ELECTRONICS

Don't want to buy Apple at $700? Here are other stocks for riding the iPhone 5 wave.

Apple's iPhone 5 phone may sell as many as 10 million units by Monday as customers flooded Apple Stores and mobile carriers.

Shortly after Apple's launch of iOS 6 on Wednesday, developers are already flocking to the new operating system's organized mobile payments storage application, Passbook. With major online ticket retailers and services like StubHub, Ticketmaster, and Fandango all jumping on the Passbook bandwagon, Apple may have gained an early lead in the mobile payment marketplace even as new enterprising operations like Square and eBay try their hands at integrating credit card transactions with smartphones and mobile devices.

There are fears over the economic impact of the dispute between China and Japan if the row over islands in the East China Sea is not resolved soon.

Tangible results to alleviating China's rising temper against Japan seem nowhere to be found. U.S. officials are urging for calm and peace, but the reality on the streets is that Chinese anger and frustrations are dealing increasing damage and violence to businesses carrying Japanese branded products. Meanwhile, a massive Chinese fishing fleet is soon expected to arrive in the waters off the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, worsening the prospects of a swift resolution.

Only two countries are members of the 1 billion mobile phone users club: China and India. In the latter, Nokia and Samsung are battling for the top spot, but their big worldwide rival is an Indian no-show: Apple and the iPhone. Here's why and what's at stake.

Want to play the iPhone 5 craze created by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and not pay the price for Apple's near-$700 shares. Think of some of its suppliers like Arm Holings (Nasdaq: ARMH) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), or even Corning (NYSE: GLW) whose products are designed into the product.

When the first customers for the iPhone 5 from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, get their new products next Friday, chances are they’ll rave over the latest model, the upgrade for the nearly year-old iPhone 4S. But some anticipated items are absent, like an upgrade to Siri, NFC and biometric security.

Like all bad addictions, I’ve come to realize joy and utility no longer mask the negatives of Apple's intrusion into my life. My wallet, my brain and the people around me have suffered as a result of my dealings with the Cupertino giant. So I’m calling it quits. Apple, this thing of ours? It's over.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is expected to debut the iPhone 5 on Wednesday but there are at least five pitfalls that could endanger the company's huge success in the market. Here they are.

Royal Philips Electronics NV, the largest maker of lights, said Tuesday it plans to cut another 2,200 jobs by 2014 to save €300 million ($383 million) a year as economic conditions deteriorate.

Chances are there few personalities as creative, disruptive and rich in the technology sector as Jeff Bezos, the founding CEO of Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), the No. 1 e-retailer. He's put Borders Books out of business and could even put Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) in its place.

Asian stock markets advanced Thursday as market participants awaited the European Central Bank (ECB) policy decision meeting later in the day.

Ailing Finnish smartphone maker Nokia Oyj (NYSE: NOK) is betting the company that two new Lumia smartphones based on the new Windows 8 OS from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the world's biggest software company, will be international hits.

Dell is scheduled to report second-quarter results Tuesday below last year?s. For the first time, the company founded by Chairman Michael S. Dell nearly 30 years ago in a dorm room will be ranked No. 3 in PC sales, having lost its No. 2 ranking last quarter to China?s Lenovo Group.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), the No. 1 provider of Internet gear, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results Wednesday that are expected to be much better than last year’s when CEO John Chambers said the company was overmanned and was in the midst of layoffs and retrenchment.

Shares of BlackBerry developer Research in Motion (Nasdaq; RIM) jumped on speculation IBM (NYSE: IBM) might be interested in part of the company. But others like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), might also want its technology, too.

Technology may have a good second half of 2012 after all, despite all the fears of economic collapse, lower demand for PCs and other worries. After Computer Sciences reported better-than-expected results on Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard said third-quarter results would be stronger, too.

Nearly two weeks after AuthenTec Inc. (Nasdaq: AUTH) advised the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it had agreed to be acquired by Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, for $350 million, Apple still hasn’t made an announcement nor filed its own SEC report.

The world's third-largest employer suffered a damaged reputation in the wake of its mismanagement of security in London, but it may keep growing all the same. It has always done so.

Mountain Lion includes updates to Safari and also incorporates a number of features from its iOS system, but the most important update of all is AirPlay Mirroring. Even though it's not being discussed as much, this is the unique feature to watch out for in the near future.