After getting overloaded with economic bailout reading over the weekend, something techie floated to the top of the pile that caught my attention. It seems that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is rejecting quite a few submissions to its App Store, where aspiring iPhone application developers send their programs so that iPhone customers can buy them.

The only problem is that Apple is not telling rejected (and dejected) application developers why their programs are not being approved. Also, the non-disclosure agreement the company is sending out prevents these developers from talking about their rejected iPhone app situations. Is this Apple being its usual self: controlling, closed and mum? The company really (really) knows how to design something the consumer wants and markets its sleek goods in a way other companies just can't figure out. But in addition to that, it retains a tight control on the entire ecosystem in which its products exist.

Perhaps it's the best form of quality control -- but it's not freedom. And developers want freedom, or, at the least, communication. Apple seems to be extremely tight-lipped, which is odd but not surprising.

On another Apple-control-freak note, Apple is now restricting reviews of iPhone Apps to people who have paid for them. It seems that the Wisdom of Crowds argument, which says that putting people in control leads to wisdom, isn't working here. Of course, there is also the vocal minority which can't be pleased by anything and trashes everything that doesn't fit a preconceived notion. Apple is turning on the quiet switch in this situation as well. So here's my proposal for a new motto: Apple: Think Different (but don't communicate it).

When Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) released the iPhone 3G back in July, little did it know (most likely) that the device would have issues worldwide connecting to 3G networks, causing consumer frustration on a level we've rarely seen with any Apple product. Well, some consumers have apparently given up and they're moving back to the older, slower, original iPhone, which is causing a cottage industry to spring up around the older device.

NextWorth.com is charging $200 to $300 for a used iPhone (the non-3G kind), which is more than the price of the newer, sleeker and faster iPhone 3G. Why? There's demand -- and lots of it. Some customers don't want to be shackled to AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), the exclusive carrier for the iPhone and iPhone 3G in the U.S., as the original iPhone can be unlocked very easily using software tools found all over the internet. Once unlocked, the original iPhone can be used at any WiFi hotspot. There are no 3G connectivity issues either.

Does Apple have a problem now that the older, discontinued iPhone is still in hot demand? No. People using iPhones, new or old, reinforces the brand among other things, and Apple still made the original sale after all. If there is any loser here, it's AT&T. The largest wireless carrier in the U.S. still has the smallest nationwide 3G wireless network compared to its competitors. Launching a product with the magnitude of the iPhone 3G was just asking for problems given AT&T's network, and some informed customers don't want AT&T at all.

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G continues to sell like gangbusters even with multiple issues and some furious customers. But, if Apple really is bent on selling over 10 million of the now-iconic, do-everything handset, it may need to beef up its sales as best it can. Enter China Mobile.

That's right -- the wireless company that has more subscribers than there are U.S. citizens may be selling the iPhone 3G soon, according to reports. And we're not talking gray market handsets, but an actual partnership between Apple and China Mobile. Talks between the two companies, according to the 21st Century Business Herald, are in "final stages."

China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou stated this week at the ITU Telecom Asia 2008 exhibition in Bangkok that "Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible ... we are discussing this issue, but we do not have an agreement." If Apple can get its do-everything handset into China Mobile, we've not seen anything yet in terms of iPhone 3G sales.

IPod sales may be on the decline in the near future -- but can the iPhone 3G make up for that? We'll see.

It's so odd to see a developer's conference turn into a PR machine for arguably the world's hottest tech company, but about all of the geek crowd is sitting on pins and needles this morning waiting for the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) from Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to begin. Why? Well, the expected unveiling of the iPhone 2, of course.

As I wrote last week, Apple's shares may inch towards $200 today depending on what product bombshell Steve Jobs drops on the world. If you bought shares when they were in the $120 range back at the start of 2008, are you going to take a profit should shares reach the $200 level? Apple, like most of the market, took a beating this past Friday as the DJIA dumped almost 400 points in a single day, but that doesn't mean AAPL shares will not make up for lost ground. Customers are still buying Mac computers and iPhones like there's no tomorrow -- recession or not.

