Rumors have been circulating for quite some time now over the possible addition of colors to the line-up of Apple’s iPhones. It wasn’t until quite recently that there appeared to be some credibility to these rumors.

Among the colors that have been most discussed are: black (entire case, i.e. no chrome) and white (entire case with no chrome). While other colors have been rumored, it seems most likely that Apple will follow in its general suit of black and white, and leaves the door open for the possibility of more.

Pictures, which were leaked through iPhoneClub.nl, have been shown on the internet that display the new iPhone casing. The pictures supposedly originated from an unknown source inside a European accessory maker. They aren’t necessarily real, but the blogosphere has been going wild over these pictures.

Below are the three pictures in question:

Yesterday, Apple released a new update for the Leopard operating system. The upgrade, which has been a work in progress for a few months, now brings OS X to 10.5.3 from 10.5.2.

The latest update is intended for all Macs running Leopard 10.5.2 and comes in a 420 MB file for download from Software Update. Along with this, Apple posts the following information about the update:

The 10.5.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1141.
For detailed information on security updates, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The update also fixes some of the following on Macs:

• Includes additional RAW image support for several cameras
• Addresses an issue with stuttering video and audio playback in certain USB devices
• Improves 802.1X (Wifi) behavior and reliability and when using Time Machine
• Includes fixes for Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule
  (Source)

The infamous Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List is reserved for only the most select companies. The tendency is for the list to be immediate buys to take advantage of catalysts that may be in store for a company in the near future. Apple was just added to the list today, and the reasons are quite clear.

Apple was added to the list in direct preparation for the new release of Apple’s 3G iPhone, which is expected on June 9th, 2008 (Worldwide Developers Conference). The new phone has been expected to grab the attention of the business world by surprise and finally close the business gap between Blackberry products. The Blackberry products have long garnished the support of the business world as the best phone for the on-the-go corporate user. This support may all hang in the balance of the 3G advantage, which will all soon change.

Along with Goldman’s addition of AAPL to the conviction list, the analyst update includes a new price target to $220 per share. This number is about a $40 per share difference from Apple’s closing price of $181.17 per share today. The price target from Goldman Sachs was previously $185 per share for Apple stock, but this new target may have given investors restored confidence in the stock.

As was mentioned before Apple is being added to the conviction buy list to:

…capture the catalyst around the 3G iPhone launch next month and the upside potential from sharply higher projected iPhone sales in back half of the year.
(Source)

Time to buy on any pullbacks!

Today, Apple released an all-new iTunes video featuring Coldplay. The song was Vida la Vida, which is a song off their new album and is individually available for purchase before the album’s release.

The new iTunes ad features yet another color scheme and stays with a very potion colored purple. A link to the direct movie can be found here: http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple
/ipoditunes/2008/ads/apple_ipoditunes
_sonic_20080520_r560-9cie.mov

The ad was first aired at a recent American Idol.

On the next start of Microsoft’s AutoUpdate, Office 2008 for Mac has a Critical update waiting to be downloaded. The 180 MB upgrade, which takes users to version 12.1.0, is supposed to have/make:

…several improvements to enhance security, stability, and performance, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

In the month of April, Mac sales surged another 50 percent year over year. This was a huge leap compared to the broader market growth of about 17 percent year over year. Lehman Bros. forwarded analysis that points to Apple Inc.’s revenue growth at 46 percent. Alongside these staggering numbers was an impressive 15 percent leap in sales of iPod music players.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) closed up more than $2 to 185.90 during market hours. Third quarter earnings are due out July 22nd, 2008. Average estimates point to a $1.08 quarter in earnings.

MacRumors.com is forwarding a variety of news that speculates a MacBook revision to appear in the 3rd Quarter of this year. The news is originating from the Commercial Times, who is citing a research large purchase of flat-panel displays from AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics.

Read the full article @: http://www.macrumors.com/2008/05
/15/apples-next-macbook-due-in-q3-2008/

What seemed like a drastic collapse of Apple (AAPL) stock at the beginning of the year, has turned into a necessary sale to get rid of extreme speculation. It seems overwhelmingly true that Apple’s strategies and product moves have been quite beneficial to their earnings and in turn, its investors.

Finally, now halfway into the year, Apple is returning to its previous highs and filling in the gap at $200. The question now is should investors speculate at this point by purchasing shares in AAPL?

Before doing that, it’s important to understand that the MacBook Air has a lot of potential. The device is far ahead of the curve, and many people are still getting used to the fact that a fully-functional laptop could be without a CD/DVD-ROM drive. Along with that, the lesser power (CPU), fewer device inputs, and large storage reduction don’t help its cause. On the other hand, the device could see heightened popularity when the general population understands the practicality of a lightweight, highly-portable, and fully-functional laptop. Wireless standards have a lot of room to grow, but as wireless internet continues to grow in popularity and the sharing of broadband connections around the states increases, the device will continue to see a niche demand.

We’ve just published an article regarding the 3G iPhone update that should come within the next couple of weeks. With this update, price reductions may occur alongside a greater demand for the faster, greater business-like phone.

Be careful about purchasing more AAPL at these levels, but with any sizable pullback, a purchase consideration should be made.