Not too long ago, Apple announced that they would be dishing out $2.65 per share to regular Apple stockholders, but even those within Apple that own restricted stock units will be getting a little something. By way of a securities filing, Apple has announced that those with RSUs (which aren't normally eligible for dividends) will get dividend equivalents, though with all of the same vesting periods, taxes, and other restrictions as usual. Interestingly enough, Apple CEO Tim Cook has declined to participate in the dividend equivalents, which would have netted him around $75 million.

The idea here is that Apple wants to make sure that employees remain properly incentivized by stock options, and have just as much of a vested interest in Apple's success as any other shareholder. As for Tim Cook turning down $75 million (before taxes, mind you), the gut reaction is to slather on praise, but considering he just cashed in a whole bunch of stock, money probably isn't a top concern right now, and the good will towards his employees is invaluable.

Source: MacRumors

Scott Forstall, Apple's high-profile Senior Vice President of iOS software, has sold off $38.7 million-worth of previously-restricted Apple stock according to recent security filings. Forstall had sold off about $33 million-worth of stock in March when the restriction first lifted, and the final sale here here leaves him with 5% of the 120,000 shares he was first given in 2008. Forstall still has another 100,000 restricted stock units that will be ready to sell in 2014 and another 150,000, half of which will vest in 2013 and the other in 2016.

While it may seem odd at first glance that Forstall would sell of so much stock now, with so much more of that juicy restricted stock lying ahead, it's easy to see him enjoying this lot of cash now and still sticking with Apple for the long haul.

Just like the first wave of stock sell-offs, it wouldn't be surprising to see other Apple execs cashing in sometime soon as well. Millard Drexler, who serves on Apple's board of directors, sold off a bunch of stock too for a total of $23.7 million.

Scott Forstall came to Apple from NeXT, which also brought Steve Jobs back to the company (along with almost all the new generation of Apple executives). Because of both the growing importance of iOS to Apple, and Forstall's political acumen, he has been rumored to be in line to be Apple's CEO once Tim Cook is done. Whether or not that ends up being the case, there's no doubt that Forstall's profile within Apple has risen as stratospherically as the iPhone and iPad themselves.

So with over $70 million in newly redeemed cash on hand, that just leaves one question -- what will he spend it on? Monster yacht? Jumbo jet? One of each hypercar on the Top Gear top lap list? A Cobra Commander style underwater headquarters? What would you spend it on?

Source: SEC via Fortune

Tim Cook isn't the only one cashing in Apple stock these days; Senior VP of marketing, Phil Schiller, CFO Peter Openheimer, VP of hardware engineering Robert Mansfield, and VP of iOS software Scott Forstall recently had the restrictions on some of their stocks removed, resulting in a sizable sell-off between March 24 and March 26. Even Cook sold off a few more. Here's the breakdown according to the SEC filings.

Tim Cook – Apple CEO

• 200,000 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $596.05-606.80.
• Total value: $119,715,170

Philip Schiller – Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing

• 64,151 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $602.30-603.05.
• Total value: $38,661,014

Peter Openheimer – Senior VP and CFO

• 150,000 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $596.05-599.33.
• Total value: $89,624,444

Robert Mansfield – Senior VP Hardware Engineering

• 56,016 shares sold at $596.05.
• Total value: $33,388,336

Scott Forstall – Senior VP iOS Software

• 55,849 shares sold at $596.05.
• Total value: $33,288,796

Total dollar amount combined: $314,677,763.28

Before anyone freaks out that Apple execs are losing faith in the company, this is actually pretty common practice, and not surprising considering these guys probably have lots more stock (restricted and otherwise) piled up. The timing also lines up nicely with Apple's plans to buy that stock right back. The AAPL stock price approached $615 a pop during the period the execs sold off, compared to around $350 at this time last year. This is the part where you start smacking yourself for not buying stock five years ago when it was down around $90.

Source: SEC Filings, iPhoneinCanada

Apple's stock (AAPL) hit an all-time high this morning, passing $500 based on rumors of an iPad 3 announcement in early March and their recent $46 billion in revenue, 37 million iPhone sales quarter.

Apple stock sat at $457 at the beginning of February, jumping nearly $50 in less than half a month. This isn't usual for the technology market, but Apple has been an exception to the rule in this case.

Apple's current market cap sits at $466 billion -- the most valuable company in the world. The question is -- how high can it still go?

