Werlingdervish

Only 35% of iPhone Buyers Will Get it For $199

If only one or more members in an AT&T family plan have iPhones, additional members in the family circle should be able to purchase an iPhone at $199 even it is shown as ineligible on the AT&T website. The trick is activate the additional members SIM cards as if they are iPhones. But it must be done by midnight via iTune's old activation procedure.

See instructions at www.iphonealley.com/ti...?

A circle of friends might technically do this but it goes against the written rules. See the comments at the link.

Is User Apathy About Smartphones Becoming Apparent?

Ditto User 1968424 This is exactly the price increase I experienced with an iPhone for my family of four and the monthly service increase is the real negative that I feel compelled to warn others of.

Apple Should Rise on Bold Citi Call

For a better analysis of Apples first quarter and the hit that Apple Investors took link to: apple20.blogs.fortune..../

Apple Should Rise on Bold Citi Call

Beware of wall street's consensus calls on Apple. Last quarter was Apple's best report of year over year earnings, but Apple fell 10% on the quarterly report because wall street mis-interpreted Apples iPod future projections (not to mention Citicorp writting down $10 billion in the same day).

Apple has had a largely successful run-up in recovery since bottoming at $118. It is now the darling of both wall street and Apple enthusiasts so expectations are very high. Market timers are certain to sellout Wednesday or Thursday morning latest. The pop may become a blowout. Personally, I will put a stop loss on my gains and wait till Thursday to see if I can buy back in when everyone realizes that Apple has only met what most people expected--very good earnings. At most will I will lose a few dollars, but better a few than the 10 % loss in January.

When Bad Strategies Outperform

In trading growth stocks like Apple one has to look forward based on fundamentals and developing news in the industry. One most also enjoy trading in a sector and learn to know that sector very well. More important than analysis to growth stocks are good online rumor sites and speciality news sources. For Apple one can do this via AppleInvestornews.com. Jim Cramer suggests at least an hour homework a week for each stock-- I devote at least 2 hours each for my 8 picks as well as skimming a watch list. I've also been known to follow intraday stock prices and excecute trades via an iPhone. So even quick execution is within a part time investor's toolkit.

Professional money managers by contrast can not devote the time to individuals and their unique portfolios nor do they necessarily do the quick execution required. They no longer even have the clear advantage in technical analysis since the part time private investor can get analytical tools ready-made from eTrade or any online brokeridge. The one I like to use on eTrade is appropiately called Second Opinion--as that is it's only real worth in growth stocks.

As a part timer this is my daily pattern. At seven I Tivo CNBC's Sqawk Box for about 40 minutes of skimming breaking market news each morning. I then get online to setup any early morning trades CST--sometimes I use before/after hours trading. I check my portfolio at lunch time to get any midday bargains. At night I look at good rumor sites and speciality news for the following day.

In short the Jills of this modern world can be real winners right in face of the professionals if they are serious part-timers. Getting 60+% gains in the current market can be and is done by part-timers like myself. It is NOT luck.

Apple's Leopard Is Worryingly Windows-Like

Bad article title since it covers too much including interface, iCandy use of windows--it dramatically reduces the number of windows etc. for which I was about to disagree. I am a 23 year long Mac user.

Your subject at hand, however, is something I agree with. I will focus on only one issue as there are so many-- slow, troublesome installation without a mapped website to readily find help.

Time machine should have never been setup as part of the complete install. It frequently takes so much time and usually frustration to make it work right right. It could have been done via a pop up dialog box with a "cancel" after the basic install. Further more there is no real "custom install" for installing the app separately by going into the full install procedure.

I for one also had my printer setup utility disappear without warning--couldn't be found in the trash. So I looked for an easy means to restoring it. Get a quick download of the app, right! Wrong!

I hate the revamped Apple download site because it makes one have to burrow into extraneous widget etc. content to find essential drivers etc., Furthermore, it couldn't even bring up what to do with a bad or lost printer setup utility on a search of "printer setup" in a "support" search.

Ok, so I try the installation disk with its options folder there. No full listing or "read me" explanation of content in the options folder so I launch the install of all the extra un-needed drivers hoping that printer setup app was there. This was not illogical since the application is essential for selecting and using any printer driver. It was no where to be found in the drivers folder or on the install disk except as apart of the complete install procedure--2 hours worth--in my first attempt on my Mac Pro. Actually, the first got hung up on Time machine and had to be aborted.

So I tried a complete reinstall. Still no printer setup utility a half hour later-- the full install apparently didn't check to see it was missing.

Thank you Apple for your idiot proof installation. Unfortunately it didn't account for some idiots who designed the install package and downloads web page.

Apple's Payoff on Leopard 'Family Pack' Upgrade

Carl,

As Clinton said in defining sex, "family" all depends on what you mean by family. As the Mac Geek in my extended family of brother's computer, my donated club group computer and child's unsupported Apple computer at school I have defined family in a very broad sense. Can't really say how that affects your calcs.

Five Reasons Why Apple's iPhone Is More Disruptive Than You Think

Finally, a person who gets where Apple is going with their ultra portables. I for one am on the road using my iPhone to track stock news, do trades in etrade and make comments like this. Plus the stock widget is good enough to follow my stocks at a quick glance even without wifi. As Apple builds into its new newton and its slim
tablels etc. the post PC era of no more ugly boxes will have firmly taken root.

