Buffeted

Did Apple Steal the Palm Pre’s Thunder?

Your question ignores the real issue behind any meaningful comparison between the two. What Apple has achieved with the iphone and the app store is the same thing they achieved with the ipod and itunes: A platform + contextuality. The superior operating system of iphone, design, speed etc. is all secondary to the perception of the iphone as an exclusive window to the app store and itunes experience. The pre gives you the internet in your pocket experience, but that's it! When companies start REALLY getting that, they will compete, but then there is still the unity of apple os that connects ALL of there divices that will be the next hurdle for competitors.

Apple's Media Tablet Will Cause the Stock to Rocket

The more hype generated about the release of such a tablet, if there is one, the more inclination there will be to buy the rumor and sell the news.

How the iPhone and Poor Management Contribute to Apple's Downfall

Another important article, Andy, and thanks but not the reason the stock keeps getting kicked down to 80, instead of 100. Apple's once again the poster boy of bad public relations, this year, regarding their mishadling of the correct percepion that if Jobs retires or dies, Apple Inc. will suffer. They seem surprised that people wanna know anything: "Why is this important" jobs says about his departure until June with no word on a prognosis or guarantee of a return. Wanna know what's going on with your investment? Tough. The problem's not GAAP or non GAAP or anything else which we shall see tomorrow when Apple releases more excellent earnings.

Why Apple Will Blow Away Forecasts This Quarter

Excellent work. Indeed Apple has a gross margin goal which they have been reaching again and again by feeding strengths like the ipod touch with strong advertisement to make up for shortcomings in mac sales - which was the case last quarter.
This will be a blow out record quarter because of two things: 1. Outstanding iphone sales and 2. Outstanding Mac book sales. The later being the surprise this quarter. Especially to those who didnt pay attention to NPD's numbers released today.
I see Gross Margin Percentage at 36% and guidance at 33% again.

Apple: Great Products = Great Investment?

I like this:


On Jul 09 09:45 AM Julian Ivan-Alexander wrote:

> "There is a lack of visibility about future sustainability. There
> is a lack of visibility about future direction. There is a lack of
> understanding about future cash flow. Can it keep its innovation
> engine going on forever?"
>
> There is a lack of visibility in this article about taking cues from
> a company's past behaviour to predict its future. Apple innovates.
> Its in its DNA. The iPod? Written off as a failure. The Apple Stores?
> Written off as a retail "lights will be out in two years failure."
> The iPhone? Written off as an overpriced toy which would only ever
> enjoy a niche product status. The iTunes store? Oh "it doesn't make
> a profit so what's the point." The App Store? "Oh it'll never be
> a big deal - discount it, its meaningless."
>
> The cost of a share of AAPL right now? $137
>
> The value of innovation? Priceless
>
> The price to Apple of its relentless refusal to please writers and
> analysts by giving them what they think their readers want instead
> of what their customers really want? Boneheaded analysis and a share
> price 50% too low.

Looks Like We're Still a BlackBerry Nation

I agree: Rim will rule smart phone market share for awhile, especially among the business world because of the keyboard, the emailing and it's austere utilitarian professional image. But what's more interesting is that smartphones will soon be obsolete. The demand for phones with internet and pc capability plus the explosion of net books, i.e low price internet and über portability, indicate that the notion of the mobile phone and computer as separate devices is already anachronistic. Apple, by contextualizing their devices as gaming consuls and application multitools address the the youth segment who are the leaders of trend and consumption and direct the future. They are prepared to embrace a hybrid ibookphone like device, if designed the right size, with enough battery power, a workable keyboard size (even if touch screen) and improved email capability as they have already shown with the iphone. Within 5 years the smart phone and the laptop, as we know them, will be obsolete and the only thing that will still give apple the edge over the competition will be the software since the competition will be fast enough to copy the hardware but not the contextual aspect and the importance of a single unified software.

Will the iPhone Be Taken by Storm?

If I were to write, let alone post, such a profoundly meaningless article supported by "...the number of people who researched the devices on the carrier and/or the manufacturer’s site in the weeks before the release." I would make sure my name was not on it either.

This part is full of insight: "Like many other recent Smartphone releases, the touchscreen, media player, and web-browsing features led to comparisons with the iPhone 3G." It led to comparisons because RIM decidedly monkey see monkey do the iphone. Are you retarded?

Here's one of your typo's at § 5, line 3 you wrote; "this data does suggest that it is possible rival..." but it's just the letter a and it was such a long article, you probably were overwhelmed.

Move along - nothing to see here.

Should Apple Investors Feel Good About Yesterday's Rally?

