Apple Inc. shares hit an all-time high Thursday as reports surfaced of a January unveiling of a new Internet tablet. The stock surged $6.94, or 3.4%, on Thursday to close at a record high of $209.04. That topped the previous closing high of $207 on Nov. 17.
The New York Times on Wednesday confirmed the existence of an upcoming tablet, quoting a senior Apple employee who said, “Let’s just say (Apple CEO) Steve (Jobs) is extremely happy with the new tablet.”
An Apple tablet, which some speculate might be called the “iPad,” is expected to be a cross between the iPhone, with its touch-sensitive screen and numerous useful applications, and the Amazon Kindle reading device, with its much larger screen.
The stock surge brought Apple within striking distance of Google Inc. ($196 billion) and Wal-Mart ($204 billion). The Cupertino-based (California) software manufacturer is already ahead of IBM Corp. ($171 billion) and General Electric ($164 billion) in market valuation.
There is a 50 percent chance that Apple will announce the tablet in January, with a shipping date by the end of March, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note on Wednesday.
Analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies said other technology rivals are preparing tablet devices, many of which will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show next month in Las Vegas. But he said Apple could set the pace in the market with its hardware integration with iTunes.