You know what, I’m thinking Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) might be a stock worth investing some money into over the long haul.  Now by no means am I a stock investor, or an analyst.  But I’m just looking at the this from an average Joe position.

Just yesterday, Apple beat out Exxon Mobile to become the world’s most valuable company with Apple earning what is now (as of 1:17pm EST, 8.12.11) a market cap of 350.40 billion dollar – something Apple has never accomplished before.

So you’d think that Apple is growing by leaps and bounds, and you’d be right – it is.  But consider also that Apple hasn’t even broken ground in any major way in China yet with the iPhone and iPad.  And also consider, according to Apple Insider, that Apple’s iPhone has only 4 percent to 5 percent share of all mobile phones, and the Mac owns a similar share of total PC sales.

According to Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee, “We believe AAPL has opportunity to double or potentially even triple its market share in these end markets over the next few years, particularly with Greater China and international as underpenetrated opportunities.”

And just glancing at the media frenzy that’s already building around the upcoming Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, or iPad HD – and couple that with these products launching in China and other international companies, you’re talking about something on the scale that the world has never before seen.

So you think AAPL stock and market cap is through the roof now, wait until it doubles or triples in value.  With AAPL market cap right now sitting at 350.40 billion – multiply that by 3 and you have a company with market cap of 1.05 trillion (that’s right – trillion) dollars.

image by AppAdvice

Blackberry maker RIM continues to struggle to keep up in the fast moving smartphone space.  The traditional “Blackberry” phone model is quickly being replaced by app heavy, touch display smartphones such as the iPhone and Android smartphones.  And despite the changes in the mobile phone marketplace since 2007, RIM seems to have failed to make the necessary changes to the product design to keep up with customer demand.

Another area where RIM is seriously lacking is in the developer space – meaning Blackberry doesn’t have a substantial apps marketplace for their devices.  The Blackberry Playbook is their attempt to enter the tablet market to compete with the iPad, but instead of focusing on their own apps marketplace, they’ve attempted to incorporate the Android marketplace.  Something that is not working out well for them.

So with all of this, RIM is now having to cut 2,000 jobs, or 10% of their workforce, as they struggle to maintain profitability.  Customers are simply moving away from Blackberry devices and purchasing Apple’s iPhone and Android smartphones instead.

via Gaurdian

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares are on the rise in Wednesday trading due to financial reports showing that Apple retail store growth is outpacing overall Apple growth.  Apple shares (AAPL) are up +1.54 (0.44%) trading at 349.83 per share. Retail sales grew 90 percent to $3.19 billion, compared with overall revenue growth of 86 percent.  Apple currently runs 323 retail stores worldwide. Same-store visitors surpassed the 800 million mark in 2010, and Apple is expecting to serve its one-billionth customer perhaps this year (2011).

The store concept is working well for Apple, obviously.  And as a result of this “brick and mortar” concept, other tech companies seem to be following suit.  For example, Microsoft opened their first retail location just last year.

via Google Finance

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed up today +3.73 (1.12%) at 336.13 on news of Apple’s Mac business and rumors of Apple beefing up team for cloud computing services.

Apple has moved up to the #4 spot in top PC vendors in the U.S. with an 8.5% market share, this according to MacObserver.  Apple is aggressively growing their Mac business and gaining grounds in the PC market.

Also today, Apple watchers have discovered job board posting that indicate Apple is looking to beef up on employees who specialize in cloud computing services.  This indicates that Apple is looking at the future of the products like iTunes as being a could based service.

According to PCWorld, a listing on Apple’s job site sniffed out by Apple watchers Wednesday suggests that the company is eager to add bodies to a “small team” working on the “future of cloud services at Apple.”

via NASDAQ.com

1)  priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN): Up 1.59% to $491.69. Priceline.com Incorporated enables consumers to use the Internet to save money on a variety of products and services. The Company’s product allows customers to name their own price on products or services and communicates that demand directly to participating sellers or to their private databases. Participants include domestic and international airlines, and hotel chains.

