There was plenty of news and chatter during this month’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco—some of it even true.
But even wrongheaded speculation can move the stock market.
A June 11 story on Michigan-based financial news site benzinga.com fueled rumors that Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software Inc.’s “push-to-talk” service was included on Apple Inc.’s new mobile operating system, iOS6. Investors acting on the report traded up Smith Micro shares 13% on the day.
Smith Micro’s shares eased back after it nixed the rumors, and Benzinga changed its story.
“Currently, we don’t have any mix with the push-to-talk product in regards to the iOS6,” spokesperson Suzanne Runald said.
In other conference-related news, the Business Journal confirmed that another OC company has a supply deal with Cupertino-based Apple. Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. again will have its Wi-Fi transceiver, Bluetooth chip and memory-card reader chip in Apple’s latest version of its MacBook Pro laptops.
Technology website iFixit.com first revealed the latest Broadcom-Apple connection in an online teardown.
Apple’s latest laptop lineup starts with the MacBook Air, for $999 and up, to a $2,199 MacBook Pro featuring a 15.4-inch screen with high-resolution LED-backlit display.
Broadcom tends to stay tight-lipped on its business ties with Apple, even though the company was its biggest customer in 2011, holding the designation for the second straight year.
Apple accounted for 13.1% of Broadcom’s nearly $7.4 billion in revenue, which rose 11.1% in 2011, according to its annual report.
That means Apple accounted for almost $970 million in revenue for Broadcom last year.
Driving Drives
Higher prices for hard-disk drives in the wake of last year’s floods in Thailand prompted record revenue for the segment in the first quarter.
Global sales topped $9.6 billion, besting $9.3 billion in the first quarter of 2010, according to Englewood, Colo.-based market tracker IHS Inc.
The revenue spike came as disk drive shipments dropped to 145 million units, down from 174 million units in the third quarter, just before the floods swept over Thailand in October, shutting down both of Irvine-based Western Digital Corp.’s plants there and others as well.
Thailand is the world’s second-largest producer of disk drives behind China and is also a major supplier of hard drive components.
Western Digital ships about 60% of its disk drives from Thailand, where it employs some 37,000 people.
The average unit selling price shot up nearly 29% from the third quarter of 2011 to roughly $66 in the first quarter this year.
Prices will stay higher throughout this year and 2013, helping the industry make up for some of the losses in the last nine months, IHS storage analyst Fang Zhang said.
Cupertino rival Seagate Technology LLC held the market share lead in the first quarter at 46%, followed by Western Digital at 32%. San Jose-based Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd., which Western Digital acquired in March for $4.8 billion, had 11%.
Seagate, which acquired Samsung Electronics Co.’s disk-drive business earlier this year for $1.4 billion, is expected to maintain its lead over Western Digital for at least another quarter.
Bits and Pieces
Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. inked purchase orders worth $2.8 million to supply two unnamed companies with its natural gas storage tanks. Quantum, which recently named Brian Olson chief executive, is refocusing its efforts and resources solely on the automotive sector after years of misses in a number of automotive and renewable-energy markets. … Fountain Valley-based networking equipment maker D-Link Systems Inc. launched a new product that allows users to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix, YouTube and Facebook. MovieNite Plus will soon add Hulu Plus to its offerings, the company said. The small media player also streams music and digital photos with Picasa and features built-in wireless and Ethernet connectivity and an HDMI port. Consumers can preorder the product for $80 at Amazon.com. It will be available at retail and other online outlets in July.
