Lucmee

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

Andy... A lot of words and charts to say that you think that AAPL should be priced where the hedgers, etc. think it should be. In an erratic market compounded by a sinking economy, this would be a good strategy for a short timer or someone desperate to raise quick cash. But to anybody looking long term; the key is Apple's cash on hand and product viability.
Cash on hand is a given... As to viability... AAPL products are increasingly being recognized as higher quality with better resale value than it's competitor's. (see eBay and Craigslist)... This will serve AAPL well in the long run as people look to cut back on and consolidate their gadget purchases. A Macbook with a Windows partition equals two computers. An iPhone is still the closest thing to a real computer that you can put in your pocket. What's not to like from a consumer standpoint?

Throw away all of the pish-posh and rigamarole and think like a cash strapped consumer, and Apple still maintains a level share of sales... In that case... Flat means sales aren't falling. Add to that APPL's margins and one can clearly see that they can afford to comfortably cut prices if times get really hard and still keep consumers eyes turned towards their products. Cachet and Quality. Apple has those in spades.

Long story short... AAPL will weather the coming economic storm better than the vast majority of it's competition.

Look for a low of 60 due to the economy by mid year. Then jump in with both feet. Anybody that got in between 75 and 85 should be looking at the long haul... But shouldn't be too worried. If you got in over 85... Well ... You'd best be real patient.

Why Apple Stock Is Poised To Go Flat - At Best

Seems to me that the emotion that's unleashed any time anyone makes a comment that is in the least way negative regarding Apple is indicative of the loyalty that any company would kill for. But take off the rose colored glasses folks! .. No one is as big a fan boy of Apple as I am... And I for one realize that there are serious considerations to having a company that is to a very high degree... personality driven... No matter how many insults you hurl... Steve is a mortal man... And should he become incapacitated or worse... I ... and the stock would be devastated.
Additionally... One should not be so centric in their world view that one discounts completely the possibility that somewhere, sometime, somehow... Someone is going to come up with an iPod killer. The fact is... That even something as simple as if a nation like China should decide to say the heck with patents and copyrights and decide to market exact clones of ALL the Apple products and flood world markets with them.
The fact that exactly NONE of these products is manufactured in the US makes it entirely possible in the face of potential conflict over energy and resources.... And speaking of which... It's nice that so many people can find the time to rant and rave about whether or no Apple is "invulnerable" ... When Apple is in the same boat as any other American tech giant in that it maintains absolutely no manufacturing capability on it's home shores. Simple minds see simple things.

False Data Clobbers the Markets

Folderol & Flatulence!! Anybody with an ounce of sense can see that the "real" unemployment numbers are significantly above what's reported due to the fact that those that run out of benefits drop completely off of the radar... And job creation numbers are fictional in that a person who was making $25/hr and now makes $9/hr is still considered fully employed without taking into consideration the impact on that person's spending patterns. I certainly don't blame anyone who's significantly invested in any kind of market for climbing on the nearest soapbox and saying whatever they feel necessary to protect their nest eggs... But that won't stop the chickens from ultimately coming home to roost. And as to Apple.. As much of a fanboy that I am... If Jobs is aware of his real or potential health issues and doesn't have a strong succession plan in place... Then Apple will pay the price for having been a personality driven company...C'est la vie. As to Oil... the truth is that it's getting harder to get the stuff out of where it's at... While you may smell a buck or three's profit in that fact... Remember that you may eat that profit up paying the resultant high fuel prices, along with the attendant commodity price hikes. Additionally... China and India will definitely produce a burgeoning middle class that will produce greater stresses upon the current resources... ergo.... The USA will have to adjust to using a more sensible share of resources than it's currently used to. This will be looked upon as hardship and jingoists will squawk that the the USA is "entitled" to the easy life... And there will lie the rub... There will either be conflict or cooperation... And the markets will ultimately reflect whichever path is taken.

What's Better: BlackBerry or iPhone?

Hey J. Laze
Didn't you have to register to comment... I did? Just by posting this article ...Wayne put himself out there as at least an authority if not an expert... He deserves everything he gets if he insists on producing uneducated spew... You're right in stating that Apple enthusiasts are a bit sensitive to people slamming the obviously superior product line... But your calling passionate people idiotic also pushes a certain level of decency.

What's Better: BlackBerry or iPhone?

Wayne...
C'mon man... You should have at least researched your story before leaping in front of the locomotive that is Apple users offended by inaccurate drivel... Why do we see this over and over? Some uninformed hack will try to make a name for himself by denigrating a product that the market has proven to be a winner by repeating tired and unfounded old wives tales likely put out by the desperate competition. And ends up getting his head handed to him by what history has proven time and time again to be the most passionate and well informed (about their product) users in the world... What reasonably informed person doesn't know that the iPhone has the highest satisfaction ratings out there?... Do you think that anyone paying >$300 for their unit and getting delicate junk is not screaming blue bloody murder? And your pseudo - quasi -pretentious use of the so, so last year's "Brickberry" and "Crackberry" mark you as a poser who is in it for the show of it... Anyone who's used an iPhone for more than 48 hours and doesn't get the implications of the web experience on handset computing is suffering from a true deficit of cognitive function.... How many IT folks out there are getting steamrolled into finding a way to make the iPhone work for enterprise because the bigwigs at the top are finding it the right thing to make them more productive? Nothing against earning your pay man... But at least give your corporate masters their money's worth.

