AAPL Weekly Headline Roundup: March 16-20

Apple shares broke through $100 this week with charts suggesting there’s more upside to come. Here are other top Apple headlines aggregated from 24/7 Wall St. partner Apple Investor News:

• iPhone 3.0 system software was announced Tuesday and due by Summer. Aside from cut-and-paste, better video, push technology, etc., the real story here: the 1,000 developer tools that will allow even more functionality for this mobile platform. Though the lack of new iPhone hardware discouraged some, this seems likely by mid-year.
• Upgrade of the week: Broadpoint.Amtech analyst Brian Marshall raised his estimates and upped price target to $120 from $110, maintaining a Buy rating and noting Apple remains “a must own technology bellwether.”

• Downgrade of the week: S&P analyst Clyde Montevirgen cut his rating on Apple to Hold from Strong Buy and lowered his target price to $110, from $123, noting strong “macroeconomic headwinds.”

• Dell introduced a $2000 laptop some say is designed to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

• Question of the week: NPD data announced Monday says that February Mac sales were down over 16% from a year ago (PC sales were down 22%). So why didn’t this have an impact on AAPL shares?

• Sleeper of the week:  From the trendy South by Southwest Interactive Conference (SXSW), several blogs discussed the well-attended panel, “iPhone – The New Gaming Platform” and the successful iPhone app developers who’ve become quick millionaires.

• On a lighter note, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer chimes in again about Apple’s prospects in a recession: “No one’s going to pay $500 more for a logo,” said Ballmer to a McGraw-Hill Media Summit. The reporter noted his statement resulted in “audience gasps.” Ballmer is such a great CEO. It’s unfortunate that he hurts his stature, and credibility, when he talks about the competition.

Frank Cioffi, Apple Investor News.

(full disclosure: Cioffi owns AAPL shares)