Apple fans are abuzz after the company made its long-awaited announcement of the next incarnation of the iPad product line on Wednesday. With higher processing power, the device is seemingly built for online video.

Simply called “iPad,” the new tablet — which weighs 1.4 lbs. — sports higher resolution “retina display,” a faster processor and 4G LTE connectivity — meaning higher download speeds for users.

A high percentage of viewed and shared content online is bandwidth intensive online video. A recent report by Cisco Systems revealed that mobile video traffic “exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2011.”

“Mobile video traffic was 52 percent by the end of 2011,” Cisco reported.

The higher speed connection, processing power and visual display all speak to this increasing Internet trend.

The iPad, available for order now, is expected to hit stores worldwide March 16. In the U.S., the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version is available for $ 499, and the Wi-Fi + 4G version for either AT&T or Verizon begins at $ 629 for 16GB.

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BERLIN (AP) — Apple says it has disabled the push email function for its mobile devices in Germany in an ongoing patent dispute with rival Motorola.

Apple Inc. said Friday the disabling of the push service, which sends messages automatically to the devices as soon as they’re received rather than waiting for the device to refresh its email, will affect customers using MobileMe and iCloud email.

Apple says those customers can still receive email using other settings.

A Mannheim court ruled earlier this month that Apple had infringed upon a Motorola patent on push email technology.

Apple says it believes its patent is valid and is appealing the decision.

On  Tuesday, ABC News aired an exclusive look inside electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese company embroiled in controversy over the low wages and stressful working conditions of its employees. As many as 14 Foxconn employees committed suicide in 2010 by jumping from buildings, and at least four more employees followed suit in 2011.

Foxconn, headquartered in Techung, New Taipei, manufactures products for the world’s largest electronics companies, producing household gadgets such as the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, Playstation 2, Wii and Xbox 360.

Apple recently hired the Fair Labor Association to audit Foxconn, along with its other suppliers, and asked that the results of the audit be made public. ABC correspondent Bill Weir toured a Foxconn facility in Shenzen, China and interviewed workers and management.

Watch:

Weir’s report included an interview with one employee who saw her first finished iPad when he showed her his own device. Her request to people who use the product was to “please use it with care.”

Although the company has stressful working conditions, thousands of people wait outside of the factory in the hopes that they will be hired. Many travel for miles, often leaving their families for weeks at time in order to work at the facility. But conditions inside are so demoralizing for some workers that the company has hung giant nets outside the buildings to solve what it called a “suicide problem” among its employees.

Weir’s report also showed that workers were less disgruntled by the working conditions than about their low pay. Foxconn employees work on average 60 hours a week for $ 2 a day. A raise for workers at Foxconn took effect on Feb. 1. PC World reported that the workers’ wages will be increased again by as much as 25 percent.

Apple Insider reported Wednesday that Foxconn employees alleged the company hid underage workers before the Fair Labor Association inspection.

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FILE – In this Jan. 26, 2011 file photo, a man stands near Apple’s iPad advertisement in Shanghai, China. An independent group, the Fair Labor Association, has started auditing Apple Inc.’s Chinese supplier Foxconn after a request by Apple. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

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Apple on Monday announced that the Fair Labor Association will be conducting audits of its suppliers, and the investigation will include Foxconn’s factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China.

The inspections, which are being conducted at Apple’s request, are being led by FLA president Auret van Heerdenbegan.

Full Story: Fair Labor Association to investigate Apple’s suppliers

See Also:

• THE APPLE INVESTOR: Apple’s Mac Is The Only PC Brand Making Progress In Europe
• Google: We Promise Not To Be Evil With Motorola Patents
• Apple Wants To Rewrite European Patent Laws

As Google is set to acquire Motorola and the company’s 17,000 patents, it’s planning on asking for the same 2.25% maximum royalty per unit that Motorola is already demanding for every iPhone sold, reports Philip Elmer-DeWitt of CNN.

Apple obviously takes issue with this, and so does entrepreneur and lobbyist Florian Müller. He told CNN that “2.25% of the selling price of the product as a whole is absolutely out of step with the concept of [fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory use] and with industry practice.”

A 2.25% maximum royalty might not sound so bad (we thought it was small), but Elmer-DeWitt points out that the European Telecommunications Standards Institute maintains 117,964 patents registered to 175 companies. If each company demanded the same 2.25% every time a company wanted to build a device that worked with another company’s technology, the industry would “grind to a halt.”

Things will get very interesting once Google’s acquisition of Motorola is officially complete.

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See Also:

• THE APPLE INVESTOR: Apple’s Mac Is The Only PC Brand Making Progress In Europe
• Google: We Promise Not To Be Evil With Motorola Patents
• Apple Wants To Rewrite European Patent Laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple has again surpassed Exxon as the most valuable U.S. company after an excellent quarter.

Apple Inc.’s stock rose nearly 6 percent to $ 445.29 in midday trading Wednesday, bringing the iPhone and iPad maker’s market capitalization to $ 415 billion.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil Corp. shares are down 1 percent at $ 86.52. That gives it a market cap of $ 414 billion.

Apple said Tuesday that net income in its latest quarter more than doubled, while revenue grew 73 percent.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple first topped Exxon as the most valuable company in August, then fell back to second place. The Irving, Texas-based oil and gas giant had held the top spot since 2005.

Apple overtook Microsoft Corp., now in the No. 3 slot with a market cap of $ 247 billion, in 2010.

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple confirmed Wednesday that it has bought Anobit Technologies, an Israeli maker of flash memory technology already used in many of Apple’s gadgets.

Apple Inc. spokesman Steve Dowling said that Apple buys smaller tech companies from time to time, but generally does not give a reason why or say what it plans to do with them. The company did not say how much it paid for Anobit.

Flash memory is used in digital devices such as cameras and music players. It’s lighter and more durable than memory used in computer hard drives, though it stores less information. Apple’s iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air, which don’t have hard drives, rely on flash memory.

Owning the manufacturer guards Apple against supply constraints in the industry and allows the company to customize the technology so it works more smoothly with the iPhone and other devices.

Israeli publication Calcalist reported in December that Apple was in talks to buy Anobit. Apple made the acquisition to secure intellectual property and for a competitive edge in flash products and pricing, said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek in a research note last month.

Apple doesn’t often announce acquisitions. It bought mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless in 2010, among other recent deals.

Anobit could not be reached for comment after business hours in Jerusalem Wednesday.

Bloomberg reported earlier that Apple had confirmed the deal.

Shares of Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, fell $ 1.83 to $ 421.41 in late afternoon trading.

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is scheduling a media event in New York next week, but the company isn’t saying much about the topic it plans to discuss.

An email invitation to news organizations on Wednesday says the announcement is related to education. The invite’s graphic is black and shaped like an iPad — something many schools are giving to students, complete with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

Apple declined further comment.

The event takes place at the Guggenheim Museum next Thursday.

Apple typically holds a few media events a year to announce such products as the iPad, the iPhone and upgrades to its iTunes software.

Commercial production of Apple’s anticipated television set is expected to begin in February at a Sharp plant in Japan, while competing HDTV makers are reportedly desperate to find out just what Apple plans to sell.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said in a note to investors this week that Apple is expected to partner with Sharp for TFT-LCD panels for its so-called “iTV.” Production is expected to begin in February at the company’s Gen 10 Sakai facility in Osaka, Japan, placing the television set in position for a mid-2012 launch.

Full Story: Apple television expected in mid-2012 as competition is ‘scrambling’