2)  Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI): Up 1.56% to $64.35. Whole Foods Market, Inc. owns and operates a chain of natural food supermarkets in the United States. The Company’s stores provides full range of merchandise, featuring products that are free of artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, preservatives, and added chemicals. Whole Foods also develops, produces, and markets nutriceuticals and nutritional supplements.

Google had a big day today in the news with the FTC announcing a settlement with Google over the privacy issues resulting from Google Buzz, and also Google’s announcement of Google +1.  All of this must have been relatively encouraging news to investors as Google’s stock price actually closed in the positive.

Google shares (NASDAQ:GOOG)  closed up +0.11 (0.02%) at 581.84.

Google settles with FTC

From Rueters:  Google Inc. has settled with U.S. regulators investigating privacy problems that cropped up in its botched roll-out of social network Buzz, the Federal Trade Commission said on March 29, 2011. Under the deal, Google agreed to set up a comprehensive privacy policy and to have independent privacy audits every two years for the next 20 years. Under the settlement, if Google makes assertions about how a customers’ private data will be treated it must get their consent before shifting to a less restrictive privacy policy.

Google +1

From Google Blog:  Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible. But relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages. That’s why we recently started to include more information from people you know—stuff they’ve shared on Twitter, Flickr and other sites—in Google search results.

Today we’re taking that a step further, enabling you to share recommendations with the world right in Google’s search results. It’s called +1—the digital shorthand for “this is pretty cool.” To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful. These +1’s will then start appearing in Google’s search results.

via Google Finance

Netflix is a apparently a very fluid machine.

One minute they are focusing exclusively on delivering movies via mail and streaming online, and the next minute they are looking to content.

Well the recent decision by Netflix to shift into content, and potentially launch their own network (think HBO or Showtime), has made some investors uneasy about the future of the stock.

Today on CNBC, one analyst commented that Netflix was making the move into content out of necessity – out the pure fact that Netflix will not be able to sustain a high growth rate under the current business model.

This would obviously be a negative outlook on the long term health of the company.

But despite what some analysts believe to be a negative move by Netflix, the overall market today has been more than happy with company.

Network shares (NASDAQ:NFLX) are up a whopping +7.67 (3.46%) at 229.06.

However, looking at the Google Finance chart of Netflix, shares are dropping in the after hour trading.

It will be interesting to see how Netflix fares tomorrow in the market.

With Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) once again establishing itself as the dominant force in the tablet market with explosive sales figures for the iPad – reportedly selling 1 million units this weekend alone in the US – shares of AAPL are up while the entire NASDAQ composite is down currently -21.44 (-0.79%) at 2,694.17. The iPad 2 went on sale on Friday at 5pm at Apple stores, AT&T and Verizon, and various other retailers, and within hours, reports were coming in that the stores were wiped out of their iPad 2 inventory. Some Best Buys reported that the iPad 2 sold out in less than 10 minutes.

via Google Finance

For some reason, I find myself captivated as to what the most searched stocks are on Wall Street. And not only what the stocks are, but more importantly, why are they so heavily searched – what causes them to rise to the top so quickly amongst all the stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ.

Here are the top three stocks being searched right now according to Google Finance:

#1:  Aetna Incorporation (NYSE:AET) is currently the number one most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  Aetna declared yesterday that company’s Board of Directors has agreed to increase the company’s cash dividend to shareholders and move the company to a quarterly dividend payment cycle. (source)

#2: Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLS) is currently the second most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  SmarTrend identified an Uptrend for Chart Industries (NASDAQ:GTLS) on September 09, 2010 at $17.00. In approximately 5 months, Chart Industries has returned 113.6% as of today’s recent price of $36.32. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Chart Industries have traded between a low of $13.85 and a high of $39.32 and are now at $36.32, which is 162% above that low price. (source)

#3: Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:SVLF) comes in as the third most searched stock on Wall Street.

The reason:  The small cap stock of Silverleaf soared after the company announced that it will be acquired by SL Robert Holdings Inc., an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Under the terms of the agreement, SL Resort Holdings will acquire Silverleaffor $2.50 per share in an all cash deal. (source)

This is a little bit scary, I must admit.

According to the Wall Street Journal, hackers have successfully penetrated the computer systems of the NASDAQ over the past year.