The trick is this: Apple could score a major coup if an iPhone 2 is announced today -- and is immediately available for purchase at Apple stores. This is being predicted, and it's not really out of the realm of reality. The original iPhone was a launch of monstrous proportions, but it was announced in January 2007 and released in June 2007. The hype built in that gap was so large that iPhones flew off the shelves once June came last year. The hype is now for the newer, speedier iPhone that has extended capabilities and a possibly lower cost. If that happens when Jobs takes the stage at 9:30 a.m. PDT this morning, expect the market to take notice and AAPL shares to lift past their ending $186.25 price from Friday's market close.

The hysteria will begin soon -- catch it here live.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) continues to have some of the most sought-after products in the tech world between the iPhone, its iPods and its Mac computers. Although AAPL shares have swooned down 37% in 2008 after hitting $200 earlier in the year, the good news continues for the company at a time when market volatility has hit it hard.

CEO and company co-founder Steve Jobs is sticking to his guns, saying that Apple still has no plans for releasing a dividend to shareholders nor buy back shares to pump up the stock price. In other words, there's no knee-jerk reaction from Jobs based on silly market antics that have depressed the share price of his company. Apple's annual shareholder's meeting happened yesterday at its Cupertino, Ca. headquarters, and Jobs reiterated that the company will indeed sell 10 million iPhones in 2008.

Still, the market has punished Apple's share price in the last 60 days in severe fashion. The company missed its second-quarter financial expectations, creating a market frenzy around a possible slowdown of consumer cash aimed at Apple's products. Then again, Jobs said that the iPhone would be introduced into Asia in 2008 and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer reiterated that Apple's investments have "not had any material losses to date on (sic) our investment portfolio."

It seems that market analysts and pundits can't stop pulling out their anal selves from the woodwork to worry about possible sales discrepancies between Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone sales numbers and accompanying AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) iPhone activations. Some have even pointed out what I call the one million plus unit discrepancy.

Is this speculate discrepancy way off the mark? Analyst Ezra Gottheil thinks so. There is some market fear that Apple's iPhone sales not meeting up with AT&T's iPhone activations means that Apple stands to lose out on two years worth of revenue on those "missing iPhones." Apple's sweetheart deal with AT&T gives the tech company a cut of every AT&T iPhone customer's monthly bill, you see.

Does Apple stand to lose future revenue streams by selling iPhones that are not activated by AT&T customers? Sure -- but it's not a huge financial impact to the company according to Gottheil. Although quite a few iPhones have been rumored to have been sold, unlocked (using multiple hacking methods) and used with non-AT&T wireless carriers, these numbers have not been wholly verified by either Apple or AT&T. Has AT&T stockpiled unactivated iPhones that represent Apple's sales numbers and AT&T's lower iPhone activation numbers? That's highly doubtful. Until a solid explanation comes forward, is it that big of a deal to Apple pundits? For the time being, it seems so.

AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) will report fourth quarter earnings this Thursday, and the largest phone company in the U.S. is expected to report $0.71 per share on revenue of about $30.56 billion. In the wireless arena, AT&T is expected to gain about 1.85 million customers for the quarter. At the same time its landline telephone business continued to see a consistent decline. Home landlines are going out of style -- and the iPhone is taking over in much of that market.

The gain on the company's wireless side is going to inevitably be linked to the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. Just a week ago, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that four million iPhones have been sold since its debut last June. With the bulk of those having been sold to AT&T customers, both companies are reaping the benefits from the enormous popularity of the all-in-one wireless and data device.

Add holiday wireless sales plus the second full quarter of iPhone sales into the mix, and AT&T will most likely meet Wall Street expectations this Thursday. The decline of the company's consumer landline business -- which accounts for only about 20% of the company's revenue -- will be overshadowed by iPhone sales and the excellent growth it's seen in wireless subscriber numbers. AT&T's world has changed markedly from a decade ago, shifting from wireline to wireless. Alas, the company has taken advantage of this perfectly and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has become a more powerful force on the "desktop" of the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone as of this week, changing the way its Gmail web-mail program interfaces with the iPhone's software as well as creating a more computer-like email experience on the now-ubiquitous smartphone.

