The iPhone 5 launch on Wednesday, Sept. 12, is sure to be the most important event for tech investors this year. The Motley Fool will be hosting a live chat where our top tech analysts will answer your questions and break down what the announcement means for Apple and tech investors everywhere. Be sure to swing by Fool.com at 12:45 p.m. ET next Wednesday for all your coverage of Apple's next big announcement.
This week was probably a good one for your portfolio. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) was up 1.6%, the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) was up 2.2%, and the Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) was up 2.3%. For the Dow and S&P, these were highs they hadn't seen since late 2007/early 2008. For the Nasdaq, it was the bubble heights of 2000.
As a result, many stocks had good stories this week, but one stock stole the show: Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).
Apple announced that its anticipated iPhone 5 launch will be Sept.12. Technically, Apple only strongly, strongly hinted, but you get the idea. You can read a preview.
Meanwhile, the shadow of Apple has been looming large over both the smartphone and tablet spaces in recent years. That reality was highlighted this week as Nokia, Google, and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) made announcements. If you're like we are at Fool HQ, each announcement was critiqued in relation to how it'll compete with Apple.
Nokia unveiled two new Lumia smartphones powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system. The market was so impressed that its stock fell 16% on Wednesday. On the plus side, it seems Nokia wasn't overshadowed by Google's Motorola Mobility and its three new RAZR phones.
But it's Amazon that's reaching new 52-week highs on the strength of its new Kindle tablet offerings. In short, Amazon kicked dirt in the face of other Android tablet makers, served notice that it's competing throughout the tablet price range, and showed off some fancy upgrades to its basic Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire. On the e-reader side, the Kindle Paperwhite boasts a backlit screen and a longer battery life. On the Kindle Fire side, two new HD versions were launched.
If casting a shadow over smartphones and tablets weren't enough, Apple took a swing at music streamer Pandora on Friday, as it appears Apple is in talks with record labels. The upshot is a Pandora-like streaming product for the Apple ecosphere. Pandora shares dropped 17%. It almost seems unfair.
For more on Apple's prospects for dominating the mobile space, check out our new Apple premium report. You'll be surprised to learn that even with the hype, Wall Street is still underappreciating Apple. Read all about it.
