erstwhile

Did iPhone Sales Pass 10M Already?

Astounding. Fanbois bleating up AAPL. I wouldn't touch this stock for a while.

AAPL is going to be facing more and more competition in the Market. Ballmer is right, an iPod that can make calls has an appeal to a limited market. As more competent smartphones arrive (Android will spur a ton of interesting devices) the competition will increase. The non ATT carriers are greatly incentivized to break the iPhone's lock on the market.

Apple were there first with the Apple ][ and the iPhone could be another case of the SJ driven company painting itself into a corner while the market matures and moves forward.

It's called capitalism - have you heard of it?

Look AAPL is always a risky stock. Apple will be greatly affected by the storm in the economy, precisely because it is a premium product that carries a big mark up for it's industrial design. So if the US consumer's discretionary income is hit, AAPL sales will be hit. Since AAPL is propped up by people "hoping" it can run up again, it's generally a stock that is overvalued (much like it's producs), and therefore considerably volatile.

AAPL is down 40% over the last 12 months, MSFT is down less than 20%, the DJIA is down around 30%.

You can slag MSFT all you like, but as a company they are stronger and less exposed (whilst AAPL is attempting to morph into a retailer, and move away from solely being a hardware company, it's not there yet). They have a diverse customer base (business to consumer).

Beware AAPL.