soaring , but at the expense of cell phone carriers who subsidize iPhone sales. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all pay about $600 for iPhones that they resell to customers for $200. The carriers figure they'll make up the loss with monthly cell phone bills—but Verizon and AT&T stock have both dropped, and Sprint's losses have ballooned by 40%, since they started selling the coveted iPhone, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Apple founder's character questioned by many interviewees

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs had an FBI file, assembled during a 1991 background check when Jobs was being considered for an appointment by George HW Bush, and the agency has just made it public after a FOIA request from the Wall Street Journal . Read all 191 pages here , or check out highlights below from the Journal and Gawker :

• Jobs' past drug use is a frequent topic in the file, but interviewees seem to agree that he had left that lifestyle behind him.
• One man calling himself a former "good friend" of Jobs said that the Apple founder is "basically … honest and trustworthy," but that "his moral character is suspect." Jobs, the man continued, "alienated a large number of people at Apple, as a result of his ambition."
• Another source did not want to discuss Jobs, due to "questions concerning his ethics and morality."

Motorola's patent infringement ruling in Germany doesn't last long

(NEWSER) - Apple's enormous profit machine stuttered momentarily in Germany today when Motorola enforced a patent infringement ruling against iPads and iPhones, banning their sale for a short time, the BBC reports. An appeals court yanked the ban after Apple made a new offer to license the patent. "A suspension like this is available only against a bond, but Apple is almost drowning in cash and obviously won't have had a problem with obtaining and posting a bond," wrote a patent consultant in his blog . More»

Company sells 37M as earnings double

(NEWSER) - Apple's first quarter since the death of Steve Jobs went very, very well: The company reported that net income doubled to a record $13.1 billion from the same period last year, reports MarketWatch . That translates to $13.87 per share, beating by a mile analysts' estimates of about $10 a share, notes the Wall Street Journal . Credit the iPhone: The company shipped 37 million, well more than the 30 million analysts expected. The iPad also did well, with 15.4 million sold instead of the 13.8 million that were forecast. More»

Asia provides workers, flexibility that US can't match

(NEWSER) - Last year, President Obama asked Steve Jobs whether iPhones could be made in the US instead of Asia. Jobs was blunt: “Those jobs aren’t coming back." The New York Times takes a long look at why. In short, Asia has a surplus of engineers and factory workers who work cheaply in flexible companies—so flexible that one reportedly roused thousands of workers at midnight to produce redesigned iPhones on a massive scale. Says a former White House adviser: “If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried.” More»