Price cuts for Apple’s iPhone have spread to Best Buy, where the retailer has slashed the iPhone 4′s price to $50.

The deal is available in stores only, but shoppers can check local availability at Best Buy’s Website. Best Buy is only offering a discount on the 8 GB iPhone 4, in both black and white on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

Other third-party retailers have also slashed prices on iPhones in recent weeks. Target and Radio Shack both took $50 off the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S, and like Best Buy, both retailers only offered those deals in stores. of course, all sale prices require a two-year contract.

It’s tempting to read into the sales as a sign of a new iPhone to come, but keep in mind that third-party retailers have offered these types of in-store deals around this time of year before. last June, Walmart dropped the iPhone 4′s price by $50 for over three weeks. The following August, Radio Shack cut iPhone 4 prices by $30. Apple didn’t launch the iPhone 4S until October.

Apple may launch its next iPhone in October as well–at least according to rumors and analyst speculation. The latest iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in-store sales are, in all likelihood, exactly what they seem to be: good deals and nothing more.

Follow Jared on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for even more tech news and commentary.

Best Buy Stores Cut iPhone 4 Price to $50

For those wondering if Apple plans to give its next iPhone a larger screen, a report from the Wall Street Journal just added more fuel to the fire.

The newspaper reported that Apple has ordered screens from its Asian suppliers that are “at least” a half-inch bigger than the current 3.5-inch screens used on every other model of the iPhone thus far. Production for the new 4-inch screens is set to begin next month.

Reuters, meanwhile, claims to have sources who confirmed the Journal’s report, noting early production of the new screen has begun at three different suppliers in South Korea and Japan — Korea’s LG Display, Sharp Corp, and Japan Display Inc. Reuters’ sources estimated the suppliers will receive production orders next month and start the assembly line in August.

Apple’s decision to give its next iPhone a larger screen could be a way to compete with rival smartphone maker Samsung, which has been upping the ante on screen size. South Korea-based Samsung, which became the world’s top cell phone maker in the first quarter, unveiled its Galaxy S III smartphone earlier this month with a 4.8-inch screen.

Rumors that Apple is planning to deviate from its existing 3.5-inch iPhone screen size have been circulating since early this year. back in January, 9to5Mac claimed to have “reliable sources” at Apple supplier Foxconn who said several possible models of the next iPhone were floating around, all of which included screens of at least 4 inches.

Reuters in March reported that Apple’s new iPhone will have a massive 4.6-inch Retina display. at the time, MacRumors called the report “questionable” and “hard to believe,” but speculated that a 4-inch screen was possible.

Last month, meanwhile, analyst Brian White with Topeka Capital Markets predicted the next iPhone will have a 4-inch screen and high-speed 4G LTE connectivity. White said he gleaned insider information about Apple’s next-gen iPhone during a recent tour in China and Taiwan, where he visited various tech suppliers.

Other rumors indicate that the next iPhone will be about 20 percent thinner than its predecessor, with a metal backside, and smaller dock connector.

For more, see PCMag’s full review of the iPhone 4S and the slideshow below.

For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Latest iPhone Rumor Points to 4-Inch Screen (Again)

The iPhone 5 has been a very rumored device for the past two years and, and even after its non existence, and the rather disappointing announcement of the 4S, everyone is wondering, what will happen to the iPhone 5?

Recently, Apple has filed ownership for the internet domain name “iPhone5.com” and what makes this interesting is that the website is already a forum for the device. from the looks of it, there are only two equally possible options. Either the phone exists, and this is Apple trying to claim the domain name in order to set up a redirect for the announcement and launch, or this is a just Apple acquiring domain names related to their brand.

I feel like, and certainly hope, that is the first. since the closing of Apple’s forums, Apple has always promoted fan sites, so it seems unlikely they would want to close one down. then again, they could always request the site to transfer to another domain.

I also feel like the next iPhone could go the way of the iPad in the terms of the naming of the device, but in a world of numbered and uniquely identifiable, I don’t see them changing their working advertising method for the very successful phone.

The identification number for the filing is D2012-0951 if you want to follow the news further.

iPhone5.com Filed For Ownership by Apple

The latest and most significant breadcrumb of next generation iPhone rumors in anticipation of the iPhone 5 is here.

Apple, according to MacRumors.com, is hoping to secure the rights to the domain name iphone5.com.

The domain is currently devoted to an independent group of enthusiasts speculating when the new product will be released.

Of course, securing the iPhone5.com domain doesn’t necessarily mean Apple will debut that product next month at its Worldwide Developers Conference (or at all). It could be a defensive move by the company, or another easy way to control the news cycle.

