Apple Computer Inc

Apple Computer Inc. has filed to trademark the phrase "Mobile Me" for use in a wide range of businesses, furthering speculation that it could introduce an iPod phone. Apple made the filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 5. The areas that the trademark covers include computing devices, mobile devices and mobile services such as music, video, games, e-mail and messaging across the Internet, intranets, extranets, and television, cellular and satellite networks, the filing shows.

As competitors continue to pull out of the portable audio player market, Apple Computer Inc. beefed up its iPod product mix with a new 1-gigabyte version of the nano and lower-priced shuffles. The pencil-thin, flash-memory-based iPod nano player now ranges from $149 for the 1-gigabyte model to $249 for the 4-gigabyte model. Previously, the 2-gigabyte nano was the least expensive model at $199. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple also cut the prices of its bare-bones iPod shuffle players.

Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its most powerful computers to date Monday, a line of high-end machines that complete the company's transition to processors made by Intel Corp. Mac Pro desktops will have two of Intel's dual-core Xeon processors, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing, said during a showy presentation kicking off Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The Mac Pro has processors up to 3.

Apple Computer Inc. probably wishes the Beatles would just let it be. Lawyers for Apple Corps, the Beatles' music and licensing company, have sued the Cupertino, Calif., company for allegedly breaking a 1991 pact limiting the role the computer maker could play in the music business. The lawsuit -- filed in London after the successful debut in April of Apple Computer's iTunes online music store -- asks a judge to enforce the pact and to award damages.

* Cupertino-based Apple Computer Inc. laid off an unspecified number of workers as part of the company's ongoing restructuring efforts, company officials said. A spokeswoman for Apple said the layoffs affected less than a few hundred people and represent cuts announced last year. Total employment was 9,300 at the end of December. Apple shares closed down 25 cents at $18.97 in Nasdaq trading.

Apple Computer Inc., its losses ebbing but still huge, sought to convince customers it's on the comeback path a day after it reported a $708-million quarterly loss. The troubled personal computer pioneer placed full-page ads in major newspapers in which Chairman Gil Amelio expressed confidence in the company's recovery. Amelio, in a television interview, also vigorously countered persistent speculation that Apple could be sold or taken over.

Beleaguered Apple Computer Inc., searching for a way to reinvigorate its business, is trying to use the Macworld show here this week to position its Macintosh computer as the ideal vehicle for cruising the information highway. Like many companies in the computer industry caught off-guard by the popularity of the Internet--and particularly the graphical portion known as the World Wide Web--Apple is scrambling to put together a business strategy to capitalize on the Net.