"The chatter about Apple’s broader television plans has been picking up. And if that...

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moneyTalksBSWalks Comments (170)
 
AAPL is under the scanner so any news on the next new thing will help as a catalyst.
16 Feb, 12:36 PM Reply Like

Silvy H Comments (120)
 
A certain MG Siegler appears to " have a source or two in Cupertino " and yet doesn't know if it s TV or a new set-top box. Really good sources then. No doubt the share price will jump up a few percentage points on this early next week and then, when people realise it is yet another bogus rumour, they will drop lower than they are at the moment. When will all this rumour and counter-rumour madness end?
16 Feb, 01:01 PM Reply Like

Applocrat Comments (630)
 
When the stock market dies...
16 Feb, 01:27 PM Reply Like

Applocrat Comments (630)
 
Don't you think this could be A legitimate leak? I could easily imagine the source willing to divulge that something of a certain nature was being worked on But not go to the further step Overview exactly what kind of thing it was. "we're doing something big, about tv.."
16 Feb, 01:30 PM Reply Like

gathurm Comments (23)
 
It may be a rumor at this point, but it makes sense.

Why in the world would Apple jump into a low margin hardware play like TVs? The real money will be made with what your TV can do, and that's software. Further, content doesn't have to be traditional TV programming, ie., sports and movies. It could just as likely (more likely?) be gaming. That fits perfectly with TC's comment about Apple being a software company and PO's recent change to Apple's Income Statement format, wherein software is being highlighted/emphasized.

By unleashing hundreds of independent gaming developers via AppleTV set top box, Apple sells many millions of boxes (which also give you access to a ton of traditional content), but also to a slew (couple hundred thousand) of free and paid games optimized for the digital TV. Remember, you don't have to compile a version of your game for each screen size. iOS is screen size agnostic.

How many of the current crop of iPad games could be recompiled for a games ready AppleTV between June and Christmas, with more powerful games to follow?

Rumor it may be, but of all I've seen in the past 15 years, this one seems the most realistic.
16 Feb, 04:50 PM Reply Like

SA Editor Eric Jhonsa Comments (563)
 
I'd suggest looking into Siegler's background before dismissing his remarks. There are few Apple writers who are more closely followed, especially among the company's die-hard fans.

I don't doubt for a moment that he has some sources at the company, though it's possible they have an incomplete picture of what's going on.
17 Feb, 02:37 AM Reply Like

wiesje Comments (1016)
 
there are 2 stocks in Europe which are closely watched,because of possible Apple involvement the very top segment in TV producing Germany's Loewe ( in Europe the Bentley amongst TV producers, where as B & O is considered the RR ) and the Dutch Navigation company TomTom. the only question is the TV mkt profitable , here one is talking completely different price levels compared to smart phones or Tablets, it may well be very tempting for Apple to produce something that has never been seen , but is it marketable.
I for one believe the risk for Apple is enormous, there is far more downside with failure than upside with success.
the iWatch is a safer and more secure bet.
17 Feb, 03:24 AM Reply Like

rheimerl Comments (167)
 
i would sell aapl if you believe that they have already made their last relevant product
16 Feb, 01:23 PM Reply Like

cshoxie Comments (125)
 
More chatter equals more BS. A new set-top by late fall. Maybe that's why the stock was down 25 points last week. At the rate of -25 points a week the stock will be worth 0 before the long awaited set-top box arrives in late fall. Keep up the BS.
16 Feb, 01:42 PM Reply Like

berloe Comments (1055)
 
Oh, yes, and Intel? What about their set top box et al? As Red Buttons used to say, "strange things are happening!".
16 Feb, 02:01 PM Reply Like

George Anast, M.D. Comments (94)
 
Heaven forbid that Apple should pass from the scene. What would people talk about?
16 Feb, 02:33 PM Reply Like

what do I know Comments (765)
 
I do not know who posted the article but I do not care as I am looking for any thing that will stop this downward motion of AAPL share price.
16 Feb, 02:55 PM Reply Like

debtfree1 Comments (193)
 
I vote for a better little black apple box, with more content, apps & sole main interface/remote for all my viewing pleasure.
And while they're at it also through a miniMAC into that little black hockey puck.
16 Feb, 05:41 PM Reply Like

newcombat Comments (53)
 
There is a nice short-term layer of price-volume support just below the expiration friday's $460 closing.