Source: Google Finance

Apple has finally caught up with the huge demand for the iPhone 4S. For the first time since its iPhone 4S launch way back< in October/a>, all models of the iPhone 4S are now shown as in stock.

No matter which model you go for, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB or which carrier you choose from AT&T, Verizon or Sprint, they are all in stock. Even the unlocked and contract free models too.

Source: Apple Store via Macrumors

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Chris, Ed, and Rene talk Apple value, RIM's latest results, the uptake of Android, webOS going open source, Microsoft's mobile chances, HTML5 platforms, the future of LTE, and the year ahead. This is Mobile Nations Stock Talk.

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While we know it isn't going to happen, it is still fun to dream, so the question arises - would you like to have the option to download other keyboard options for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, like you can for Android? The iPhone keyboard is really good and a lot of people seem to type rather well on it, but wouldn't it be nice to have the option to change it? To have something like Swype or Swiftkey as an option? Or to get them in pink or yellow, or themed after your favorite band or video game or TV show if you wanted? Wouldn't it also be nice to have a custom layout, or different spacing?

Are you happy that there's only one keyboard to rule them all on iOS devices, or do you wish Apple would let you change them up? Vote in the poll up top and let us know why you feel the way you do in the comments!

At WWDC 2011 Apple once again "borrowed" a lot of great ideas from the Jailbreak community and gave them to iOS 5, including lock screen info, notifications, WiFi sync, volume buttons to take pictures, and a lot more. That's not a bad thing -- I even asked them to do exactly that this year. Whether you jailbreak or not, whether you realize it or not, the jailbreak community benefits all iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users -- pure and jailbreak alike.

Follow along to find out why.

For years, the common argument against Jailbreak (aside from the DMCA, from which Jailbreak was granted an exception last year) was stability -- it could make your iPhone buggier, slower, or crash more. The jailbreak argument is typically functionality -- it could let your iPhone do far more than Apple does out of the box. The great news, and the real secret here is, everyone benefits from Jailbreak.

Jailbreak to iOS

Over the years, several jailbreak applications and tweaks have slowly trickled down the pipe and found themselves becoming a core function of iOS at some point or another. For old school jailbreakers, they'll remember Installer fondly. Installer just recently made its way back to iOS as well. It truly was the first official App Store. I remember downloading games and programs to my iPhone first gen through installer on iOS 1.x via Installer and AppTap. Then Apple came along with iOS 2.x and the official App Store. Installer even had page dots when you accumulated more than one page of apps. This was an idea that went straight to iOS 2.0. It wasn't a similar concept, it simply appeared in iOS 2.x with the exact same functionality.

While Apple practices a pretty rigorous app approval process, the jailbreak app stores continues to allow developers to submit applications that Apple would not allow in the official App Store. A lot of would be rejects seem to find their way into iOS as core features later on.

Prime examples of this are jailbreak apps such as MobileNotifier, which looks strikingly like the notification system Apple showed off at WWDC 2011. Coincidentally, Apple recently hired Peter Hajas as an iOS and frameworks employee.

Other developers such as Greg Hughes, the creator of Wifi Sync, have also seen their applications later crop up in iOS. His iteration of Wifi Sync is very simliar to Apple's newly announced iCloud wireless sync and backup feature that's slated to appear this Fall in iOS 5. His version of the app was rejected by Apple previously.

Creativity and innovation

Since the release of the first generation iPhone, the mobile industry has come a long way. A huge part of that was due to the fact that the first generation iPhone was not like anything currently on the market. It lit a fire underneath other manufacturers such as Palm and RIM (ok, maybe not RIM so much). We also got Android out of Google which has become one of the hottest smartphone platforms on the market.

The jailbreak community is full of young and talented developers that more often than not, land jobs at these companies or create programs and tweaks that eventually become the heart and soul of each respective platform. Whether Apple gives it to us or not, the jailbreak community always seems to find a way to make it possible. I have yet to see a company produce a device that meets every consumer's wants and needs. Some may argue that's why we have choice. While that's very true, we still crave a mobile OS that will fill our every need. While that may not yet be possible, independent developers strive to innovate and provide unique solutions through other channels. These innovations eventually crop up in official releases which are then built upon even further.

Jailbreak developers have the ability to create individual solutions. Apple has the ability to refine those even further and produce a product that benefits mainstream users in a way that even the most novice user can understand. So while jailbreak may not be for everyone, a lot of the innovation and creativity is already done by the time Apple decides to refine it and slap an "i" in front of it.

