Apple Worth More Than U.S. Automotive Market; Controversial iBook Launches

Every week,  makes news with technology developments, business deals and, more often than not, controversies.

That’s where our weekly "Core Bytes" column on Apple comes in. We’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our favorite backyard tech giant.

Business Deals and Developments
Apple’s total value climbed to more than $400 billion on Thursday—worth more than the gross domestic product of countries such as Greece, Argentina, and South Africa. According to a blog devoted to tracking the company’s growing wealth, it’s also worth more than four American civil wars, two Apollo space programs, and the U.S. automotive market. 

Whatever the result, it’s bound to be big news: on Tuesday, Apple will report its Q1 earnings. Analysts are predicting a record-setting quarter, and a possible hint of new products (like TVs) to come. More specifically, they are anticipating earnings of $10.04 per share and revenue of $38.92 billion. 

A British teenager is flying to Cupertino to meet with Apple investors after his home-made app was selected as App of the Week on iTunes. He’ll also be meeting Apple design-head, British-born Jonathan Ive, who recently attained knighthood. 

Controveries
Is Apple, inadvertently, benefiting its competitor? Apple pulled the iPhone 4S out all but five of its Apple stores in China -- right before the shopping frenzy of the Chinese New Year Week of celebrations begins this Monday. Now several analysts and techies are speculating this could be good news for Samsung and its Galaxy S2.

The Apple-Samsung continue. A German court ruled against one of Samsung’s five patent-infringement complaints against Apple in the country. For this complaint, related to a 3G/UMTS wireless telecommunications standard, the judge did not provide a reasoning. Samsung has not decided whether it will appeal yet.

New Products
Apple has pinpointed another big market for its iBooks: schools. On Thursday, it released three pieces of software centered on education. One, ‘iBooks 2’, allows students to download textbooks for around $15. Another, iBooks Author, allows writers to easily create their owns texts online. Yet a controversial clause, prohibiting authors from selling the text anywhere but the iBookstore, has riled up more than a few people.

As Apple phones of the future become smaller and thinner, they will need batteries to match. On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent revealing an uber-thin battery: “electrode sheets” that fit into a curved enclosure of portable electronic devices.