sale

The iPhone 5 hiccuped onto the market today, taking down several online stores and quickly selling out the first supply of Apple's new smartphone.

Initial stock from Apple for release day delivery sold out in less than an hour. Those looking to purchase the phone just after 1 a.m. PT discovered new orders from Apple's online site had estimated shipping times of "2 weeks" instead of the original "delivers by" September 21 message.

How far back can Apple push it? In the case of the iPhone 4S last year, Apple extended delivery of … Read more

Thousands of units of the new iPhone 5 and other popular smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S III will likely fly off California store shelves the last week of September, and many of the consumers purchasing them will probably do a double take at the total on the receipt.

That's what happened to CNET reader Debi Scott, who read my story on how much sales tax from new iPhone sales could add to local government coffers (JP Morgan also took note of the iPhone 5's potential as an economic booster shortly thereafter) and thought I might be understating the case. Scott told me how she purchased two iPhone 4S smartphones last year for $199 each at an AT&T store in Visalia, Calif., and was charged more than $100 in sales tax.… Read more

Two weeks from today, the Apple store in Denver's Cherry Creek shopping center is likely to collect enough sales tax in just a few hours to pay the entire year's salary of one of Denver's city employees.

This assertion assumes, of course, that the iPhone 5 will go on sale across Europe and the United States on September 21 and that it will sell like... well, like an iPhone (the device sells much better than hotcakes these days).

I was curious just how much of a single-day boost all those huge lines at Apple stores on iPhone release day give to local government coffers, so I made some calls yesterday morning.… Read more

As back to school kicks off in the U.S., new data claims that Apple's iPad is outpacing traditional PCs in sales to students and schools for the first time ever.

Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company, wrote to investors today that the iPad is now "cannibalizing" PCs in sales to the K-12 market, according to Apple Insider.

"Clearly, a significant portion of iPad sales represented an expansion of the market," Wolf wrote, according to Apple Insider. "But in view of the fact that Mac sales held steady at around 520,000 … Read more

In a filing earlier today, picked up by Bloomberg, Apple said it wants to extend an earlier injunction on Samsung's Wi-Fi-only 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet to encompass the cellular version as well.

Apple cites the jury verdict from last week, which found the Wi-Fi version of that tablet to infringe on three of Apple's "feature" (i.e., software) patents. The 4G version of the tablet was also on the verdict form, but the jury didn't find that it infringed any of Apple's design (i.e., hardware) patents. … Read more

People who've received unwanted sales calls from Dish Network may yet get some satisfaction.

The company is the target of a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission alleging that it made sales calls to millions of consumers even though they had asked not to be called again.

The calls reportedly violated the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule. According to that rule, a telemarketer cannot call someone who has asked to be taken off the company's call list, even if the person is not registered with the National Do Not Call list.

The FTC's lawsuit alleges that Dish … Read more

Russians are some of the world's biggest consumers of Apple goods. However, one of the main places they buy iPads, iPhones, and Macs is on eBay. That's because Apple doesn't directly sell its devices to Russia or have any retail stores there.

This may all change in the near future, however.

According to the Moscow News, Apple recently registered a company called Apple Rus and assigned it to the tech giant's local legal adviser -- Vitaly Morozko. Apparently, direct sales could begin as soon as 2013, yet it's still unclear when an Apple Store may … Read more

Daily-deals provider Groupon is having a tough time keeping its salespeople happy, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, has reported that increasing numbers of Groupon salespeople are looking for new jobs after becoming disgruntled with the way they're treated by their employer. The Journal sat down with Mike Silagadze, CEO of software firm Top Hat Monocle, who revealed that he has received "hundreds of resumes" from Groupon salespeople.

According to the Journal, the daily-deals provider has made it too difficult for its sales force, which accounts for nearly half of its more … Read more

The Senate could soon decide whether consumers will have to shell out taxes on more of their online purchases.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is scheduled to hold a hearing today to examine the current policy that exempts many online retailers from collecting sales tax. The present ruling is based on a 1992 Supreme Court decision, which found that businesses without a physical presence in a state are not required to collect state sales tax.

But up for debate this afternoon is the Marketplace Fairness Act (PDF), which would reverse the Supreme Court decision. Senators … Read more