You may well be right, but then again, aapl may continue to outpace the market through early December, making the next broader market pullback, as continued volatility is expected, less severe on aapl than the one we came out of yesterday.
Aapl could EASILY revisit 80 and below again. But when, and for how long?
Consider a return to the old obvious: It's no secret that investors and traders are well aware of how well Apple Inc. is positioned for a market recovery in whatever (volatile and gradual) form it may come in, compared to most everything else out there. It's no secret that aapl is a premium now at any perspective.
It's no secret that there's a good chance Apple Inc. beats the street next earnings by a large enough margin to pop the stock.
It's no secret that aapl has a whole lot of money in the bank, no debt and huge growth potential. It's no secret that that aapl is an extremely compelling long term play at this price despite your warnings above.
Based on the obvious, reactionary assumptions behind your advice, including the issue of timing the market for shorts, I would warn both short and long term traders to consider the contra position, especially since I suspect this is the direction big money and hedgefunds shifting to as of yesterday.

Apple's Greatest Idea Yet

Another astounding chapter in the Apple story. What apple Inc. continues to do, which is a TOUGH act to follow, is create stories that capture the imagination while totally revolutionizing technology and how it is percieved: Redifining music with the ipod and offering an act of purchase with itunes that contextualized the device and rendered the CD redundant is, alone, a remarkable achievement of pure and elegant brillance. Now we see how the consumer imaginaton wraps itself around a divice that can out perform your average PC, allows you to telephone, is an ipod, gaming device, and server that fits into your pocket. Will people start buying LCD screens for their iphone's and forgo even a laptop? Does the iphone render the netbook redundant? As the app store develops into a kind of interactive itunes for just about everything, the apple story is already the stuff Thomas Jefferson, Henry Ford or Howard Hughes were talking about: It's about bringing the dreams of the modern man to life and then some. Apple Inc. is an American story of the finest character that simply cannot be ignored.

If Apple Does Correct, It Will Do So Soon

Good call!

Will Apple Record Another Halt-Trading Big Beat?

I support the motion of a Huberty award! She might have to share it this year with Toni S. though.

But here's what I wrote over at Bullish Cross today, just so you dont thik I dont appreciate your hard work, Andy:

Athough I believe your unit sales numbers, except for ipods due to touch sales, are too high especially for iphones, they're likeley to be closer than anyone else's. It's thorough and a valueable reference for the future.
You've done good in shedding light on incompetent Apple analysis and hopefully investors will refer back to this article in the future when we have to hear the same bullshit from the same people next quarter.

Will Apple Record Another Halt-Trading Big Beat?

You mean Kathryn Huberty was wrong????

It's No Big Deal That Apple Is Pulling Out of Macworld

Here is what I predict for Apple Inc. and for aapl in 2009:
The market will remain pretty stable around present levels with low volatility with aapl folowing suit until macworld which might reveal new imacs but even if it doesnt, expectations are so low the potential for surprise rather than disappointment are in aapl's favour. When Apple reports Quarterly earnings in late January and when Obama is expected to sign a package to help homeowners and create new jobs his first day at work, aapl should pop supported by what I believe will be better than expected sales, including macs. By the middle of February, after Obama euphoria fades, the stockmarket will probably fall back to the October lows or create a new bottom which will should hold. Selling long positions on aapl before end of January would be unwise. 2009 will be a dreadful year for America's economy and most Americans financially, but the stock market will offer a once in a life time chance, by the second quarter, to purchase shares in the future of the Greatest capitalist (we still are the later) democracy in the world at big time bargain prices.

Cramer's Stop Trading! Goldman Has Nothing Better to Do (12/15/08)

I'm beginning to like Cramer...a little. Indeed, Goldman Sachs who will report earnings tonite, is going to get clobbered and would prefer to see everyone else go down with them. On the other hand, the combination of a deepening recession and the misconception that the netbook is a value buy (they can do next to nothing and end up being costly when you add up the service provider fees), dont realize what they cannot do and RETURN RATES ARE HIGH, they are taking market share away from the MAC. Even the new macs (not desktops) are not showing up in the top ten on amazon like last year because of the netbooks. I still think, however, that the numbers skew the real picture of mac sales especially since they account for only domestic sales for the period before black friday. Since when have we started downgrading stocks who depend on the ENTIRE holiday season for the bulk of annual sales based on NOVEMBER sales alone? I dont think Apple investors should be too scared off by this flimsy downgrade from the sinking ship of G.S. and would go so far to say that the coming earnings report in January for Apple should be a nice surprise for those holding aapl.

iPhone vs. Netbook: Which Will Be the Biggest Gaming Machine?

Good question - I reckon this is the latest battle ground for the smart phones and netbooks too. It's a HUGE, YOUTH dominated market, i.e. a golden goose. The challenge the netbook has is that anyone who's serious about games on a computer will opt for more juice - netbooks choke on media. The iphone isnt much better in that respect, but you get a brilliant device that can do a hundred other things for you and it IN YOUR POCKET. So while it wont lure many hardboiled gamers, it will appeal to the light to moderates - Include, ofcourse, the other less popular smart phones in that category.
Will Apple be the BIGGEST gaming machine or not? T answer that you gotta answer this: Will Apple's succes with the ipod, itunes phenomenon and its seductive, cohesive design aesthetic, that unified hardware, software and the web in an intuitive way for the consumer, is being replicated with the iphone, app store experience? If the answer is yes, then it aaplies for mobile gaming as with other app sales, that Apple is in a league of its own - no pun intended.