Find great games for iOS here

Apple reportedly tries to secure iphone5.com – iPhone app article – Brad Spirrison

How you can get VERY rich during times of economic turmoil, even if you don’t have a lot of money to invest…Watch the Video

The NFC technology has been a rumored feature of the iPhone 5. The latest reports say that that there is a big chance for the feature to be really included in the upcoming iPhone release. in case that holds true, the iPhone 5 will be the first ever iPhone to have the NFC technology and may pave the way for the technology to also become a part of other iOS devices later on.

The most recent news about the NFC technology reaching the iPhone 5 comes from Patently Apple which is known for its discovery of the latest Apple patents that provides clues to the possible new features of Apple products such as the iPhone. Patently Apple said that the Cupertino giant had a patent filing that will let users share playlists via iTunes and move information from the account of one user to the account of another.

The latest patent joins another one that Apple filed last February. That patent lets the new iPhone or other iOS device to be utilized as an iWallet which means that payments can be made by the iPhone 5 for certain items.

Even if using the iPhone as a wallet sounds exciting, several Apple users and fans still think that it would be better if the phone will have a feature that will let them share things with ease from one iPhone to another without the need to use Wifi. some examples of “things” that iPhone users want to share include a playlist, a song, a friend’s contact information and videos from YouTube.

The NFC or Near Field Communications technology have endless possibilities. Although the patent does not clearly stipulate the new iPhone as the NFC’s recipient, it’s quite obvious from past information that Apple has an intention to feature the technology to its latest iPhone models. moreover, it seems that Apple has set huge plans for the NFC technology in the upcoming iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 May Truly Feature NFC Technology

(Credit:Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

iPhone buyers looking for a healthy discount on a new phone can find one at their local RadioShack store, the company tweeted this week.

The retailer is selling the 16GBiPhone 4S for $149.99, the 32GB edition for $249.99, and the 8GBiPhone 4 for $49, all three a full $50 off the retail price.

The promotion is in-store only, so customers can’t score the lower price by ordering online. as expected, the sale price requires the usual two-year contract. Buyers can choose from among any of the three U.S.iPhone carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or Sprint.

The Web page for a RadioShack store in Connecticut lists the sale as having started may 7 and ending may 31. However, an inside source says the sale will actually last until the end of June. Interested customers should call or visit their local RadioShack outlet for further details.

RadioShack is the second major retailer this week to put Apple’s flagship phone up for sale.

Earlier this week Target kicked off its own $50-off promotion on the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4. Target’s sale is slated to last until the end of June.

Updated 8:15 a.m. PT with confrirmation from RadioShack that contracts with all three U.S. iPhone carriers are available.

iPhone 4S on sale for $149 at RadioShack

Apple (AAPL – NASDAQ) is warning investors that returns for the current second quarter will be lower than projections, triggering widespread and feverish speculation that the fall-off is due to swirling rumors about an early summer launch for iPhone 5.

Apple (AAPL – NASDAQ) is warning investors that returns for the current second quarter will be lower than projections, triggering widespread and feverish speculation that the fall-off is due to swirling rumors about an early summer launch for iPhone 5.

Apple has lowered its earnings guidance to Wall Street for the June quarter, though that was expected because Apple usually does so for this period, according to one analyst. what wasn’t expected: the guidance was worse than stock traders expected.

Bloggers and pundits almost at once concluded that it the fall off is due to intense iPhone 5 rumors and the expectation or hope that Apple may announce it during the June Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Some Wall Street analysts are “starting to panic” over Apple’s revenues for the quarter, claims Jay Yarrow, in a story at BusinessInsider. “Analysts think Apple is due for a big come down,” Yarrow insists. but it’s hard to see evidence of panic.  

Last Friday, Credit Suisse lowered its earnings-per-share estimates for Apple, while repeating its assessment that Apple’s stock will still “Outperform.” The firm lowered its calendar 2012 EPS estimates by 3% and its calendar 2013 EPS by 5%.

Another analyst, Katy Huberty at Morgan Stanley, kept her expectations unchanged, though she noted that hers already are below the consensus numbers of analysts overall. In a note to investors, reported by Yarrow, Huberty says “Apple’s guidance for the June quarter was significantly worse than expected. Apple always delivers weak Q2 guidance. Typically revenue is 2% below analyst estimates, and EPS is 10% below analyst estimates. This time revenue was 9% below estimates and EPS was 12% below estimates.”

Huberty now estimates $34.8 billion in revenue for the quarter and $9.39 EPS, which are 7-9% below estimates, according to BusinessInsider.