And the cycle continues...

Even if iOS 5 has everything you could possibly want in a mobile OS, next year Steve Jobs will walk on stage again and unveil that "next great thing", and you'll want it. Odds are, the jailbreakers out there already have it in their hands. We are, in some ways, beta testers. David Ashman, creator of LockInfo, has already stated he'll be back next year with an even greater version of LockInfo. Independent developers won't take it lying down. They'll simply bow and accept the challenge laid in front of them with more excitement and motivation than the last time around.

So whether or not you plan to jailbreak the next iteration of iOS, you can rest assured Steve Jobs and all the folks up at Cupertino already have.

If the above screenshot really is an internal document via AT&T, there's some doubt as to whether or not AT&T is going to have any white iPhones on stock for launch day (or in the coming days after). This document seems to have leaked over at modmyi.com.  TiPb aren't too sure whether or not this is a hoax (maybe just to scare Leanna). We'd assume at least the Apple stores will carry the white models.  Seeing as this is an AT&T internal document, we don't see this holding any bearing on what Apple will have at launch.

Maybe Apple is keeping the white iPhones as of now in order to keep their stores in stock until more shipments are pushed out?  Even if that were the case, I'd still find that a bit odd.  Pre-ordering starts tomorrow so we should find out either way.  We're going to see what we can find out on AT&T's end. BGR has stated AT&T declines to comment and are now reporting the same thing may be happening in Germany as well (and we saw Softbank in Japan announce black-only earlier today).  They seem to think this may very well be the case.  Until we find out more, I'd take this one with a grain of salt, and definitely wouldn't extend this to what will happen in the Apple stores on June 24th.  What do you guys think?

[BGR via modmyi.com]

Apple just posted their quarterly results, and the results are great. Apple sold a staggering amount of Macs this quarter. iPod sales are still growing. They sold 400,000 more Macs than they've ever sold, 2.1 million altogether. They're selling their stuff like gangbusters in Europe. They earned a dollar per share over the last quarter. Apple has sold about 1.4 million iPhones, and the small-to-medium business segment loves the iPhone. Oh, and perhaps 250,000 of those iPhones were sold to unlockers. So yeah, business as usual. Look for more of the same next quarter, I'll predict -- once Leopard is out, there's going to be a stronger-than-usual rush to get new machines as people upgrade.

A lot of the Analysts are trying to figure out why the iPhone did so poorly over the launch weekend, and a lot of sites are trying to figure out why the overall number of phones sold (270,000) is so much lower than, ahem, some analysts predicted. I haven't seen it covered yet, so here it is: analysts were basing numbers based on the launch weekend, Friday the 29th, Saturday the 30th, and Sunday the 1st. Note that the 1st isn't in the 3Q results: Apple reported on the first 30 hours of launch. That would be the 29th and 30th. It seems the market already knows it, Apple's all back up to $143 in pre-market trading now, but it ought to be said.

Piper Jaffray issued a stock target of $205 for Apple, based off shared revenue from AT&T iPhone users, a projected 45 million iPhone sales by 2009, and math.

Apple has posted an iPhone availability checker that will show whether certain Apple stores have the iPhone in stock.

First, some backstory. Greenpeace, whether one likes or dislikes them, cares about the environment. They post reviews and analysis of tech companies to see how they do concerning the environment. And let's face it, the churn of technology creates a lot of waste. Greenpeace gives scores to companies so people can tell in a short glance how much the company cares about the environment -- Apple's score was 2.7 out of 10. Not good, really; Apple had been at the bottom of the barrel, behind most all of its competitors.

Greenpeace wanted Apple, especially, to be greener. They had a few programs to get people to pester Apple. I'd like to think that noted documentarian and Apple board member Al Gore had something to do with it, but who knows.

And pester Apple, they did. There were a few organizations prepared to pester Apple about their environmental record, and they're now not sure whether they'll continue at the upcoming board meeting.

And, one month later since that report, Apple posted their new Environmental Report, and Greenpeace bumps their score up to 5. Still lagging a bit, but much better than they were, and Apple says they want to eventually lead the list, just like they do with everything else. That's not an exact quote, but that's pretty much the gist of it.

So, with the storm blown over a bit at Apple's record, all Apple has to worry at the upcoming board meeting is how much money everyone is making and the upcoming phenomenal success of the Apple iPhone. Oh, and their stock options backdating scandal. And the suggested vote withholding of most board members to restore stockholder confidence.