Newspapers' iPod Moment Has Arrived - Look Out Below

People cannot think out of the box. And I do not mean just old print media trying to do pdf facsimilies on the web. People should recognize that the PC Box is also a dying breed. Most consumers and students do not need a 5 pound laptop to haul around let alone tend to the operating needs of a unreliable box PC. The box is dead, long live Apple and its post PC ultra portables with touch screens and wireless keyboards can and should stay at home or at the dorm where they are needed and docked to a full screen. For further explanation I will post to Seeking Alpha if possible.

Apple Doubling Again in 2007?

Uh, by accident, I sold my last 45 shares (22.5 original shares) of Apple purchased for $8.95 on 5/30/2003 a couple of weeks ago for $143.67 a share or a 16.05 fold increase, so go figure. Gain was $6053 on a investment of $403 dollars. Since I have lots of capital gains on my other Apple share lots I found it best to hold old shares for gifts to charity since one's cost basis is $403 and your charitable gift is worth $5600 and the charity takes on the full gain if you simply transfer the stock and not sell it first. This makes a nice deduction to gains on more recent shares sold for personal use. That is why I regret accidently selling the shares--because good capitalists are so favored by our tax code.

PS. Sorry that missed the technical definition of tipping point. I meant that we only now tipping toward a rush toward the Mac platform expressed here and many places. There may be some corrections based on the larger economy, but investing in Apple for the long run is gold. Microsoft overturned IBM. Right now Apple is in the critical first stages of overturning Microsoft. Vista and MS are the beached whales on the shoreline of the New Web 2 world dying in the surf of Apple's timely innovations and marketing skills. Gee, I'm a poet.

Microsoft and Vista: Trying To Turn Around A Supertanker

This article is dead on truth, but most people still are not getting it. Leopard is a "Windows" minimizing environment designed specifically for small screens. With the likes of Sony's new 11 inch OLED screens--color bright in broad daylight, viewed from any angle, saving 40% on battery power-- the future for Apple's ultra-portable, touch screen technologies is assured. Hello Slim Macbooks, Mac touchscreen tablets and iPhone Extremes running Web 2 secure software from Google, Apple and many others.

Every one of Apple's current consumer software products is designed to simplify life for consumers, to get 95 % of the complex functionality of MS office for a quarter of the effort with few crashes. Just look at the similarity of editing tools across their consumer lines (Take the Apple tours at their site) NOT to mention the WOW factors of new multi-media features built in with similar cross application support.

It is almost sad to see the Microsoft whale struggling on the beach of the Web2 world. Within 5 years it will be all over, even in the business world--see Salesforce.com for the future--they love the possibilities of the new iPhone/computers.

Apple Doubling Again in 2007?

No, The tipping point is now. Heavy iPhone/Mac traffic is in the stores, not to mention a quarterly report with huge profits within two weeks. The Christmas promotion of Leopard on the new dazzling iMacs is coming up shortly (many copies of Leopard are already preordered of older Macs) and "one more thing" likely is to be announced by the end of the year (a slim MacBook or maybe even a Mac tablet. by January 10th). There is a reason why all Apple employees are being asked not to take vacation during the upcoming Holiday Season. The time IS now.

Apple Investors Overlooking Mac's Windows Capability

I think Leopard may be critical. When it becomes as easy to start up in Windows XP as in the Mac OS we will see your observation happen among consumers.

As a Mac Owner since 1984 I have been uninterested in Windows except as a necessary comparison for timely investing in Apple. Despite the ease with which young people and Apple techies take up Boot camp and Parallels, I found that trying them out was still very un-Mac like and difficult even for someone older like myself.

Also I think that both the average consumer and Apple staffers realize that being a switcher is still difficult--remember that using windows on a Mac is as difficult if not more so than using it pre-installed on a new Dell. Also, why switch now when one will have to relearn OSX's Leopard version in a month.

Apple is wise to wait the release of Leopard before pushing another switcher ad campaign. Leopard on iMac will be in perfect time for Christmas sales for the average consumer at Best Buy etc.

Apple's iPhone TV ad agency can then show just how easy it is to switch. If so, consumers will be licking their chops to get a shiney new iMac just as they where when they saw the iPhone commercials.

The bottom line for Apple is still to convey the ease of use and NOW the ease of switching. There are a lot of people holding on to old PC boxes waiting for something better from Vista, but they will actually find it happening on Apple's iMac with Leopard.

I'm Holding On Through this Storm

"Many hedge funds screen their equities based on the same factors of good earnings momentum, valuation etc." such as AAPL has, according to an article by Mark Hines--seekingalpha.com/artic...;u=80141.

Hedge funds with failing mortgage backed securities are forced to sell profitable equities. So this last week was more than profit taking, especially when it occurs with no explanation in the stock's news or fundamentals.

The Risk/Return Tradeoff For Technology Stocks

Is there a caveat here. Some Questions. Why are my highly speculative PANL and TIVO stocks slightly rising while my cash rich quality stuff and recently high risers are being hammered? On a broader question why are bread and butter companies, i.e. consumer retailers that normally survive bad times, going down in a supposedly good economy with high employment? And why are the precious metals going down also? I think that the dirty, no-longer-secret truth is, that the highly leveraged fund managers are exiting their over extended borrowing and lending practices by selling the hard earned cash value of their best stocks (our profits) in order to survive.

More to the point about Apple, the survival mind set of the hedge fund manager is to take the profits in cash or commodities for their credit bailout by selling the most valuable things in the house first before they are foreclosed on by their international banking creditors. They will publically attribute this large sale of profitable companies as profit taking and are praying that JQ public will not realize what a sh*t bag of a financial mess they have created.