Bloomberg reports that Apple Inc. avoided approximately $9.2 billion in taxes by financing part of a $55 billion stock buyback with debt instead of offshore cash that would have been billed by the U.S. government, Moody’s Investment Services estimates. Gerald Granovsky, a senior vice president at Moody’s said that according to the current interest rates, Apple will shell out interest of about $308 million a year on the $17 billion bond offering. Read More

VentureBeat reports that Apple has announced a countdown to 50 billion app downloads, revealing that iOS downloads are upwards of 49 billion presently. Apple said, "Apps have revolutionized the way we play video games, consume news, do business, educate, communicate, create art, and so much more.". Read More

Bloomberg reports that NTT DoCoMo Inc., the only major Japanese wireless carrier not offering Apple Inc.’s iPhone, might include Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S4 among phones it's likely to promote as it reduces the collection of handsets to decrease costs. . Read More

ZDNet reports that Judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the Apple versus Samsung patent battle, has set a new November trial date to decide on the validity of the $450.5 million of damages that was awarded by a jury to Apple Inc. Read More

Bloomberg reports that Apple Inc. said it is going to return an additional $55 billion in cash to shareholders to make up for a weakening of its stock and signs of slowing growth. The move come after the projected quarterly sales missed analysts’ predictions. . Read More

Reuters reports that Google has purchased Wavii, a Seattle-based startup with a news summarization app, for close to $30 million in cash. Google and Wavii declined to comment. . Read More

Bloomberg reports that Apple avoided an order that could have impeded imports of the iPhone 4 into the U.S. after convincing a U.S. trade agency to invalidate a patent owned by Google's Motorola Mobility unit over a phone sensor. . Read More