And this has not been just a one time occurrence.

The NASDAQ computer systems have been successfully hacked and penetrated repeatedly over the past year, according to NASDAQ officials.

According to the WSJ, “So far, [the perpetrators] appear to have just been looking around,” said one person involved in the Nasdaq matter. Another person familiar with the case said the incidents were, for a computer network, the equivalent of someone sneaking into a house and walking around but—apparently, so far—not taking or tampering with anything.

An investigation is now being conducted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has been aggressively pitching as much as $1.5 billion in Facebook shares to wealthy investors, while simultaneously disclosing they might sell or hedge its own $375 million investment in the social network without any warnings to clients.

Is this not a double standard, hypocritical position to take, especially in light of the fact that you (Goldman Sachs) are trying to push nearly $1.5 billion in Facebook shares to wealthy investors?

Wow… not good for the already tarnished reputation, and integrity, of Goldman Sachs.

Chart of Goldman Sachs shares as news broke during yesterday’s trading:

via Bloomberg

Dell is looking to acquire data storage company Compellent Technologies Inc. in an effort to bulk up the Dell server infrastructure.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) previously pursued storage company 3Par Inc. However, Hewlett-Packard ended up closing the deal with 3Par, leaving Dell with Compellent Technologies.

With the future of cloud computing looking bright, Dell is looking to offer more services to its customers via the cloud – or over the web.

According to Bloomberg, the explosion of cloud computing has spurred Dell and other computer companies to add storage, software and service capabilities, so that they can provide all the equipment for data centers in one place. “Dell would like to own some of the intellectual property they feel will be important as people move to a cloud infrastructure,” said Lamba, who rates the shares “hold.”

Dell shares closed about even today on the news of the Compellent acquisition:

image via BoingBoing

Yahoo shares started to tumble yesterday amidst rumors that the tech company would be making significant layoffs starting in December. Some initial rumors were that Yahoo would be laying off 20% of its staff. However, that number was rebutted with a correction to around 10%.

Regardless of the where the exact number comes in at, Yahoo shares (NASDAQ:YHOO) started to take a dive yesterday as the news hit the wires. Yahoo shares are closed yesterday at -0.25 (-1.49%) at 16.55.

With Google dominating the search landscape, and Facebook seemingly dominating the content landscape, Yahoo has a real problem on their hands. If everyone is search on Google and consuming content on Facebook, there where exactly does Yahoo fit in?

Perhaps Yahoo needs to find ways to leverage the Facebook API and integrate more directly with Facebook.

Thoughts?

With the iPhone 4 problems (antenna gate and supply side issues) now taking a back seat in the media, and with the iPad expanding on the global stage, it’s no wonder that Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) have reached an all time new high at the close on Friday. Apple’s stock price closed at 314.74 +12.43 (4.11%) at the closing bell.

Some other news that may be pushing the stock price higher is the new Apple TV concept, and the next generation iPad.

What are your thoughts on why Apple stock prices have reached a new, all time high?

via Google Finance

According to Google Finance, here are the top 5 stocks that were winners today, Tuesday, October 12, 2010.

1) King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Public, NYSE:KG) – up 39.31% – King Pharmaceuticals (KG) shares are up up 39.5 percent to $14.15 on news Pfizer is taking over the company. Bloomberg had an interesting story highlighting action a couple of months ago. (source: WhatsTrading)

2)  Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:MYGN) – up 10.28% – The increase in trading volume and price shows that investor are very optimistic regarding the stock and are expecting positive earnings in coming quarters. Intraday trading could provide healthy one day returns. (source LB News)

3)  OfficeMax Incorporated (Public, NYSE:OMX) – up 9.34% – Shares of OfficeMax (OMX) and Office Depot (ODP) are both higher this morning after JP Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers “ran the numbers” on the office supply stocks, deeming them worth much more than the stocks reflect. (source: Barrons)

4)  Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:GMCR) – up 7.22% – Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ stock, which has tumbled 27% over the past two weeks following news of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, closed 7.2% higher Tuesday. The buying frenzy was sparked by speculation that Nestle, the world’s largest food company, was considering making a bid for the specialty coffee maker. (source:  CNNMoney)

5)  RealPage, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:RP) – up 6.78% – no news available about RealPage, Inc.

