After blasting through the fabled $700 billion ceiling yesterday to become the most valuable publicly traded company ever, Apple shares are shooting even higher today. Before the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, many pundits---including we at WIRED---questioned whether Apple had run up against a wall of market saturation. Its record-setting earnings this past quarter erased that idea, and investors are now wondering how high Apple can go. As tech analyst Ben Thompson points out today, Apple is now moving into every aspect of our lives---health, home, car, and wrist among them. At this rate, a $1 trillion valuation almost seems reasonable.
Other tech business news we're talking about today:
Ever hear of Cody Johns? No? Chances are he's more famous than you. Johns is an actor with 2.9 million followers on Vine, the six-second video service owned by Twitter. Johns is also represented by Niche, a talent agency for social media stars that hooks them up with advertisers. Today Twitter announced it had purchased Niche for an undisclosed sum. In a blog post, Twitter praised Niche for promoting the "creator economy," suggesting a grassroots appeal. But as social media becomes its own entertainment medium, its stars are starting to look more like traditional celebrities.
Speaking of going everywhere, Apple is now heading into the skies. JetBlue announced yesterday that it would become the first airline to accept Apple Pay to buy food, drinks, and other items during flight. The move isn't surprising: airlines have shunned cash for years now, and with smartphone boarding passes becoming standard, the convenience of in-flight mobile tech is an easy fit. The bigger question is what happens when Android users demand the same.
After an absurd period of legal confusion that seemed to make unlocking your cell phone against the law, new regulations officially take effect today requiring your carrier to let you switch to a new one on request. As GigaOm reports, many carriers have been following the guidelines already after an uproar over the apparent ban on unlocking that took effect at the beginning of 2013. But not everyone is satisfied. In an op-ed for WIRED, iFixit's Kyle Wiens argued that the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act doesn't go far enough to ensure that unlocking never becomes illegal again.
Tesla's stock price over the past year has gone up and down like the power level of an electric car battery. The company has a lot going for it: a charismatic CEO, a giant battery factory under construction, and really cool cars you can fix by downloading software instead of visiting the mechanic. But as the company releases its quarterly and annual earnings later today---including closely watched production and delivery figures---the question is how much of that translates into sales, especially as falling oil prices lower the incentive to go gasoline-free. New, cheaper models are on the horizon hold promise, but Reuters reported yesterday that sales among tech geeks in China have been dismal. Maybe poaching a few more Apple employees could help.
