Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 04:45 PM EST  --  Apple Stock Quote:
135.60 (-3.472, -2.5%)
Experts say Apple well-insulated against market chill; AAPL is a steal
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 09:00 AM EST

"Usually, on days when Apple Inc. (AAPL) reports earnings, giddy
investors have a chuckle about the company's famously conservative
forecasts and proceed to load up on the stock--confident that Apple's
closely guarded pipeline of new products will keep sales and profits
on the rise. But in a reflection of the gloomy mood on Wall Street
over the prospect of a recession, investors found little to laugh
about in Apple's latest forecast. After the company said earnings in
the March quarter would come in 14% below analysts' expectations, the
share price fell more than 11%, to $137.93," Peter Burrows reports for
BusinessWeek.

"Yet on closer inspection, there are signs that Apple can not only
weather an economic contraction but emerge stronger than ever. Most
important is the strength of its Mac business. Sure, Apple sold a few
million fewer iPods than analysts expected, but Mac sales were
scorching--particularly the desktop iMac, whose sales grew 53% in a
market that expanded just 10%," Burrows reports.

Burrows reports, "There's little question how Apple executives feel
about the company's prospects. During a conference call for analysts
and shareholders, Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said: "I
couldn't be more confident in what we're doing."

"Strength in the PC business is much more of a positive than slightly
disappointing iPod sales are a negative... There's a silver lining in
the iPod sales numbers as well. While the 22.1 million units were 2
million to 3 million shy of consensus expectations, Apple met Wu's
revenue target for its famous MP3 line. That means the shortfall was
mostly for Apple's cheapest, least profitable product, the iPod
Shuffle, says Wu. So while consumers normally opt for cheaper models
in nervous economic times, Apple's customers clearly see the value in
the company's swankiest products. That's good news for Apple's well-
rehearsed iPod strategy: Bring out a headline-grabbing gizmo at a high
price and spend the next few years milking demand by maintaining that
price for new high-end models while bringing out cheaper models to
reach thriftier shoppers," Burrows reports.

Burrows reports, "Apple is likely far more prepared for an economic
downdraft than most other tech companies. Sure, many consumers may put
off purchases of the latest iPod or iPhone if the recession hits hard,
but Mac sales should hold their own, says Harvard Professor David
Yoffie: 'Apple sells to the least price-sensitive part of the market.
While no company is immune from a recession, Apple is a little less
vulnerable.' Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf puts it another way:
'I think this is an outrageous buying opportunity. It's not a cheap
stock, but you're getting a company that can grow at 25% a year for
who knows how many years, at 25 times earnings. To me, that's a steal--
recession or no recession.'"

Much more in the full article here.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc20080122_786382.htm

DTC <me@nothingtoseehere.zzx> wrote in news:APUlj.2889$nK5.128
@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com:

Apple's no threat to Windows or Linux.  Windows and Linux allow outsiders
to write programs for those operating systems, precisely why Windows took
over the whole market in the first place.  Apple's closed-system nonsense
doomed it from the first Apple I.

It's kind of surprising that they haven't come out with a slew of new
products based on the iPhone platform, only the iTouch. Think of all the
handheld products that would benefit from a platform with a relatively
large LCD, and a relatively large amount of flash. Incremental products
would be relatively low cost in terms of development. If they had a card
slot on the iPhone and the Touch, and Bluetooth on the Touch, and opened
it up to developers, they could sell a lot of these into vertical
applications that are now developing custom products, or basing their
products on the Windows Mobile devices which are more open.

Well thats totally bogus. It's been rumored, but hardly announced.

Provide a url of any announcement from Apple mentioning a 3G iPhone
if you can.

The investors must have been much less impressed with Macair than the
fanboiz.

Maybe they thought it should have a changeable battery, too!