Taking the same deductive leap as Yarrow, Christian Zibreg at iDownloadBlog.com concluded that “some analysts are now concerned that Apple is due for a big come down because swirling iPhone 5 rumors could negatively impact sales of the current-generation iPhone 4S/4 as would-be buyers withhold their planned purchases in anticipation of a new model.”

Neither Yarrow or Zibreg are quite clear on whether they think it’s Apples stock price, earnings per share or its revenue that is due for a “big come down.” Keep in mind that historically “negative impact on sales” means in fact “slower rate of growth” in iPhone unit sales in the quarter preceding the introduction of a new model.

Last September, Apple CEO Tim Cook, during a conference call with investors on Apple’s Q4 results, blamed lower than expected iPhone sales for the quarter on iPhone 5 rumors and widespread expectations that Apple

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Are iPhone 5 rumors torpedoing Apple’s Q2 revenues?

Apple's photo sync through iCloud using Photo Stream

(Credit:Apple)

iCloud and video are two words that have not gone together since the service launched last year. But a video synchronization feature rumored to arrive on iCloud next month could change all that.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal earlier today (subscription required), Apple is at work on a feature that lets users sync up videos they’ve taken with their iOS devices through iCloud. What’s unclear is whether that’s simply an addition to the existing Photo Stream feature, or something separate.

As it stands, Apple’s Photo Stream feature, which was introduced alongside iOS 5 last June, only syncs photos. If you want to see a video you’ve taken from youriPhone on youriPad, or vice versa, you’ve got to either sync it to that device with a computer using iTunes, or upload it to a Web sharing service like YouTube or Vimeo. the Journal’s report suggests videos would now be ferried over too.

This brings up a question about storage though. Videos are big, especially if you’ve captured them on either of Apple’s most recent iOS devices, the third-generation iPad andiPhone 4S. Both of these shoot in 1080p, and the files that are saved are bigger than ever. If Apple treats videos the same as photos, will that mean you get to keep videos as part of your Photo Stream, with no size limits? That would be generous given how Apple treats other types of files on the service.

Apple’s iCloud gives users 5GB for free, though only some files eat into that amount. things like digital content (be it apps, books, videos, or music) purchased from one of Apple’s stores and the Photo Stream don’t count against the limit. However, e-mail, stored documents, settings, app data, and iOS device backups (which can include the camera roll’s photos and videos) are all counted. when this gets short, users can add on 10GB, 20GB, or 50GB of iCloud storage, for $20, $40, or $100 per year respectively.

But the way users store their media with the service could be changing, according to the Journal. in the same report the outlet says Apple execs have been considering “expanding the number of photos and albums users can store via iCloud to make the service resemble its iPhoto downloadable software,” but that cost (presumably in its server infrastructure) has been a consideration. in other words, a move like that would likely increase how much Apple needs to spend on its server infrastructure and upkeep.

One thing that’s unclear is how many people are paying for add-on storage through Apple already. during its fiscal second-quarter conference call last month, Apple was asked by Goldman Sachs whether there had been “a big uptick in iTunes Match and paid storage additions,” since those features were introduced (iTunes Match is Apple’s other paid add-on service that scans and matches a user’s music library with tracks in the iTunes catalog to make them available on other iOS devices). Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, responded by saying that question was missing the point (emphasis mine):

We’ve now got over 125 million users that have come on to the service since then and they’re building up documents and music and other things that they want to store. And so I think storage growth will come more over time. our real desire here was not about selling more storage. We think Match is a great product, and we recommend that everybody use it. But it’s a ‘pay for a service.’ We just really want to increase the customer delight from the entire ecosystem and platform of our iOS devices and the Mac, and that’s why we’ve done iCloud.

That’s a pretty strong indication that Apple won’t charge extra if it were to add videos to the Photo Stream feature. the real question is what happens if iOS users actually get to store more of their media on iCloud as opposed to relying on computers and hard drives, or on iCloud’s backup feature, which only stores snapshots of a device.

Apple very clearly wants to distance itself from using iCloud as a virtual hard drive, as we can see with the closure of MobileMe’s iDisk next month. User-made video hasn’t been too far removed from that product.

Looking back, Apple has kept close tabs on how much space user videos take up in its cloud. with MobileMe, and .Mac before it, Apple kept track of not just how much storage a video took up, but also how much bandwidth got slurped up when you shared it with someone else. MobileMe closes up its doors next month, and perhaps that megabyte-counting behavior will go with it.