Gmail now presents itself pretty much like it does on a PC web browser when used on an iPhone (with the most updated software installed, of course). That is, messages are synced across platforms. Read a message on your iPhone, it becomes "read" on your PC's web browser or laptop screen. Sounds like a minor update, but it's really not.

Apple and Google are working to make the iPhone one of Google's premier places for showcasing its content. From email to news readers to maps to documents, expect Google's entire range of online applications to be available on the iPhone soon. Missing from the iPhone is any trace of software from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), naturally.

Could Google soon be seen on many new Apple laptop PCs as the "software of choice," even though an internet connection is required to use most of those applications? Seeing as though Google saw more hits to its website on Christmas Day from iPhones compared to other devices, the two companies are making a compelling partnership case-study thus far, much to Microsoft's chagrin.

Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock has lost 15% of its value since it peaked at $202 a few weeks ago. How much further will it drop?

Apple partnered with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) for the introduction of Apple's iPhone. Bloomberg News reports that AT&T's CEO see softness in consumer markets. As people foreclose on their homes, AT&T is disconnecting more home-phone and high-speed Internet customers for failing to pay their bills. Are iPhone customers too affluent to stiff AT&T on their bills?

Meanwhile today's introductions of new Mac Pro computer and Xserve server products have not helped Apple's stock which dropped $6.39 today. At a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 1.6 -- on a Price/Earnings ratio of 45 and earnings growth of 28% to $6.49 in the year ending September 2009, Apple stock does not look cheap.

Does Apple have further to fall or is it a screaming buy at $171?

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Although the media and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) have pushed the iPhone as a consumer device, apparently some business users are finding out that they like it too. Staunch business customers who are tech-savvy, complain about the lack of email flexibility that the iPhone provides, citing Microsoft Exchange and RIM BlackBerry Server functionality being absent. To some business customers who need mobility in the first place, though, the device is still easier to use than a Windows Mobile device or a BlackBerry.

SAP, the German computer software giant, allows the use the iPhone for business, even letting employees to work on their iPhones outside the office. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is another company that sees the usefulness of the combination iPod/cellphone as a business tool, regardless of how it's always been marketed -- as a consumer device. So, the large question is this: could Apple's iPhone eat into the huge portable email and web browsing market share Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) now has with its BlackBerry device line?

When a senior executive from SAP states that "It's fun ... it's so popular," one has to wonder if teenage peer-pressure vernacular and groupthink carries over from Apple's marketing overlords into the business world. After all, Apple is more successful at marketing than anything -- and that's what's responsible for its huge success in recent years. Business users, however, demand logic and ROI, not marketing fluff. The iPhone is the real deal, combining both functionality and marketing. With a real web browser and forthcoming applications, it could indeed become a business tool of choice. Once the iPhone becomes compatible with RIM or Microsoft corporate email systems, watch for sales to become even hotter. Don't think Apple doesn't have this functionality waiting in the wings once a 3G iPhone arrives next year.

As Doug noted a few days ago, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will be releasing an updated iPhone some time in early 2008 that will work on AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T)'s 3G wireless data network. After AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson said this last week, it's been confirmed by Apple on several occasions. But, as an aspiring iPhone customer who may have been thinking about buying one this holiday season, will you be more apt to plunk down that $400 knowing that a new version will be out in just a few months (most likely)?

This story is a recurring one for different electronics and gadgets every six months. There is always an upgrade, a better product or a next new thing -- it's what keeps customer buying more and more stuff and it's also what keeps consumer electronics manufacturers plan for a steady income stream. Smacking Apple's holiday sales by sitting on a public stage (of sorts) and stating that, yes, AT&T will have a new iPhone in early 2008, might have just been a backhand against Apple's head.

