Julian Ivan-Alexander

Seeing an End to the iPod's Hegemony

Words fail me, and that's rare.

Apple Has Too Much Cash

OMG.. words fail me. Why not Buy Krispy Kreme? Why not buy Gateway? Why not buy Burger King? Why not buy IBM?

Good grief... if AAPL has too much cash, its also safe to say that Sramana Mitra has too much time on her hands.

Dell Initiates $10 Billion Buyback

"This is a significant event, especially for a company that's lost about 25 percent of its market value since October," "

Yes, I always think its a significant event when a company that's gone down the crapper chooses to waste ten billion Dollars buying back its own stock.

Why Apple's Mac ASPs Are Likely To Climb - At Lenovo's And Dell's Expense

You'll also find Mac ASPs rising because with the launch of Adobe CS3, hundreds of thousands of extra Mac Pros are going to be sold in Q3 and Q4. These sell at between $2000-6000 ech depending on the configuration, so Mac ASPs - averaging around $1500 now - are going to rocket upwards.

Latest Accounting Issues May Spell Doomsday For Dell

raymc,

Yes I am an unashamed AAPL investor, for good reason: the company delivers results. The same cannot be said of DELL. If you want to follow my AAPL investments (buys and sells) then welcome to the Apple Finance Board at The Mac Observer:

www.macobserver.com/fo...

We have a fantastic bunch of contributors there discussing AAPL's short term and long term outlook, and analysing the product line and prospect in-depth with well-informed and insightful analysis.

And we've also been tracking DELL there, and forecasting an event just like this, for well over a year.

So you can say, without a doubt, that we put our money were our mouths are - very publicly. If you have something insightful to add to the conversation Ray, then we'd welcome your contributions too, even if they're negative on AAPL. You'll find many members issuing sell recommendations short-term and trading in and out of the stock (and yes, many even announcing DELL short positions too).

Kind regards, Tommo.

Latest Accounting Issues May Spell Doomsday For Dell

You make several important errors in your article:
"When Michael Dell came back to the company that he left in 2004 it was quite a different scene. Since his departure Dell had dropped from the being the world’s top PC maker, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is currently number 1, was involved in a lawsuit in regards to over 300 millions dollars in tax incentives to build a plant in Greensboro, North Carolina."

- Michael Dell never left the company. He handed over the CEO role to Rollins, but remained as Chairman. He shared an office with Rollins, and was - according to both men, as involved in day-to-day decisions as much as Rollins was.

"Then in August of 2006 there was the informal probe by the SEC that the higher ups at Dell brushed off as a common occurrence amongst publicly traded companies."

- As of March, DELL has been under an SEC investigation since August 2005 - over 18 months - and spent $89 Million on compliance. It didn't disclose this for the first 12 months, only doing so in August 2006 when it realised it wouldn't be able to file its accounts any more because the accounting fraud it had engaged in was so serious it would result in restatements.

Even at that point though, DELL lied and stated it did not expect any restatements to be necessary.

Now it has decided it may need to restate at least 5 years' worth of earnings, possibly more, and may be guilty of filing misleading accounts and having lax accounting standards open to abuse. It also stated it will miss the filing deadline for April for a 3rd time, and is 3 quarters in arrears in its filings. It has not held an analysts' conference call for the whole duration of those missed filings, has cancelled all meetings with analysts, and refuses to comment on its earnings.

Yet for some reason, many on the Street seem to think this "value play" is a sure bet for billions of Dollars' worth of investments and a safe harbour for ordinary investor's funds entrusted to mutual funds for sensible and risk-managed investing purposes.

WHY?????? And why was Goldman upgrading the stock and pumping it like a pimp as recently as a few days ago, saying DELL's April filings would remove uncertainty and provide a relief from the overhang of doubt? Goldman Sachs should be ashamed of themselves.

Forecasting the PC Market's Future: The Rise of HP, The Fall of Dell

Great points, but the author is forgetting the wild card in the consumer space: AAPL, which has more than doubled its market share of notebook sales in just 10 months, and is seeing unit sales growth of 3-4x the industry average.
Apple will eat DELL's lunch - and HP's - in the consumer space. Just look at new university entrants: many are reporting that up to 65% of new students are bringing Macs with them. Over the years, that translates to a massive growth in market share as those people will upgrade to new Macs, not PCs, and they'll be more inclined to use Macs in their workplace, and eventually with their families.
The tipping point has been reached, and the days of the bland PC+Windows dominance are over. The future of the consumer desktop, and (and laptop!) belongs to Apple.

Memo to Michael: 10 Ways Get Dell Back on Track

I've a simpler suggestion:
1) Make products that don't suck
2) Offer customer support that doesn't make people feel like they're being treated like vermin.
3) see 1

Could a Dell/Apple Partnership Work?

Apple does not need DELL. DELL is the next GTW. This is an insane idea, and backward thinking at its worst.

Dell's Turnaround Is Under Way - Bear Stearns

Jesus how many times does this train have to crash before the idiots decide to get off??

Dell Is A Contrarian Dream

DELL:
Under SEC investigation for possibly fraudulently mistating earnings.
Losing market share.
Offers uncompetitive pricing and features.
Suffering from appaling customer service.
Bleeding management.

There's a reason the stock is suffering so badly - see the list above. The company, its products, its strategy, its reputation, suck. If there's a "Vista Upgrade cycle," then its DELL's competitors like HP and Apple that are most likely to benefit.

"Dude," you have to be insane to like DELL, even as a contrarian. It might be a turnaround candidate, but the chances are that before it can turn around it has a long way yet to fall.

Dell's "New" CEO: The Beginning of a Renaissance?

DELLuded.

Buying Dell On Michael's Return

DELLusional.

Michael Dell: "It's Time For a Change"

TRANSLATION: "We continue to have no idea what to focus on, so we're just going to carry on as usual."

DELL to $17.

Dear Michael: Dell 2.0 Needs a Strategy

MIchael Dell's email to employees:

"We will have clear priorities and a focused strategy.
We will grow Small and Medium Business and expand Services.
We will continue to build the enterprise Server/Storage business. In Services, we will build, partner and buy.
Product Group will shorten design cycles, increase speed and innovation/design that create real differentiated value for our customers.
We're going to introduce new brands and products with a focus on Consumer and Small Business. We will ensure quality, stability and predictability for our larger customers.
We will complete our dual processor supplier strategy.
We'll restore loyalty and continue CE (consumer experience) improvement. . . . We will bring excitement and pride back to our brand.
In emerging markets, we'll take new approaches and introduce new products."

.. TRANSLATION: "Help. I am crapping myself."