iPhone 5 sales top 5 million in 3 days

NEW YORK – Apple Inc. said Monday that it sold more than 5 million iPhone 5s in the three days since its launch, fewer than analysts had expected.

Apple shares fell $9.30, or 1.3 percent, to close at $690.79 on Monday. The shares hit an all-time high of $705.07 Friday as the phone went on sale in the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and five other countries.

The sales tally is a record for any phone, but it beats last year’s iPhone 4S launch only by a small margin. Apple said then that it sold 4 million phones in the first three days.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White expected Apple to sell 6 million to 6.5 million iPhone 5s in the first three days. He said the shortfall was largely due to limited supply. White said the phone was sold out at 80 to 85 percent of the U.S. Apple stores he and his team contacted Sunday evening, and the ones that were still available were mostly Sprint models.

Online delivery times have stretched to three to four weeks.

Verizon to settle suit with Tivo over patent

Verizon will pay Tivo Inc. at least $250.4 million to license its digital video recording technology and settle a patent lawsuit.

It is the third settlement that Tivo has garnered in recent patent cases. At the heart of the cases, Tivo has alleged that companies have copied its DVR technology. The company’s string of settlements “bodes well for its future litigation,” Alan Gould, an analyst with Evercore, said in a research note.

Tivo is set to go to trial in patent lawsuits over DVRs made by Google Inc.’s Motorola unit and Cisco Systems Inc. next year. Gould reiterated his “Overweight” rating on shares with a $13 price target.

News of the settlement sent Tivo’s stock up 38 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $9.94 Monday.

Shares of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. rose 4 cents to $45.68.

Amtrak testing trains at speedy 165 mph

TRENTON, N.J. – Amtrak is going to break the speed limit in the Northeast Corridor.

The rail service announced Monday it will operate test trains overnight at 165 mph in four stretches from Maryland to Massachusetts.

Acela Express equipment will be used for the tests, which were to start at about 10:30 p.m. Monday in New Jersey and will continue into next week, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said.

All the locations may one day have regular 160 mph service; the current top speed limit is 150 mph.

Amtrak said tests need to be performed at 5 mph above what is expected to be the maximum operating speed.

New U.S. sanctions on Iran oil company

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is imposing new sanctions on Iran’s state-owned oil company because of its links to the country’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard corps.

The Treasury Department’s designation comes on top of existing U.S. sanctions on the National Iranian Oil Co. Governments may still import oil from Iran without the threat of American financial penalties if they are granted exemptions by the Obama administration.