Most Active Stocks in Tech – NASDAQ: (AAPL, MSFT, BIDU, CSCO, HPQ)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – A possibly expensive legal claim for Apple Inc (AAPL) is in the works… As reported by the AP earlier today, “A jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay $625.5 million for violating patents owned by a firm founded by a computer science professor. Apple Inc. is challenging Friday’s verdict from the federal court in Tyler, Texas, saying the court has not yet looked at some of its counterclaims.” (source: CreditCardOutlaw)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft has been slapped with its second downgrade in two days.  Sasa Zorovic at Janney Capital rates Microsoft neutral, down from a buy, in a new note, says Eric Savitz at Barron’s. He’s lowering his price target to $28 from $30. (source: BusinessInsider)

Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU) – Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell this morning repeated his Buy rating onBaidu (BIDU), raising his price target for the China Internet search company to $105, from $90. (He needed to do something, with the stock yesterday closing at $96.22, above his old target. (source: Barrons)

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) – Skype today announced that it has named Tony Bates, who has been a senior VP at Cisco (CSCO), as CEO. He succeeds Josh Silverman, who is leaving the company. Silverman was previously an executive at eBay; he also co-foundedeVite. Bates joins the company at the end of October. (source: Barrons)

Hewlett-Packard Company (NASDAQ:HPQ) – Equities research analysts Gleacher & Company gave shares of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) a “buy” rating with a price target of $53.00 in a research note to investors on Friday after the company announced that Leo Apotheker would become the company’s new CEO, saying that the move was a “wild card” purchase. The analysts set a $53.00 price targe ton the company. (source: AmericanBankingsNews)

It’s 9:12pm on Monday 10.4.2010 and here are the top 5 stocks that people are searching for on Google. These stocks have the highest current search volume on Google based on velocity.

Sara Lee Corp. (Public, NYSE:SLE) – Sara Lee (SLE) shares are up $1.08 to $14.51 and implied volatility is higher following reports over the weekend that the company has rejected a takeover offer from KKR. Options volume is 29X the recent average daily and being led by buyers of Nov 15 calls. 5,575 traded (66 percent Ask). Meanwhile, implied volatility is up 24 percent to 31.5, compared to a 52-week high and low of 43.5 and 20.5 (source: WhatsTrading.com)

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (Public, NYSE:CCE) – Coca-Cola Company (KO: 58.88 -0.24 -0.41%) closed the acquisition of the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE: 22.01 -9.79 -30.79%) for a total consideration of $12.3 billion. (source: DailyMarkets.com)

The Mosaic Company (Public, NYSE:MOS) – The Mosaic Company has just reported strong earnings growth and frankly it helps to highlight just why BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP) is willing to pay so much to acquire Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan  (NYSE: POT).  Unfortunately, the earnings cycle here is not enough to insure that a merger will occur nor is there any assurance that Potash will even get a higher price that is being sought. (source: 247WallSt.com)

American Express Company (Public, NYSE:AXP) – The Justice Department on Monday sued a trio of card payment-processing giants, alleging the way they deal with merchants violates antitrust laws.Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. settled the suits and agreed to change rules to let merchants offer discounts based on whether customers use cash or different cards. But American Express quickly vowed to challenge the federal suit.Amex shares slumped more than 6%, while Visa rose and MasterCard slipped less than 1%. (source: TopStockPicks.com)

Actel Corporation (Public, NASDAQ:ACTL) – Shares of Actel Coporation (ACTL) surged 32% Monday on news that chip maker Microsemi Corp. (MSCC) agreed to buy the power management components developer for about $430 million, or $20.88 a share-net to each holder in cash. (source: WallStreetPit.com)

via Google Finance

Well it didn’t take long for us to learn how Wall Street felt about RIMM’s new Blackberry Playbook tablet. No sooner did the stock market open this morning did RIMM shares (NASDAQ:RIMM) start nose diving. RIMM shares are currently down -3.64% or -1.76 points at $46.60 per share. Not sure exactly what Wall Street didn’t like about the new Blackberry Playbook – perhaps its the estimated price of $300 – $350. Or maybe it’s the actual release date that shows the Blackberry Playbook won’t arrive to the market place until after Christmas.