Apple may ‘think different’ on iCloud’s video sync feature

FORTUNE — I might feel differently about Apple’s D.C. Lobbying Effort Has Yet to Ripen, the 1,450-word piece posted on Politico Wednesday, if I hadn’t just listened to Take the Money and Run for Office, This America Life’s brilliant hour-long expose of how Washington, D.C., influence peddling really works.

By the end of the radio piece (available as a podcast), it’s clear to listeners that companies like Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) — which together spent $8.4 million lobbying in just the first three months of 2012 — don’t chase lawmakers down the halls of power trying to buy their influence.

It’s the other way around. The senators and congressmen chase after the lobbyists. sent to Washington to make laws (or prevent them from being made) our elected officials have been reduced to full-time money-grubbers, alternatively begging and strong-arming political action committees (PACs) to meet fundraising quotas that get steeper every year.

So I take with a grain of salt Politico’s contention that Apple’s (AAPL) “hostility” to the process “may have brought extra attention.”

For example, the piece describes as a “stinging preliminary finding” the ruling two weeks ago by a judge at the International Trade Commission that Apple may have violated one of four Motorola (MOT) patents related to Wi-Fi in the iPad and iPhone. anyone following the iPhone patent wars knows that there are dozens of issues like that one before the ITC, and that Apple has won more than its share.

And while I have no doubt that both parties eye with lust Apple’s $110 billion war chest of cash and marketable securities, the fact that it’s not being spent on them is not the reason the company has become, in Politico’s terms, “a punching bag for lawmakers who understand the power of using a marquee name to reinforce their arguments about American companies dodging taxes, hiring overseas and mistreating foreign workers.”

Case in point: The shot Sen. Tom Coburn took at Apple on NBC’s Morning Joe last week, declaring himself “livid” about the New York Times’ report about the lengths to which Apple (like every other major American high-tech firm) goes to avoid paying taxes.

Coburn talks big about “closing loopholes,” but he’s all in favor of the so-called “repatriation holiday” that would allow Apple to bring home billions of dollars of overseas profits without paying the current 35% federal tax on foreign earnings. (See “Livid” about tax loopholes.)

If he thinks some of those iPhone profits are going to end up in his reelection fund, he’s sadly mistaken.

As one source familiar with Apple’s D.C. operations told Politico, “They don’t have a massive table of consultants and law firms. it is more low key, but it is also respectful.” The piece details several instances in which Apple quietly dropped apps or changed developer policies after they drew Washington’s attention.

And as GigaOm‘s Erica Ogg points out, Steve Jobs was plenty savvy about how to wield influence in the nation’s capital:

“He just went straight to the top. Sending the president [an iPad 2]  before it was available to the public is a pretty decent way of making friends.”

For every $1 Google spends lobbying, Apple spends 10¢

iCache Geode Case(Photo: iCache | Mobile & Apps)

NFC and mobile payments have been long-rumored for the iPhone, though Apple hasn’t hinted anything about them coming to the sixth generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5. However, it hasn’t stopped iCache from unveiling a case that doubles as a digital wallet.

The case-wallet hybrid works by users entering debit and credit card information through the included mag stripe reader, which attaches to the bottom of the cover, CNETsays. Loyalty cards can be stored by taking a photo of the bar code, selected through a free iPhone app.

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The card that attaches to the cover can be programmed to temporarily store any card information. Users pick an account on the free iPhone app and the card gains the information. the card contains a smart chip and mag stripe than can be changed, according to the account.

A user then takes the card out, taps it to activate the account and the user can then use the card temporarily as a regular credit or debit card. the card works for 20 seconds or until used.

There’s also an e-ink display which allows for easy scanning. a normal smartphone screen would not be readable by most scanners. the app is opened by swiping a finger on a fingerprint reader.

The Geode case won an award in the mobile commerce category during the CTIA trade show, and began its journey as a Kickstarter project. Geode basically seems to work alone without requiring additional element; it can be used anywhere credit, debit or loyalty cards are used. Geode also works with existing retailers.

The model iCache was showing off was pre-production, though mass production has started. Erik Ross, chief strategy officer at iCache, said the company wanted to create something that could be used now. on phones using NFC and mobile payments, he believed wide usage of the technology was a way away.

MasterCard and Visa made keynote speeches at CTIA 2012 on mobile payments, which has been introduced in devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S3.

The case costs $199. it raised $357,000 on Kickstarter and has 1,000 units pre-ordered – 1,000 were ordered in two and a half days. iCache plans to sell the device from June 2012, in four colors: black, green, pink and violet.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)

CTIA 2012: iCache Geode Case Doubles as Digital Wallet for iPhones – Mobile & Apps