Features

• Think different: Apple's $17B debt offers stark contrast to 1996's junk bonds

  Apple's record-setting $17 billion bond offer this week stood in stark contrast to the company's darkest days, when in 1996 its millions in notes were rated as junk because investors wondered if the company would survive a thrashing by Microsoft

• Moves, mistakes prove Steve Jobs era at Apple over, say analysts

  Apple is clearly not Steve Jobs' company any longer, according to analysts, citing examples from its earning calls with Wall Street.

• Apple CEO defends Mac line; analysts foresee iPad hybrids

  Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the company's iconic Mac line, which saw a second consecutive decline in sales last quarter, and promised that Apple would continue to crank out personal computers.

• Mac sales growth stalls -- here's why Apple doesn't care

  Apple's Mac has been punished by shifting consumer tastes just as has the overall PC industry, data from the company's earnings statements show.

• Mac sales tank in 4Q from iMac shortages, cannibalization

  Mac sales plummeted in the fourth quarter of 2012, falling 22% from the same period the year before, with computer sales accounting for a record low percentage of Apple's total revenue of $54.5 billion.

• Despite Apple, NFC is catching on -- just not for payments quite yet

  Near Field Communication will become widespread at some point, most observers agree, especially if Apple eventually puts NFC in an iPhone.

• Apple's iMac on the road to irrelevance

  Sales of Apple's iMac, the computer often credited with saving the company, have peaked and by the end of 2014 will account for approximately 2% of the firm's revenues, analysts now say.

• Analysts praise Apple's exec overhaul, see hints of future sea changes

  Apple's executive shake-up this week is a sign that design is the 'tip of the spear' for the company, but the reorganization won't disrupt the firm's product delivery and may produce groundbreaking moves, analysts said today.

• In crowded tablet market, brand identity will matter

  When it comes to the bevy of new tablet computers coming to market, a tablet maker's brand will take on more significance than ever.