Thoughts?

via Google Finance

Intel, the prominent chip maker, made a surprising move yesterday when they acquired online security firm McAfee.

Read the breaking news: Intel acquires McAfee.

As soon as the news broke, Intel shares dropped immediately and continued to spiral throughout the day.

McAfee shares increased dramatically because of the acquisition. Primarily because McAfee was already in a downturn in their market,.

One other firm that is benefiting from the Intel acquisition is Symantec.

Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) is primary competitor to McAfee. When Intel acquired McAfee, it created a sense of instability with McAfee, primarily because no one understood (and continues to not understand fully) why Intel would acquire McAfee.

So while all of this commotion surrounds McAfee, Symantec is benefiting from their otherwise stable position in the online security market.

Apple shares have been able to rise above the overall tech sector so far in the month of August.

The NASDAQ (NASDAQ:.IXIC) is currently at 2,178.95, -19.28 (-0.88%) for the month.

Apple share (NASDAQ:AAPL) are currently at 249.88, +4.3 (1.75%).

I see one definitive reason as to why Apple is staying way ahead of its competitors, and it all has to do with the iPad.

While all other competitors are preparing to launch their first iPad competitor, Apple is getting ready to launch it’s next iteration of the iPad – the 7 inch iPad.

I would call this the 3rd generation iPad actually.

We first saw the iPad Wi-Fi only version.

Then came the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G version.

And now we are about to have the iPad 7 inch tablet.

Again, it’s a good indication of why Apple is rising above the tech sector as whole.

Thoughts?

via Google Finance

Looking at the chart for Apple shares this past reminds me of a roller coaster that I just rode at Hershey Park in PA. Massive ups and downs – sharp declines followed be even sharper inclines. There is no doubt that Apple shares have had a tumultuous week.

Even so, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed the week out down only 3.74% which is not much off the mark of the entire NASDAQ which closed down 3.11%.

Apple had a lot of criticism flying in its face this week over the iPhone 4 antenna and signal strength issues. It got so bad at one point that the Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, chimed in with his own criticisms of how Apple and Steve Jobs were responding to the issue.

Read Chuck Schumer’s letter to Steve Jobs here.

I expect Apple shares to rebound this coming week due to a favorable press conference that Steve Jobs had today with the press. During the press conference, Mr. Jobs discussed the iPhone 4 antenna issues, admitted there were problems, and offered solutions to iPhone 4 customers. Ultimately, he let customers know that Apple is going to do everything they can to ensure that their customer base is 100% satisfied with the iPhone 4. And this message of clarity, direction, and leadership from Steve Jobs will probably allow Apple shares to shed some of the jitters it experienced this past week.

Here is what some analysts have to say right now about Apple shares:

Analysts try and prepare investors for the fallout from today’s call.

Analysts feedback via Business Insider.

NTP Corporation, which is best known for the patents it holds on wireless email technology, was most recently in the news for receiving a settlement from RIM (maker of Blackberry), in a court case claiming that Blackberry devices violated their patents.

NTP now has their sites set on a multiple other mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple Inc., Google Inc., HTC Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Motorola Inc.

Again, NTP Corp. is claiming that all of the mobile phone makers are in direct violation of patents that NTP owns regarding wireless email and other wireless technology.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares are holding steady as this news is breaking.

Apple shares are currently trading +1.32 (0.51%) at 259.41.

Apparently, NTP gained some confidence from the RIM settlement case and is now turning their sites on all major mobile phone makers claiming patent violations.

June has been quite a month for Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL). From the iPhone 4 pre order frenzy to the official release date of the iPhone 4, and now rumors about the Verizon iPhone coming in January 2011, June has turned out to be a headline month indeed for Apple.

However, despite the major headlines and record breaking iPhone 4 pre orders and sales, Apple’s stock price is down over 2% for the month June.

