Michael McDonnell

Should the FCC Force Apple to Stock Competitive Products in Its Own Store?

Will they force Disney stores to carry non-Disney products next? Why not, this could leach over into brick'n mortar stores easily.

I have google voice, well if you want lower quality, but not me, my business requires the best phone connection at the highest quality. That call I'm on may make or break a deal, which is why I tried 3 carriers before choosing AT&T 5 years ago. I don't like having to pay more but I can't afford to compromise. The advantage of google voice is I can use one number an it will ring all my phones if I choose.

It's not AAPLs fault it's the govt. that allowed the cellular carriers to buy each other, now there is almost no competition between them.

'Longer Term, Everyone Thinks Apple Is Going Higher'

AAPL has many top products and more to come. A netbook is rumored to be ready by October for the holiday season. The iPhone is overwhelming sales of competitors in other countries, AAPL can't build them fast enough. The iPhone has about 5 years of life left before another "new" device is created (not necessarily by AAPL).

The MacBook is THE choice for college bounds... How can AAPL stock go down? Another market dive, Jobs leaving... that's about all.

PS: Now that the iPhone is Exchange compatible, it's ready for the boardroom. Windows 7 will be a difficult upgrade so some businesses will switch to OS X, for simplicity and security.

Apple Scores Again

With a "tablet" in the works, it's easy to buy AAPL and hard to sell. Definitely not a trading stock.

Compare recommendation trends and
finance.yahoo.com/q/ao...
growth estimates (w/o new tablet)
finance.yahoo.com/q/ae...

Shooting for 100% Return in One Month

"Genworth Financial (GNW) --- They didn’t need the TARP."

Not quite the way it was....

MetLife and a couple other insurance companies could qualify for TARP because they owned banks, and even though some owned banks not all went for the TARP money.

Knowing this Genworth went out and looked for a bank to buy to qualify for TARP. They couldn't get it together before the TARP deadline to apply. They might have gotten TARP funds, we'll never know.

Later the US Govt announced it was bailing out not only banks but insurance companies that needed money.

How Investors Can Lose with Annuities and Whole Life Policies

Different states guarantee funds have different amounts for products sold by life insurance companies, many are guaranteed to $100,000 and some have increased to $250,000. If you look at your states' guarantee fund website you'll see a list of companies that went bankrupt, most are small no name companies.

Life insurance, annuities, and long term care insurance are heavily regulated. The problem with AIG was the non-regulated derivatives. The AIG life insurance division is doing fine. Genworth stock tanked not because of derivatives but because of it's mortgage insurance division, something every new homeowner must buy. The Genworth life division is doing fine.

Regulation shouldn't shackle business to costly inefficient bureaucracy, it should be a beacon to steer through the waters of commerce, and when the beacon is turned off or ignored, the ship might go aground.

A Perfect Storm for Solar Stocks and Clean Energy

TSL & PBW are in my wallet.

Sentiment for Apple Increasing but Palm, Nokia Gaining Ground

Once you can tether your computer to iPhone it will become even more popular with small business users like myself.

After years of being tied to land lines, file cabinets and desktop computers the possibility of true paperless office and complete mobility is closer than ever.

I've used a Fujitsu document scanner to replace my file cabinets and a MacBook to replace my aging IBM ThinkPad (which served a long and useful/reliable life), now either a MiFi (tinyurl.com/om65xn) or tethering an iPhone will be just the ticket.

Apple stock will drop in June/July when Jobs announces he's stepping down as CEO but will be on the board, but unlike MS (Ballmer) the burden won't rest on one person's shoulders at AAPL.