Israeli company makes a chip that boosts flash drive performance

Here are your Apple rumors and AAPL news items for Tuesday:

Apple to Buy Flash Memory Company: A Tuesday story originating at The Calcalist (via Reuters) said Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is negotiating a $400 million to $500 million acquisition of Israeli flash memory technology company Anobit. Anobit’s claim to fame is a chip that enhances flash drive performance, which is used in the iPhone, iPad and Macbook Air. Among Anobit’s core clients is Samsung (PINK:SSNLF), a company with a contentious relationship with Apple. Apple is both a client and competitor of Samsung. A purchase of Anobit is logical for Apple considering the ever-increasing importance of flash memory storage technology to Apple’s products. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company accounts for more than half of all flash memory purchases in the world.

CarrierIQ Claims “Bug” Caused Text Message Collection in Privacy Fiasco: Mobile phone software maker CarrierIQ still is trying to recover from its recent lambasting over privacy issues. A Tuesday 9 to 5 Mac report said the company now claims text messages recorded by the company’s software were recorded because of a “bug,” and that the data never was decoded or used by the company. This contradicts a previous statement by Andrew Coward, CarrierIQ vice president of marketing, saying the company’s software “does not record, store, or transmit that contents of SMS (text) messages.” Apple rushed to defend itself on Dec. 2 after it came out the company was using CarrierIQ technology in the iPhone. CarrierIQ’s data-collecting software has been used predominantly by telecoms to track user information, including personal information, text messages and keystrokes — but for the purpose of diagnosing technical problems.

iTunes Business Flying South for the Wint! er: Years after its initial opening, iTunes remains growing business for Apple. According to a Tuesday press release issued by the company, iTunes is opening for business in 16 countries throughout Central and South America. Brazil is the first of those countries to get the store, but it will be joined by other nations in the coming weeks.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at�@ajohnagnello�and�become a fan of�InvestorPlace on Facebook. For more from the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors stories.