AT&T has begun shipping iPhone 4 preorders to customers who ordered through the wireless carrier, while the first applications supporting Apple's iAd mobile advertising network are now available with placeholders where the ads will appear when the service launches.

The first batch of iPhone 4 deliveries are now in transit from China, with Apple sending FedEx notifications indicating a June 24 delivery date.

Apple has been ordering enough components to have built a stockpile of several million iPhone 4s in anticipation of this month's launch and continue on with a quarterly run rate of roughly 9 million units, according to a published report.

Early reports suggest that Apple has sold most of its first run of international iPad shipments, which has lead one analyst to predict that the iPad will outsell the Mac internationally this quarter.

New data released Wednesday by research firm Gartner shows Apple as the No. 7 overall worldwide cell phone maker, with a total 2.7 percent market share.

Apple moved ahead of rival Motorola in unit sales in the first quarter of 2010, with the iPhone taking a 3 percent share of the total cell phone market.

Apple's 8.75 million iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2010 were good for a 16.1 percent worldwide market share, taken at the expense of Research in Motion's BlackBerry smartphones.

Apple's smartphone presence in Japan has more than doubled in the last year, with the iPhone taking an estimated 72 percent of total sales in the country.

Research investment firm Oppenheimer on Friday raised its price target and estimates for Apple through the end of the fiscal year to reflect improving momentum across all the company's product lines and expectations of strong March quarter results.

Apple's plans for its forth-generation iPhone, due this summer, appear to include the addition of a camera flash that will improve the quality of snapshots and videos taken in dark scenarios or dimly-lit venues, AppleInsider has learned.

Aided by nearly 5 million iPad sales in the first 12 months, one prominent Wall Street analyst believes Apple stock will skyrocket to $305, while a number of others believe the iPad launch was a resounding success.

With Apple selling out of its first run of iPad preorders, one analyst has upped his estimate for debut, first-quarter, and 2010 iPad sales, predicting the company will likely sell more than 2.7 million this year.

BackBerry maker Research in Motion reported strong sales for its fiscal Q3 2010 but saw its shares slip some 7% as both revenues and shipments fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

Released in January of 1983 for an entry level price of $9,995, the Apple Lisa would cost $21,844.85 in 2010 dollars. Today, with that much money, users could buy 43 iPads at $499.

Apple on Monday announced that the iPad will go on sale this Saturday, April 3, at all of its 221 U.S. Apple retail locations, as well as "most" Best Buy stores.

Radio Shack this weekend will become the second-largest third-party retailer of Apple's iPhone by storefronts when it launches a front-page promotion to celebrate the rollout of the touchscreen handset to thousands of its shops nationwide, AppleInsider has learned.

Due to delayed shipments for iPad touch-panels from Taiwan-based TPK Touch Solutions, Apple has reportedly shifted its orders to longtime partner Wintek. Also, some who preordered the iPad have begun seeing charges from Apple to their credit card, and Best Buy is prepping for the device's April 3 launch.

The high profile failure of Palm's efforts to revitalize its flagging smartphone business with the Pre's new webOS has analysts casting doubt over parallel phone platform reinvention efforts by others, including Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

Apple is expected to join the lucrative home entertainment market, estimated to be worth $31.8 billion in the U.S. alone, in the next two to four years by offering a $2,000 Internet- and content-connected HDTV.

Apple, which takes up the the lion's share of global NAND flash memory supply, has been reluctant to negotiate with suppliers in 2010 due to high prices.

Worldwide smartphone shipments stormed back last quarter with 37.2 percent in growth, and Apple's iPhone led the way with a 97.9 percent year-over-year surge in shipments. But the real coming battle in the mobile market, according to one analyst, lies between Microsoft and Google.

Apple has announced that its long-awaited iPad will be available for purchase for consumers starting on Saturday, April 3, while pre-orders for the multi-touch device will begin on March 12.

Apple's next update to the blockbuster iPhone handset is expected by one prominent analyst to have a lower total cost of ownership, and to also include new gesture-based functionality.

Though Apple carries just 5 percent of the total worldwide home PC market, the Mac commanded 10.5 percent of the market's dollar share during the holiday buying season.

Apple this week released two new TV advertisements touting the unique features of the iPhone, while a massive spike in French Mac sales helped the company crack the top five PC vendors last quarter.