The relationship between Apple and AT&T has been an odd one form the very start, no matter how professional it looked in January of this year when both companies announced the iPhone, and their exclusive partnership in the U.S. While Apple gets a cut of every iPhone user's bill, AT&T gets all these new customers and books all that revenue. Sounds like a win-win situation. That is, except for the customer. Then again, much business is not longer about the customers, it's about the company's bottom line.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone landed in France yesterday, just in time for the holiday shopping season. As expected, the iPhone culture instantly took hold with one waiting iPhone customer wanting to "buy the first iPhone in Paris." Talk about someone needing their 15 minutes.

France Telecom, which operates the Orange wireless carrier in that country, said it wanted to be able to claim 100,000 iPhone sales this year, which gives it a month to make that sales figure.

Wireless consumers in Europe, though, are generally used to more advanced equipment than what U.S. customers receive, and the slower 2.5G network that the current iPhone operates on, plus its high price (just under $1,000), may turn off some customers in France and other European countries. So far, though, those limitations have not slowed iPhone sales in the U.S.

Apple will be launching the iPhone in Asia next year. With dreams of 10 million unit sales in 2008, Apple has quite a few sales to make next year. With a launch in Asia, though, it should be able to make that number quite easily based on population density alone.

The game of tag between Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and those ingenious hackers who want to turn the iPhone into the modern-day Swiss Army knife has reached a new levels of sorts. Some of those wondrous hackers are now saying that the iPhone sends information back to Apple about each iPhone owner's habits regarding phone use, web surfing and digital media choices.

Although some of the things Apple hackers say can be construed as a little over the edge, this one may be entirely plausible. The main mantra out of this newer revelation is this: why isn't Apple disclosing such facts to each and every iPhone user? How it collects data, when it collects it, and where does it go?

If each iPhone is collecting a decent amount of data about many of the popular facets of usage for each customer and sending that information back to Apple, a few lines in a terms of service agreement aren't going to cut it. Apple's apparent privacy breaches here could give the iPhone a bad rap in some circles, although I doubt it's enough to dent sales in any measurable way.

Looks like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is interested in acquiring mobile content company Musiwave to up its stance on mobile entertainment. Musiwave gives wireless carriers the capability to offer branded ringtones, callback tones, and even full music track downloads from the web directly to a handset. With mobile ringtones being a billion-dollar industry, it seems appropriate for Microsoft to have interest. Has the revenue ship already sailed for the most part, though?

Not exactly. Musiwave's customers sound like the 'who's who' of European mobile media wireless content providers: O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, Telus, Telefónica, and Virgin Mobile. Will Microsoft use this acquisition to push its Zune and Windows Live brands into the hands of millions of mobile phone users? Of course -- that's the whole reason behind the interest in acquiring Musiwave. Trying to find an edge to gain footage on Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes universe is no easy feat.

Sliding cellphone users into the world of the Zune-i-verse makes for a challenging but doable prospect for Microsoft. Apple iPod Touch and iPhone users can use the WiFi capability of those devices to access and download music content off the air wirelessly, and Microsoft needs the same capability. However, the difference here is that any mobile provider can be used -- not just a generic WiFi wireless internet hotspot.

When I meet fans of Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) products, it quickly becomes obvious that these people are in love with the brand. I highly admire Apple myself, although I own none of the company's products. The marketing, design and advertising finesse the company displays has literally no equal in the world right now when it comes to consumer electronics.

But after reading this article about the iPhone's security problems, one begins to think about all the possible time-bombs that are in the clutches of Apple's fans right now. The iPhone product, which sold over one million units in the first three months of launch as reported in Apple's quarterly results this week, is a phenomenon that's still going strong. It has technical shortcomings, but those are easy to ignore given its user interface and 'wow' factor. Evidently, though, there is a major thorn in the side of the product, and it's one that could prove disastrous if the iPhone becomes as ubiquitous as the Windows PC became over a decade ago.

The flaw, as noted by several computer security experts, rests in the way the iPhone's operating system was designed. A popular product -- like Microsoft's Windows, for example -- always becomes a target of digital thieves and hackers, and so far, the iPhone is headed up that scale very rapidly. Security experts liken the problems inherent with Apple's iPhone to the same problems Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) faced when it released Windows 95 over 10 years ago.