Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah

Buy and Hold Is Alive and Well

CORRECTED:

Okay, but what about those people that did their homework and bought companies with "implied" U.S. Government backing, such as Fannie Mae (FNE), Freddie Mac (FRE), or bought the biggest insurer in the world, American International Group (AIG), or the biggest U.S. automobile dealer, General Motors (GM)?

Or, bought the biggest software company in the world in 2000, Microsoft (MSFT)? Unfortunately, MSFT has done NOTHING for 8 years.

The above are, or were, very big, well-known companies. Markets change, technologies sweep away earlier companies, and companies make major errors in the marketplace.

The fact is even the Dow Jones drops and adds companies at times, and so should investors. Investors that retired, or were about to retire, saw their equity portfolios devastated, when they have the least ability to earn a living to replenish their capital, and had little or no means to take advantage of the severe market decline.

Buy and Hold is good in a rising market, and a rising market makes every investor look like a GENIUS.

Buy and Hold Is Alive and Well

Okay, but what about those people that did their homework and bought companies with "implied" U.S. Government backing, such as Fannie Mae (FNE), Freddie Mac FRE, or bought the biggest insurer in the world AIG, or the biggest U.S. automobile dealer, General Motors (GM)?

Or, the biggest software company in the world in 2000, Microsoft (MSFT)? MSFT has done NOTHING for 8 years.

The fact is even the Dow Jones drops and adds companies at times, and so should investors. Those that retired, or were about to retire, saw their equity portfolios devastated when they have the least ability to earn a living to replenish there capital, and had little or no means to take advantage of the severe market decline.

Buy and Hold is good in a rising market, and a rising market makes every investor look like a genius.

Apple's Next Releases Need to Live Up to Expectations

RE: "... it’s very difficult to make successful products every year (think about Microsoft (MSFT), how many successful products has it launched in the past 10 years?)..."

REPLY
Microsoft never invented anything. Its products were copied, workarounds, or acquisitions from other companies.


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RE: "... If the firm doesn’t meet expectations in the next releases..."

REPLY:
Apple has a pipeline of products and services going out way into the future. Steve Jobs' absence of a few months will have NO effect on Apple's delivery into the marketplace.

We are only just beginning to see Apple's influence on the world.

Microsoft May Be Able to Halt Apple's Music Monopoly

RE: "... if you wanted 30,000 songs for keeps, just like the iTunes Store, you would have to wait 250 years. The cost would be a whopping $45,000,.. "

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People don't want to spend three lifetimes looking for music. They want to replay what they like and keep what they like. If they do this, iTunes can be cheaper, and songs are always available as a download on the iPod, without needing a WiFi connection.

Napster, Real, etc. failed because People WANT to own their music. If subscription is what the market wants, Apple can still deliver it as good or better than anyone else.

Nothing new in your report.

On Apple's Normal Beat and Sandbag Guidance

RE: "...Sell the razor (which Apple gets all the profit from) then benefit from sales of the blades (reoccuring monthly in this case by sharing in carriers subscriptions)...."

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Nobody buys the iPhone to intentially give money to the network carriers.

In Apple's case, there is a different twist to the "razor and blade" analogy.

The App Store (software) is the "razor," and the "razor" (software) is either free or of very reasonable cost. Users are buying the iPhone because of its software user interface (UI) and numerous software applications that are reasonably priced and readily available.

The "blade" is the iPhone. More people buy iPhones, the real money generator for Apple, because of what they can do with the iPhone, and not because they want to send money to the network carriers.

RIM's Secret Weapon: Lower Bandwidth Consumption

CORRECTED REPLY

RE: "RIM's Secret Weapon: Lower Bandwidth Consumption"

RIM's typically BlackBerry does LESS and has LESS capability. So, of course it has lower bandwidth consumption. Most BlackBerrys in use have "baby" internet, and little or no video capability.

A dial-up network uses a great deal less bandwidth than broadband, yet, we don't see an enormous number of people flocking to dial-up just to save money being spent on broadband subscriptions.

Smartphone users want or WILL want the "real" internet, such as that which is experienced on a notebook or desktop computer. They want video and multi-processing capability. All of these require bandwidth. That is why ALL carriers are moving to high bandwidth networks such as HSPA, LTE, etc.

