Our weekly headlines from 24/7 Wall St. partner Apple Investor News:

 

• Analyst Comment of the Week:  our favorite AAPL analyst, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, speculated on Thursday that the much-rumored Apple tablet, or netbook competitor, will likely not be introduced until 2010. He cites component sources in Asia and recent chip-related hires as proof Apple is making more of an investment in mobile computing, but this won’t bear fruit this year. It’s pretty clear such a device, either a seven-inch or 10-inch screen “iTablet” model with an OS that bridges OS X with iPhone, is coming. We’re guessing that expectations were running so high on this product, someone had to quash rumors of an introduction this year. Munster tends to be right about these things.

• An AT&T exec said it’s considering a less expensive iPhone rate plan. Right now the minimum new service rate plan is $70 a month.

• Will Apple sell Macs in Wal-Mart? Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes says the new Apple in-store boutiques being built at Wal-Mart are a precursor to selling Macs. Apple already sells iPods and iPhones at Wal-Mart. I think Apple risks hurting its brand, and Apple store foot traffic, by selling Macs there also, but that’s my opinion.

• The Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts CES in Las Vegas every January, said Thursday that Apple will expand its floor space from 4,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet.  To me, this speaks more loudly than the last 10 rumors. Apple has abandoned Macworld and clearly has bigger ambitions.

• A survey by BrandIndex showed that Microsoft’s recent TV ads positioning Apple Macs as too expensive are indeed hurting public perception of the value of Macs. The  survey queried 5,000 people in the U.S. Though other metrics, including satisfaction, quality and reputation, were unchanged by the ads, reports Cult of Mac.

Frank Cioffi, Apple Investor News

(full disclosure: Cioffi owns AAPL shares)

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