The stock market has responded favorably to the iPhone 4 release and other moves made by Apple. And now with the news that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon, Apple could quite possible double their iPhone sales.

It is interesting that even though Apple has had a banner month as far as products are concerned, their stock price is still down over 2% for the month of June.

Is it possible that anything iPhone related will impress Wall Street until the iPhone is available on other carriers besides AT&T? Or has Apple stock prices already accounted for the iPhone 4 future sales and the Verizon deal?

NASDAQ:AAPL – Apple Shares up; 600,000 iPhone 4 Pre Orders

Apple shares are up sharply today as a result of better than expected iPhone 4 pre order figures.

Despite that fact that the NASDAQ is down currently .02%, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL)  having been roaring ahead due to their strong iPhone 4 pre order figures. Apple is reporting that despite the AT&T and Apple online store setbacks, over 600,000 iPhone 4’s were sold. And let me add that 100% of these were the black iPhone 4’s as there were no white iPhone 4’s available.

Apple shares are currently trading at +7.41 (2.85%), at a price of 267.10.

iPhone 4 pre orders were a bit a fiasco for many customers. Both the AT&T and Apple store site were crashing throughout the day due to unplanned spikes in traffic. AT&T data centers were so overwhelmed that reports of iPhone 4 orders were being taken by AT&T reps with pen and paper. And the issue with customers not being able to order the white version of the iPhone 4 made the ordering process stressful for many iPhone 4 customers.

However, despite the major technical and logistical set backs yesterday, Apple was still able to amaze investors with their volume of sales of the new iPhone 4.

The white iPhone 4 is expected to be released by August 2010.

NASDAQ:AAPL – Apple Shares Up Slightly on iPhone 4 Pre Order Day

Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) are up only slightly on the the day that Apple releases the new iPhone 4 for pre orders.

If we were measuring the success of the pre order iPhone 4 launch by web traffic, then I’d say that Apple was successful. The excitement and anticipation building around the iPhone 4 pre order launch was unprecedented, and once the iPhone 4 did launch earlier this morning, both the AT&T and the Apple website’s have been struggling to stay online due to massive traffic spikes.

Now if we were measuring the success of the iPhone 4 launch based on the Apple share prices on the NASDAQ, then we’d be talking about a totally different thing here.

Apple shares are only up slightly at +4.64 (1.82%), trading at 258.92 (at the time of this writing). That is trending below the overall NASDAQ market that is currently up 2.30% at 2,295.55.

The market does not seem overly impressed with the new iPhone 4, at least at this point in the game. The pre order was scheduled today but that was about it. The iPhone 4 release date is scheduled for June 24th – so we’ll see how Apple stocks perform from there.

NASDAQ:AAPL – iPhone 4 Pre Order Pushing Apple Shares Higher

Apple shares up on the NASDAQ with the iPhone 4 pre order date coming up tomorrow.

Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) are currently trading up +4.72 (1.86%) at 258.40 as tomorrow is the day that Apple releases the iPhone 4 for pre ordering. You can pre order the iPhone 4 from several locations tomorrow as Apple is preparing itself for a massive wave of demand. Sources state that Apple plans on selling approximately 3 million iPhone 4 devices per month.

Here is a list of the places that I know of for pre ordering the iPhone 4 tomorrow:

1. The online Apple Store
2. Best Buy
3. Radio Shack
4. Wal Mart
5. And of course AT&T

Factors affecting Apple share prices:

June 24th – Official iPhone 4 release date

Some other factors that could be affecting Apple share prices right now is the June 24th release date of the iPhone 4. On June 24th, stores throughout the United States will open their doors to customers who can then purchase the iPhone 4 from the shelves.

FTC investigation launched

Apple is finding itself under investigation from the FTC for certain rule changes made in its App Store. Some of these rules Apple is implementing prohibits certain developer tools as well as blocking mobile ad networks from accessing applications.

NASDAQ

On the day that Apple releases the iPad internationally, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) start the day out strong on the NASDAQ. As of now (10:30am EST), Apple shares are up +4.51 (1.78%), currently trading at 257.98.

When the NASDAQ opened this morning, Apple shares took an initial jump upward on the news of long lines, and crazed iPad fans waiting all night to get their hands on Apple’s “magical” iPad.