RIM's BlackBerry has its place in the smartphone market, but RIM needs to introduce models that have more capability, as users find that mobility requires FULL computer network features on their handsets.

And, THAT will require carriers to upgrade their networks to provide more bandwidth.

RIM's Secret Weapon: Lower Bandwidth Consumption

RE: "RIM's Secret Weapon: Lower Bandwidth Consumption"

RIM's typically BlackBerry does LESS and has LESS capability. So, of course it has lower bandwidth consumption. Typically, "baby" internet, little or no video etc. is available on most BlackBerrys in use.

A dial-up network uses a great deal less bandwidth than broadband, yet, we don't see an enormous number of people flocking to broadband.

New Microsoft Ad Targets High Cost of Macs

When a product has no other advantages, then price is the only way it can be sold.

Microsoft & Windows, the Yugo of the computer industry!

Apple’s iPhone App Refund Policies Unfair to Developers

RE: "... However, when a transaction is canceled via paypal, paypal never keeps the commission it took on the transaction. How is this fair?..."

The difference is that PayPal only acts as collection agency. PayPal does nothing more. If the developer sold the app through its own company, the developer would still incur all the administrative costs: employees, hardware, software, rent, etc. when a customer returns an app

Apple HOSTS and MAINTAINS the website. Apple is hoping to only break-even with its website. Why should Apple be burdened with the website expense when a customer is unhappy. The customer returns the app because the customer is unsatisfied with the APP, and not with Apple.



Apple is requiring the developers to be responsible and is holding them accountable.

Apple's Proprietary Tendencies on Display Again

RE "... Having the controls on Apple earbuds means no third party headphones...."

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This is incorrect.

Headphone adapters are expected to be available soon, and third party headsets are expected to come later.

Apple introduced a revolutionary innovation at the LOW-end of the iPod line. For you, an iPod with a display and click wheel may be more appropriate. Apple has the design skills, technology, and marketing talent to provide a wide spectrum of iPods, from the absolute basic up to those with extensive capabilities and features.

What is amazing with the new iPod is that Apple came up with an innovative talking headset for an iPod WITHOUT a display. And NOBODY knew it was possible!

If you had any brains, you would recognize that this is another example of a creative company that is still innovating during one of the worst recessions in memory.

Global Smartphones to Hit 300 Million by 2013

RE: "... next-generation devices will most likely be led by software and content, rather than hardware, as vendors such as Nokia strive to make their devices highly personalized and rooted firmly in the online environment..."

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Nokia? Ha ha ha! Really? No mention of Apple, the company that sets the standard for mobile phones, the mobile internet, and handheld device SOFTWARE.

The more that people rely on a handheld device, the more people will look for the BEST hardware and BEST software.

In case you haven't finished your market research, let me save you some time: Apple is the BEST. Everyone else is waaaaaaaaay behind.

Apple: Eight iPhone Annoyances

Apple probably knows all of these shortcomings. Software, at some point, has to be put on the market. It can't stay in "beta" forever.

However, Apple's first crack at the mobile phone software produced a product that is, overall, superior to all others.

Evolutionary and revolutionary Apple software upgrades and add-ons will show Apple to be the best, as it has shown with its Mac OS.

Recession Takes a Bite Out of Mac Sales

RE: "... it's no wonder Apple issued an exceptionally cautious outlook for the current quarter ..."

Actually, Apple's forecast for its 2009 Q2, the quarter ending March 2009, was NOT as low as Wall Street expected. Because Apple's current quarter outlook was NOT as cautious as Wall Street expected, I believe this is one reason why Apple stock is doing BETTER this quarter.

Fourth Quarter Sees Decline in Cell Phone Shipments

RE: "... Even Apple (AAPL) saw a 36 percent quarterly decline in sales of iPhones (4.4 million in the December quarter versus 6.9 million in the September quarter). ..."

It is believed that approximately 2 million of the over 6 million iPhones that Apple shipped in the prior quarter were "channel fill." Meaning that, they were iPhone that retailers used as inventory and showroom stock.

Apple SEC Investigation: Rotten to Core

RE: "... The company was founded by Jobs and Steve Wozniak. It was the idea of two men, one of whom left a long time ago. ...."


Actually, 3 people were the original founders of Apple. The third person was Ronald Gerald Wayne. Wayne sold his shares of Apple stock back to the two Steves sometime AFTER Apple was founded.