Off the Wires

Since the release of the iPad, the device has been inching its way into the financial services industry. In fact, many brokerages have taken advantage of the larger size and screen space of the mutli-touch tablet computer, and developed iPad-specific applications for their advisors and clients.  

So, if your iPad keeps you up-to-date on your investment portfolio, check out these useful apps. Click here to begin a slideshow of leading iPad apps for investment professionals and trading clients or click on each name for more detailed profile.

• E*TRADE Mobile Pro
• Pershing NetX360
• WealthADV
• Fidelity Mobile
• TD AMERITRADE Mobile
• Thomson Reuters Marketboard

Neonurture, the "Car Parts" incubator developed by Design that Matters (DtM), was today nominated for the "People's Design Award" category for the 2010 National Design Awards.  The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is asking for the public to vote on their favorite designs through their website.  This is a wonderful opportunity to raise the profile of this important newborn health project. 

Please visit the Smithsonian website to cast your vote for Design that Matters!

Hewlett-Packard’s choice of Léo Apotheker as its new head has enraged Larry Ellison, Oracle chief executive, who said over the weekend that Mr Apotheker had been in charge of SAP at a time when it was stealing Oracle’s software.

Mr Ellison was referring to events after SAP’s 2005 takeover of software maintenance company TomorrowNow, which admitted making unauthorised copies of Oracle products from the database maker’s customer accounts.

According to a federal lawsuit that Oracle filed against SAP in Oakland in 2007 and which is scheduled for trial in November, the SAP board knew TomorrowNow routinely pilfered Oracle wares and continued the practice until October 2008, six months after Mr Apotheker rose to become co-chief executive at SAP.

In pretrial filings, SAP conceded both copyright and computer violations but argued that the damage was in the tens of millions of dollars, not the $1bn or more Oracle is seeking.

“SAP has already publicly confessed and accepted financial responsibility for systematically stealing Oracle’s intellectual property over a long period of time. Much of this industrial espionage and intellectual property theft occurred while Léo was CEO of SAP,” Mr Ellison wrote in an e-mail to the Financial Times.

“The HP board must have been aware of these facts, yet they appointed Léo CEO of HP anyway. What happened to ‘The HP Way’ [the corporate creed published by HP founder Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett]?”

HP declined to comment.

HP’s choice of chief worries investors - Oct-01

HP names Apotheker as chief executive - Oct-01

Change at the top for HP - Oct-01

FT Tech blog - Aug-08

Editorial Comment: Hapless Packard - Sep-12

HP expands in security with ArcSight deal - Sep-13

Here's something to think about the next time you pick up a call on your iPhone: the device you're holding may soon be the signature product of the most valuable company in the world.

Thanks to its line of gadgets that combine the ability to make calls, send email, read books, watch movies and listen to music, Apple Inc. is on a path to overtake Exxon Mobil Corp. as the largest company by market capitalization.

While Apple CEO Steve Jobs will no doubt be happy about his new perch atop the business world, there's more at stake here than mere bragging rights. As soon as the total value of the company's shares edges above Exxon's, Apple will take over the top spot in the Standard and Poor's 500, the market index used by most professional money managers.

That means that billions of dollars invested in funds that track the index will have to shift their holdings to reflect Apple's new weighting. Exxon, meanwhile, may see its share price fall from the same effect. That slide could be accelerated by hedge funds and technical traders who make bets based on the rebalancing of major indexes and would be primed to short the shares of Exxon.

Just as important as the day-to-day flow of dollars among investors, the move will also reflect how the market, and the overall economy, continues to evolve. The list of companies that have sat atop the S&P 500 is short. For years, the top spot rotated among stalwart industrials like General Electric Co., General Motors, and AT&T Inc., before that company was broken up as a result of an antitrust suit in 1984. Twenty years ago, IBM Corp. held the No. 1 position, narrowly beating out Exxon.

Apple's move to the top would be a strong signal that the market is no longer placing as high a value on industrial companies that depend on traditional manufacturing, business spending or natural resources for revenue. Instead, investors are now expecting growth to be driven by spending from average consumers on technology and entertainment.

If Apple becomes more valuable than Exxon, it will be only the second time that a growing technology company which doesn't pay dividends will make up the greatest share of the S&P 500. The first, Microsoft Corp., held the position for two years in the late 1990s during the boom that made personal computers a staple in households around the world.

Today, Apple dominates the business of putting the Internet in your pocket. That's quite a feat for a company that was worth only $7 dollars a share 10 years ago. It closed Friday at $282.52.