Apple Customers Actually Come First

Oh Paul! Neophytes?!?! Don't be truculent... Most creative types and nearly all media and publishing houses use Apple equipment.. . And seeing as Apple seems to be the fastest...nay ... only make of computer that can boast huge gains in desktop and laptop sales... Don't you think it's a bit elitist and bitter sounding to call so many people neophytes?... Please ...pray tell...What makes your needs so special that something in Apples lineup won't meet your needs.... Can't be rocket science... Because I personally know several that are happy Apple "neophytes"... As are several research and theoretical scientists I know. There are any number of mainstream and specialty publications that would beg to differ on your claim of "value" when it comes to Apple products in comparison to "multiple" hardware sources.... Churlish is not pretty.

Wanted, Dead or Alive: The iPhone Killer

The iphone will continue to be the 1st choice item in smart phones due to the same reason the ipod dominates music players... hardware & software integration. The only thing holding the iphone back from taking out BB is AT&T... Lots of folks look at it and want it but don't want to be stuck with AT&T... By the time some company comes out with real competition for the current model... Apple will be bringing out the next innovation... a la ipod. I suspect that there will be a major bump in iphone sales as soon as AT&T's exclusivity is gone... It's also a good bet that the other carriers are making plans to tweak their networks to meet Apple's specs in order to serve iphone customers ASAP when the time comes.

Why iPhone Unlocking is Growing Every Day

I suspect Apple could give less than a flying fig about unlockers as long as they buy the phone legally... I'm sure Apple looks at the iPhone the same way they originally looked at the iPod... "If They Use It ...They Will Come"... Over to Macintosh that is. Use an iPhone... You're bound to be looking at a Mac the next time you're in the market for a computer. Even though they removed "Computer" from the company shingle... Computers is what they do and will remain the core of the business for the foreseeable future. Besides..What better stick to beat the other carriers over the head with when the AT&T contract runs it's course?... Can you hear Steve now?... "Look at all the folks using iPhones on your network now...Don't you want all the features to work?" Remember... Apple's mantra is customer experience... They'd rather build the market so that it becomes imperative that the carrier toe the line for features and ease of use... AT&T jumped on that bandwagon and got rewarded with exclusivity for a bit... Apple will be tickled pink to sell iPhones to anybody that wants one once the carriers get on board with the feature support.... I suspect they calculated 5 years as optimal to make this happen.

iPhone Browsing Market Share Shows Importance of Usability

What does SAP know that you don't? I suspect that there are lots and lots of CEO's poking their IT crews in the eye about making their iPhones work in the corporate environment. SAP smells the pot boiling and they know that "dinner will soon be served." iPhones and iPhone like devices are the wave of the future and usage will (is) grow exponentially. I've personally brought over 22 people to the mac os experience just this year. And they all very largely sold themselves... Now multiply me by 50,000...

iPhones Sell Themselves in Everyday Tasks

Another schmuck that's only ever held an iphone for 5 minutes or less... I'll bet you're a Cricket user with a cheap Razor whose credit wasn't good enough to even GEt an AT&T account... You silly bashers are getting on my last nerve... Oh!!... But that's what you wanted... Right?.. OK... Now you've got your jollies... Go Away.

iPhones Sell Themselves in Everyday Tasks

Did you read the comments on the WSJ blog? 5 to 1 commenters are saying they don't have a problem w/ the iphone keyboard... Stop trolling for attention and go get a life! You obviously didn't read the whole article because even that writer doesn't come down as heavily as you... What's your angle?

Did Apple Beat iPhone Sales Forecasts or Not?

People are complaining?!? Usability?!? Long list of missing Feature?!? For Pete's sake! Get a grip! The vast, vast majority of buyers and reviewers are pretty darn happy with the thing. Not to mention... wait for it.... This is v1.0!! Even if "only" 500K were sold... Does that not count as friggin amazing? You remind me of Dudley Dursley from Harry Potter at his birthday... "Isn't there More?!?" Types like you are never satisfied. If you want to grouse and be deemed minimaly credible... Then point out some competing units that outperform the iphone. I suspect you will still be grousing when v3.0 comes out... Come to think of it... Have you even TOUCHED a unit yet? Boneheads like you truly smoke my hams... you write to draw attention to yourself. Run rate?!?! Lower than YOU expected?!? What... Pray tell... did you expect? I don't own one but just from doing the research and going to the AT&T store and playing with one... I've felt absolutly no compunction about recommending the phone to many even though it's only v1.0. (Full disclosure... I'm 3 months from 3 contracts expiring W/ Qwest) Take some heartfelt advice... Go out and touch one... Talk to some real people. Do some research... Just stop being silly.

The Street Gets Pre-Release Jitters On Apple's iPhone

Well said regarding the RAZR release pricing... And while I don't expect to see $50 iphones going out the door any time soon... if ever... You can take it to the bank that AT&T has done their homework on what the market will bear. And as soon as their are enough expensive iphones out there to whet the appetite of the teeming masses... the operative word will become "volume".

All Apple equipment goes at premium prices... So it will be interesting to see where it bottoms out for an iphone... I suspect somewhere in the $200 range with a 2 year commitment... If so... Then we can expect a Wii like phenomenon... Not enough to go around but can't sell enough of em. Also... There doesn't appear to be anything particular about an iphone that would make it much more expensive to manufacture than a high end ipod... And we know Apple's margins on those are very nice indeed... Another reason to look at volume vs pricing.

Mobile Players Take On Apple iPhone With Flat-Rate Mobile Music Service

It costs me nothing to dump my already owned music into itunes and enjoy... And renting music is a non starter.

Apple: When the iPhone Hype Wears Off, There Are Still Real World Issues

How many patents did Jobs mention on touch screen tech?