And the shareholder meeting (where the dividend increase will be announced) is only six trading days away.

So I bought some calls in the final minutes Friday. No crystal ball. I'm hoping to see $458-60 probed Tuesday morning and then a resumption of the recent uptrend.

16 Feb, 05:47 PM Reply Like

wiesje Comments (1016)
 
what uptrend ? the stock has been coming down for 5 months from 700 to 435 and every little pop feels like a lead-balloon , Apple may well surprise with a much needed good pep-talk, but whether that is good enough to turn the stock around ? i am not convinced , i used this recent correction from the lows to buy puts, to me the stock still feels heavy and unless the Trade takes an interest in the stock to buy it, i can't see anyone else coming in to support the price, the shorts have all covered, they had their run, so it's down to the Longs to add more, have they got the conviction to continue buy minus signs after seen support at 600,550 and 500 not able to hold the stock ? .. and have they got room to buy ?...only a very aggressive buy-back policy by Apple could swing the stock back up, but i fear that they are under so much pressure from the Money Managers that they will up the dividend and hand out the cash and that may well put the buy-back program on the back-burner.
17 Feb, 01:15 AM Reply Like

newcombat Comments (53)
 
Well yes-- by "uptrend" I meant the little trend of the past weeks. Larger scope, of course, the big downtrend is intact.

Re your worries about the buyback program and dividend increases:

The APPL response to Einhorn stated -- in public with the legal character of "guidance" -- that they have all the cash they think they need to execute their strategic plan, and on top of that have $20-plus billion free cash flow coming in every quarter. This seems to mean they feel free to return that ongoing cash flow to stockholders.

The existing buyback program requires only $35 billion for fulfillment (with $10 of the $45 bln program total now done).

That leaves, across the coming 4 quarters, say $45 billion (to be conservative, working with $20 billion FCF per quarter) in the cookie jar, or $11.25 bln per quarter.

And currently Apple pays out about $2.48 billion per quarter in dividends.

So doubling that dividend would still leave $6 billion or so accruing in the war chest each quarter (assuming that the entire dividend comes out of that $20-some bln FCF figure they referred to in their statement; if not -- ie if the existing $2.48 billion div is already accounted for elsewhere -- then the leftover cash each month after doubling the dividend would be roughly $9 bln).

So there seems room for a big dividend increase that, even so, would allow plenty of room for revenue ups-and-downs.


The other promising thing about the recent statement was the remarkable solicitude expressed for Einhorn's concerns. This marks a revolution in the way Apple deals with shareholders. A good revolution.

So I'm hopeful that the dividend news on Feb 27 will exceed current expectations, which seem to hover in the 20-30% increase zone.

That combined with the event calendar taking speculative shape in the news may well be enough to break the big downtrend.

We'll see. I've no crystal ball, and a small position at the moment that requires only a 1.5% bump from $460 to be happy.
17 Feb, 11:16 AM Reply Like

newcombat Comments (53)
 
Here's the Apple statement post Einhorn complaint

http://bit.ly/15n5yqW
17 Feb, 11:57 AM Reply Like

rperson Comments (366)
 
Crap! If this is good news and truly innovative stuff we shareholders can expect another 20 point drop. For all you doomsayers and financial types who can predict the future, I went to two Apple stores in Massachusetts. They were totally packed, like it was Christmas shopping. So am I suppose to believe you guys and that criminal Doug Kass, or my own eyes? If this is a company going down the tubes then I must have had an acid flashback.
16 Feb, 05:54 PM Reply Like

u01bsb0 Comments (209)
 
a bit disappointing if after all the hype that will build up towards it and Apple just release a set top box for your TV...
16 Feb, 06:44 PM Reply Like

abavetta Comments (24)
 