Here’s a graph showing Apple shares jumping up as the NASDAQ opened this morning:

Supplies of iPad could impact share prices

As Apple is already experiencing here in the United States, high demand and inadequate supplies of the iPad are causing potential sales targets to be missed. And by looks of some video and images being captured of iPad fans waiting to get their iPad, it doesn’t look like the international demand for the iPad device is going to be any less than it is here in the US.

Potential 4th generation iPhone announcement coming

Coming up next month, on June 7th at the WWDC2010, it is widely expected that we’ll here Steve Jobs announce the new, 4th generation iPhone during his keynote speak.

With the iPad launching internationally, and the release of the next generation iPhone, Apple shares could climb above 400 points by the end of summer.

What do you think?

Do you think we’ll see Apple shares break 400 by the end of this summer?

NASDAQ:GOOG – Google Android Beats Windows Mobile Marketshare

Google Android Sales Growth

Google share (NASDAQ:GOOG) are up in early morning trading with news that the Google Android mobile operating system is outgrowing Windows Mobile powered phones worldwide.

Google’s stock price is currently up +14.23 (3.01%) at 486.28.

During the first quarter of 2010, mobile phones powered by Google Android OS soured 707 percent in sales which was enough to overtake the Windows Mobile market share worldwide, according to PCMag.com.

Worldwide mobile phone sales grew 17 percent in the first quarter to 314.7 million units. Of those, 54.3 million were smartphones, a 48.7 percent jump from the same period one year ago.

Google Android Market Share

Google Android’s market share comes in at 9.6 percent (up from just 1.6 percent in Q1 2009), while Windows Mobile has now fallen behind at 6.8 percent (down from 10.2 percent).

As you can see, Windows Mobile market share is decreasing while Google Android market share in increasing.

Mobile OS Market Share

Symbian still leads the pack with 44.3 percent market share (down from 48.8 in Q1 2009). BlackBerry OS devices come in second at 19.4 percent (down slightly from 20.6), while iPhone OS rings in third at 15.4 percent (up from 10.5 percent).

Google Android OS outlook

Looking forward, Google Android’s market share is sure to continue increasing. Google is looking at expanding their Android Operating System into TV’s (Google TV), cars, and pretty much anything that has data displayed on a screen.

As we approach the market’s close for this week, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares are down nearly 6% or -14.78 points. Apple stock prices had a good jump early Tuesday morning, but then headed down throughout the rest of the week and Apple shares were not able to recover.

Apple Struggles with iPad Supply

According to Apple Insider, calls to 50 Apple retail stores throughout the US revealed that the iPad 3G remains completely sold out, even though we are now weeks after it’s launch. Apple stock analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said his team contacted representatives at 50 Apple retail stores and found that 74 percent of them were sold out of all models of the iPad, with the Wi-Fi model available in 26 percent of stores, and the 3G version sold out.

The backlash of limited iPad and iPad 3G supply

One of the ways Apple is dealing with the iPad shortage is by offering customers the option to be placed on a “Notify Me” waiting list, and the Apple retail store would then hold that customer’s iPad for 24 hours after it arrived.

One Apple store representative told Munster that customers who enlist in the in-store reservation system typically wait 4 to 7 days to receive an iPad. That’s better than the 7 to 10 day wait found via Apple’s online store.

Regardless of the time a customer has to wait to get their iPad, the problem with Apple’s iPad supply problem might actually start affecting Apple share prices. Limited supply of iPads and iPad 3G’s could affect the sales projections that investors were anticipating, and in turn affect the sales forecast.

Apple representatives admit they were caught off guard by the demand for the iPad devices. And because of the iPad supply problems, Apple had to actually delay the international release of the iPad.

iPad International Release Date 5/28

So we are now about 7 days away from the international release date for the iPad and iPad 3G. And if things go anything close to what we’ve seen here in the US, then Apple’s supply issues – and perhaps at some point Apple’s stock prices – could start having a negative impact on Apple’s ability to expand their product.

But then again, we are talking about Apple here, so all of this “negative” talk could be way off base.