Apple Corporate

Apple CEO Tim Cook is out and about in China, and it doesn't appear he's on vacation.

The iPhone maker's chief executive today was spotted in the Joy City Apple Store in Beijing, marveling at his company's products and talking with employees. Cook didn't say at the store why he's in China, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from speculating.

Apple blog AppleInsider is reporting today, citing sources, that Cook is in China to discuss his company's next-generation iPhone with the two carriers that offer Apple's handset, China Telecom and … Read more

A petition circulated on Change.org in January that targeted Apple -- demanding that it do more to protect workers in China who help build iPads -- was based on discredited claims and should be recalled, says a new petition.

More than 255,000 people signed the original petition posted to Change.org in early January by Mark Shields following a report about the human cost of Apple's labor practices on the radio show This American Life. The report has since been retracted by the show's producers.

Shields' petition, which called for Apple to create "a worker … Read more

Apple's nano-SIM technology, which could eventually become the new SIM card standard in mobile devices, might be one step closer to approval.

According to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, citing a "perfectly reliable source," Apple last week sent a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), saying that if its nano-SIM technology is approved by the organization, it would offer its patents to fellow mobile device makers at no cost. That stands in stark contrast to many other essential technologies in the mobile space that are only provided to companies for a fee.

That said, Apple did … Read more

Hope Apple investors had their seat belts fastened and their trays in the upright and locked position earlier today. Because they had quite the free-fall experience for a few minutes there -- even if it was a brief and seemingly accidental one.

Slightly before 11 a.m. ET, Apple shares suddenly plunged 9.4 percent, to $542.80, before an automatic "circuit breaker" cut in and halted trading. That was a drop of $57.69 from the opening price of $600.49.

Whew.

According to the WSJ, the culprit was BATS Global Markets, a stock-exchange rival to both … Read more

Apple says it's making progress on working conditions in supplier facilities.

The company recently issued its monthly report on "excessive work hours" in supplier factories around the world, saying that 89 percent of workers were in compliance with a 60-hour work week. In January, 84 percent of the employed workers were found to be in compliance.

According to Apple, the typical factory worker was on the job for 48 hours each week in February.

"That's a substantial improvement over previous results, but we can do better," the company wrote on its Supplier Responsibility page. &… Read more

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said today that he loved Mike Daisey's show, believes his message is crucial, and said he spoke glowingly of Daisey to Steve Jobs before the Apple CEO died.

In an interview with CNET, Wozniak explained that the media misunderstands what Daisey and actors do. He added that after seeing Daisey's show in Berkeley, Calif., last year, he did not take away the impression that Daisey bore a grudge against Apple.

"I didn't get the sense that Mike was anti-Apple," Wozniak said. "I think he loves Apple's products and I … Read more

Ask a technology company about the prospects for a dividend and publicly, you'll probably get a boring boilerplate answer about timing, the right use of cash, and its commitment to honoring fiduciary duties.

Inside, however, that company is probably snickering and dismissing the idea completely.

Why are technology companies--even major bellwethers sitting on a lot of cash--reluctant to pay a dividend? The short answer: it's uncool.

For most companies, paying a dividend is the ultimate admission that the growth phase (also known as the fun period) is over. Dividends are more associated with safe industries like utility companies, … Read more

Despite the undercutting of Mike Daisey's claims against working conditions at Foxconn, the company hasn't been fully exonerated.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, a fund manager at Polaris Financial Group with investments in Foxconn parent company Hon Hai Precision said that he and other investors will be keeping a close eye on what's discovered about working conditions at Foxconn's factories.

"The retraction has somewhat cleared Foxconn's name, but not all the way," Simon Liu told Reuters. "The press and stock investors will continue to watch how Foxconn treats its … Read more

Apple plans to pay a dividend, finally putting to use a portion of its $100 billion cash hoard.

The company said it plans to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1.

In addition, Apple's board has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in company's fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012. The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years.

"We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased … Read more