Apple Inc

Apple Inc. has surpassed Wal-Mart to become America's No. 1 music store, the first time that a seller of digital downloads has ever beaten the big CD retailers. Apple sold more albums in January and February than any other U.S. retailer, market research firm NPD Group said Thursday, underscoring how the music industry is on the front edge of a digital media shift that is upending businesses as diverse as bookstores and video game makers. U.S.

When the new iPhone goes on sale Friday, Apple Inc. will also launch an online software store peddling a potpourri of programs such as games, pedometers, tip calculators and language translators for the device. The company hopes that by enabling buyers to transform the phone into a personalized electronic Swiss Army knife of sorts, it can boost sales. "We live in a post-modern world of fragmented preferences," said Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at research firm IDC.

Mobile-phone maker Motorola Inc. sued a former executive now working for Apple Inc., accusing him of disclosing its trade secrets to aid in the marketing of Apple's iPhone. Michael Fenger left Motorola in March as vice president for the company's mobile-device business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is now Apple's vice president for global iPhone sales, according to a complaint. "He was privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives . . .

Apple Inc.'s strongest-ever fiscal third quarter wasn't enough to keep the bears away Monday as worries about the company's financial forecast sent its stock tumbling as much as 11% in after-hours trading. Despite seeing a huge rise in sales of its Macintosh computers recently, the Cupertino, Calif., company projected a drop in sales and profit growth in the current quarter. Apple said it was going through a "product transition" but would not elaborate.

Eight iPhone owners have joined an elite clan: Their gadget is running a program that cost nearly $1,000. When the iPhone first hit the market in June 2007, those who paid the $499 entry price -- and signed the two-year AT&T contract -- owned a status symbol. A year later, we have the iPhone 3G, Apple Inc.'s speedier, sleeker and, most important, less expensive smart phone, which introduced a section for downloading third-party applications.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday settled the last civil case against a former Apple Inc. executive accused of stock-option fraud, closing its investigation into one of Silicon Valley's highest profile companies. Nancy Heinen, who was Apple's general counsel until leaving in 2006, agreed to pay $2.2 million in disgorgement, interest and penalties.

Apple Inc.'s shares took their biggest tumble in eight years Monday, as worries about slowing spending hit technology stocks even harder than the broader market on a brutal day on Wall Street. Apple's 18% plunge was triggered by increasing evidence that sales of Macintosh computers were slowing. The company has been on a roll in recent years in large part because of the comeback of its Mac business, which has been growing three times as fast as the rest of the computer industry.

Apple Inc. investors experienced palpitations Friday after an apparently false report that Chief Executive Steve Jobs had had a heart attack sent shares down 9% in a matter of minutes. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the report, which appeared just before 7 a.m. EDT on iReport .com, a user-submitted news website run by CNN.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled a line of laptops Tuesday but did not dramatically slash prices. Instead, Jobs focused on a new manufacturing process for Apple's MacBook line of laptops, which carves the machine's casing out of a single 2.5-pound aluminum block. "This is a tour de force of engineering," Jobs said. The new aluminum MacBooks, which come with a glass multitouch track pad, will begin selling today starting at $1,299 for a 13-inch model.

Apple Inc. said Friday that it was donating $100,000 to fight the proposed ban on same-sex marriages in California, taking a rare political stand that may win over some customers and irk others. The computer and gadget maker joined such companies as Google Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in declaring opposition to Proposition 8, which would define marriage as only between a man and woman.