iApple Products

September 15 at 6:58 PM

SMARTPHONES

Demand outstrips new iPhone supply

Apple said many customers will need to wait until next month for their new iPhones after a record 4 million first-day pre-orders were logged, double the number for the iPhone 5 two years ago.

The company said demand had outstripped supply of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which feature larger screens and longer battery life. Deliveries of pre-orders will begin Friday and continue through October.

Bumper first-day pre-orders point to first-weekend sales of up to 10 million units, analysts estimated.

About 2 million pre-orders were received for the iPhone 5 in the first 24 hours after it went on sale in September 2012. Apple sold 5 million of the phones in the first weekend.

Apple sold 9 million iPhone 5Ss and 5Cs, which were launched last year, in the first three days in stores. The company did not reveal pre-order numbers for those phones.

Apple's Web site showed last week that the larger 5.5-inch "Plus" models had a wait time of up to a month. The 4.7-inch version was available for delivery this Friday.

Apple said the new iPhone models will be available to customers in its stores in the United States, Canada, Australia and some other countries Friday morning. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Verizon Wireless and some Apple-authorized resellers will also start selling the phones Friday.

— Reuters

TAXES

Income inequality

costly to states

Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue growth, according to a report Monday by Standard & Poor's.

Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it's barely kept pace with inflation for most other people. That trend can mean a double whammy for states: The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes, and they tend to spend less of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.

As the growth of tax revenue has slowed, states have faced tensions over whether to raise taxes or cut spending to balance their budgets as required by law.

Adjusted for inflation, government data show that median household income rose by a few thousand dollars since 1979 to $51,017 in 2012 and remains below its level before the recession began in late 2007. By contrast, the top 1 percent has thrived. Their incomes averaged $1.26 million in 2012, up from $466,302 in 1979, according IRS data.

Before income inequality began to rise consistently, state tax revenue grew an average of 9.97 percent a year from 1950 to 1979. That average steadily fell with each subsequent decade, dipping to 3.62 percent between 2000 and 2009.

State tax revenue growth has risen slightly since then.

— Associated Press

Also in Business

● BP Alaska announced plans to lay off 275 employees and direct contractors early next year. BP's business in Alaska will be smaller because of the previously announced sale of its interests in four North Slope oil fields to Hilcorp, spokeswoman Dawn Patience said. The layoffs, combined with the 200 people whose work was tied to those fields and accepted jobs with Hilcorp, represent about 17 percent of the total number of BP employees and contractors in Alaska, Patience said. BP has 2,725 employees and direct contractors in the state.

● United Airlines is offering its flight attendants buyouts of as much as $100,000 as it seeks to rein in costs. United Continental Holdings, parent company of the world's second-biggest airline, said it will offer lump-sum severance payments to attendants who accept its Enhanced Early Out Program. The company also is recalling 1,450 furloughed attendants, most of whom took voluntary leave one or two years ago, spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.

● Microsoft said it's buying Mojang, maker of the popular Minecraft video game, for $2.5 billion. The Mojang team will join Microsoft Studios, maker of games such as the Halo and Forza franchises, according to a Microsoft news release. "Microsoft's investments in cloud and mobile technologies will enable 'Minecraft' players to benefit from richer and faster worlds, more powerful development tools and more opportunities to connect across the 'Minecraft' community," the company said in the news release.

● Olive Garden defended its practice of giving customers as many breadsticks as they want, saying the policy conveys "Italian generosity." The remark was part of a 24-page response by the chain's parent company, Darden Restaurants, to a nearly 300-page criticism by hedge fund Starboard Value last week. Starboard took Olive Garden and its management to task for such issues as its liberal distribution of breadsticks, its failure to salt the water used to boil pasta and even the length of the asparagus it serves.

● The bankrupt Revel casino hotel in Atlantic City will go to auction Sept. 24, a judge ruled. Judge Gloria Burns in Camden, N.J., also set Sept. 23 as the deadline for competing bids to top the $90 million offered by Florida developer Glenn Straub and his Polo North Country Club. Revel cost $2.4 billion to construct.

— From news services

Coming Today

● 8:30 a.m.: Producer price index for August.