Tag: Recap »

It's pretty fair to say that 2013 has been an incredible year for Apple. With the company's stock price currently reflecting upwards of $550 a share, it's clear that investors have renewed faith in the firm's ability to deliver on its mission to create some of the world's most desirable products.

One such investor is billionaire business mogul Carl Icahn. Publicly announcing back in August that he now holds a "large stake" in $AAPL, Icahn is perhaps most known for his reported hostile takeover of Trans World Airlines in 1985.

[image credit: CNN Money]
While Icahn is keeping quiet on exactly how big his stake in $AAPL is, the Wall Street investor is said to be in ongoing negotiations with company CEO, Tim Cook. These talks, if successful, could see Apple increase its recently announced stock buyback program for investors, resulting in Icahn potentially buying back as much as $60 Billion in stock options.

But it isn't just the arrival of newfound investors that has seen the company elevate itself to the point of operation we see today. New hires were also a large part of Apple's fiscal 2013. The most prominent of these being the confirmed hiring of Burberry CEO, Angela Ahrendts.

Apple announced new iPod Nanos and iPod Touches today as expected. In addition, iTunes 8 was announced. All the stuff we knew was coming due to leaks. What we didn't get were new features or the notification service (originally promised for this month, but pulled from developer betas recently) for the iPhone OS.

While iPhone OS 2.1 was announced, it's a bug release fix only. Promised fixes include improved iTunes backup times, fewer dropped calls, better reception, better battery life, and fixing app crashes. We'll see when it's released Friday for iPhones. iPhone OS 2.1 comes on the new Touch out today so expect some reviews online in the next couple hours.