AAPL

Aside from the WWDC kickoff, the big news on everyone's mind today (at least shareholders' minds) is the 7-to-1 stock split that will affect all shareholders of record at market closing time. Everyone holding one share of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) at that point will be holding seven after the market closes this Friday, June 6. Shares will begin trading on a split-adjusted price beginning Monday, June 9. This prompts a question: What happens to shares bought between today and Friday? The split will still take place, it will just take a bit longer for your brokerage account to be credited with the additional shares.

The big news of last week was Apple's agreement to purchase Beats Music. The acquisition of the subscription streaming music service, as well as Beats Electronics, which produces high end audio equipment like the "b" headphones, will finalize in

Several weeks of rumor, anticipation and speculation finally came to a close today when Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) formally announced in a press release that it will indeed acquire Beats Electronics, along with the Beats Music subscription service, for $3 billion.

As part of the deal, Beats co-founders, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine will join the team in Cupertino in as yet undisclosed roles. According to Iovine, "I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple... The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is

The big news of the past week was the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) - Google truce. Amidst what seems to be hundreds of patent infringement lawsuits going on around the globe, the two smartphone giants agreed to cease all litigation and "work together in some ares of patent reform."

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn bought another 2.8 million shares of Apple, bringing his total stake in the company to around $4.5 billion. His recent bullishness regarding Apple probably means good things are in store for shareholders.

Recent years have seen a seemingly endless amount of patent infringement lawsuits between the big smartphone companies, not just in the U.S., but around the globe. Just two weeks ago a verdict was delivered in Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) second patent suit against Samsung, in which Apple sought a monstrous $2.2 billion. That will likely be appealed and the legal battle will continue. The gray area of patent infringement needs to be cleared up if this state of affairs is ever to end, and Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility unit have taken a step in that direction by dropping their lawsuits against each other.

On Friday, a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a "joint motion to dismiss the appeal." Both parties agreed to dismiss all current and pending "litigation without prejudice." According to Reuters, the companies issued a

AAPL shares value had a relatively uneventful week last week, opening at $521.68 on Monday 4/14 and closing at $524.99 on Friday. This week should be more eventful since Apple will be releasing its Q2 FY 2014 earnings report at 5 PM Eastern this coming Wednesday, 4/23. You can access an audio webcast of the announcement at Apple's Investor Relations page.

Apple's Q2 guidance that was released in late January (and promptly caused the stock price to tumble) called for revenue between $42 and $44 billion. Fortune's poll of analysts returned an average revenue estimate of $43.5 billion. Many of