I hope it's a set top box rather than an Integrated TV. I'd
hate to see Apple in the highly competitive, low margin
flat screen TV business. As others have said
most of the money will be in the software and content.
16 Feb, 07:44 PM Reply Like

gibmichdiekirsche Comments (49)
 
Is the master still there ? The crowd is screaming louder and louder: "Master, give us the next big thing !" I thought the master was already at "W" in his dictionary with iWatch, next I would have expected something with "Y" or "Z" but not "T" for iTV ... or maybe the master already finished to the "Z" and is now panicing and going back direction A, hoping he might have missed it somewhere. Luckily I have a religion and do not need Apple for that. Luckily I can view Apple simply from an investors point of view.
17 Feb, 06:09 AM Reply Like

wiesje Comments (1016)
 
religion or the pickings ? be specific in yr name, you want the cherries or the church ?

let's see if Google can give the answer to our Anglo-speaking friends.
17 Feb, 06:15 AM Reply Like

gibmichdiekirsche Comments (49)
 
ah now I understand what you were asking .. a former soccer striker in Germany with a very very bad but funny german wording wanted to say like "Pass me the ball", Kirsche=Cherry he was using for ball. Kirche=Church. Ok, this does not add any value to the conversation, but I wanted at least reply.
18 Feb, 04:30 AM Reply Like

moneymakir Comments (2)
 
I'll be eating my applesauce watching my Samsung TV.
17 Feb, 08:55 AM Reply Like

rperson Comments (366)
 
Try reading Robert Hof's recent article in the MIT Technology Review: "Apple's next innovation: TV." You might not be quiet so smug.
17 Feb, 01:31 PM Reply Like

nutech Comments (4)
 
Hmmm, disappointing that the only thing a set top box by Apple will do is allow developers to develop games that will make all current game makers (Sony, Microsoft) obsolete, allow you to watch movies, program content currenty offered by Netflix, Comcast, Dish, etc. rendering them obsolete, allow you to access the internet in a way that is intuitive as only Apple can do, allow you to use your iPhone as your one and only remote so you can throw away the 3-4 remotes you now use, make phone calls using Facetime on your large screen tv, download apps and all do it with the ease and intuitiveness that only Apple can do. Yeah, no big deal.
17 Feb, 08:56 AM Reply Like

rperson Comments (366)
 
Well said nutech. And you could add to your list extracting huge advertising premiums because users will provide extremely accurate demoghic and psychographic profiles based on content consumption. That will pretty much put a stake in the heart of the current cable model. Why do you think CNBC bashes the hell out of Apple? You don't think Comcast can't see the writing on the wall? Apple will do the same thing to the cable business it did to the music business....turn it upside down and reinvent it. This is precisely what the Apple bashes and short selling surrender monkeys can't see. They lack the vision and imagination to see beyond a static business model and a phone. When Apple introduces its TV "device" don't look at its hardware. It's a distribution channel. And the beginning of a whole new way to view content and communicate. Suck on that Doug Kass!
17 Feb, 12:05 PM Reply Like

JG2000 Comments (153)
 
I'll toss out a slightly different "what if". What if they created a rather incremental product that essentially is a DVR that could replace my TiVo. What you do is take the existing hockey puck and add a big disk drive & cable card support & perhaps some gaming support; then add a free channel guide service using existing servers. There are some other hardware and software features that could be added but let's stick with the big picture. I think a product like this could initially be met with some disappointment given the hope/expectation of the "next big thing" -- however, such a product would serve as a base for new and future content deals that might require nothing more than content purchases or software updates. Essentially Apple could own the living room for cable & wifi content access and grow it from there. Some people may claim the existing hockey puck provides a large part of what I am proposing but the lack of the DVR feature and channel guide makes it an add-on rather than the integrated and more complete solution I seek. Note that a free channel guide service would justify my paying more for the box than a TiVo with a monthly subscription (and note that you also pay a monthly fee for a cable company DVR).
17 Feb, 03:57 PM Reply Like