Apple Corp (Symbol-AAPL)

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kcowan
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Apple Corp (Symbol-AAPL)

Post by kcowan »

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Monday October 22, 4:30 pm ET
AAPL wrote:CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Quarterly Mac Sales Set New Record
Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac® shipments by 400,000.

The Company sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter.
Quarterly iPhone(TM) sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.

"We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever."

"Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42."
The street was looking for $0.86 and Apple delivered $1.01!

I am shopping for a newer used laptop on Craigslist and several of the sellers are getting rid of PCs under a year old to get iMacs!. Not iBooks, but the integrated desktop unit that is just a bright and beautiful wide screen with a computer hidden in its case.

There seems to be an avalanche building!

(PS we are still shareholders, and they are trading north of $174.)
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Post by WishingWealth »

Was reading during the week-end that 10 years ago Michael Dell told Jobs he should close shop.

Apple is now worth twice as much as Dell.
And it overtook HP too - in value.

(Blomberg news in La Presse)

And I did not :evil: :evil: :evil: buy Apple 10 years ago.

WW (dumb dumb dumb)
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

WishingWealth wrote:Was reading during the week-end that 10 years ago Michael Dell told Jobs he should close shop.
Yabbut how many iPods and iPhones was Apple selling a decade ago? What technology is Dell selling today that didn't exist a decade ago. It's not about selling PCs. It's about innovation. Steve's got it. Michael doesn't.
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Post by bubbalouie »

It's about innovation. Steve's got it. Michael doesn't.
With all due respect, Apple stole a lot of the iPod technology from Creative.

Apple's success is due to the masses buying into the Ipod through good PR and advertising.

Innovation? I don't agree.
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Post by marty123 »

bubbalouie wrote:
It's about innovation. Steve's got it. Michael doesn't.
With all due respect, Apple stole a lot of the iPod technology from Creative.

Apple's success is due to the masses buying into the Ipod through good PR and advertising.

Innovation? I don't agree.
I'll side with bubbalouie. It's a freakin' MP3 player that was well marketed and sold to a herd of believers and followers. It's always been technologically limited compared to the competition, and the herd was (and still is) willing to turn a blind eye to the limitations. The only innovation in the iPOD was in the marketing blitz that pushed it so high up in sales.

The iPhone does have some serious advancements though, but it's proving to be a harder sale for Apple.
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

bubbalouie wrote:With all due respect, Apple stole a lot of the iPod technology from Creative.
WADR you're mistaken.
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Post by kcowan »

Innovation is a tough thing to claim as competitive advantage. Dell was extremely innovative in how they approached mass customization and distribution.

IMHO Apple has set the standard for good user-friendly design. They also have the unique advantage in being able to integrate their offerings: iPod with iTunes, all Mac components.

The iPhone is not a new phone so much as a redesigned user interface to using computers for communication. In fact it is a mediocre phone. Imagne one day having a touchscreen notebook version of the iPhone! Or a touchscreen iMac?

Watch for Apple to make growth revenues from movies on demand.
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Post by bubbalouie »

But if the crucial equation is ''largest number of songs'' divided by ''smallest physical space,'' the iPod seemed untouchable.
That article is simply untrue bylo.

I had a 30GB Creative mp3 in the '90's, at least in the year 2000, well before the iPod was ever released and it was the size of a wallet.
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Post by kcowan »

The definitive word on Leopard:
Leopard’s new look has been compared to the Aero Glass look in Windows Vista. While I think there are few legitimate similarities, this comparison comes up as often as it does because the two designs share one prominent attribute: the gratuitous, inappropriate use of translucency to the detriment of usability.

Why, Apple? Why!? Was there something horribly wrong with the existing menu bar—something that could only be fixed by injuring its legibility? Like the folder icons and the Dock, it’s not so much a fatal flaw in and of itself. It’s what it implies about the situation at Apple that is so troubling. What in the holy hell has to happen in a meeting for this idea to get the green light? Is this the dark side of Steve Jobs’s iron-fisted rule—that there’s always a risk that an obviously ridiculous and horrible idea will be expressed in his presence and he’ll (inexplicably) latch onto it and make it happen? Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.
By developer John Siracusa as quoted in the Apple blog on Fortune.

PS He liked the inside, i.e. the coding implementation.
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Post by Raymond »

Frankly, I don't care whether Apple stole (don't think so!) the tech for iPod.
All I know is I bought at around $60 (after buying for 12 something then selling for below thirty i believe !! :( . It has delivered for me in terms of sales and more importantly PROFITS!!
go Apple go !!
Everyone have a proiftable day!! :lol:
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Post by ChrisC »

kcowan wrote:Innovation is a tough thing to claim as competitive advantage. Dell was extremely innovative in how they approached mass customization and distribution.
Exactly. Dell may not be selling innovative products, but they do have an innovative ways of operating; such as selling direct-to-consumers, customization of parts, brand labelling some of their peripheral products, and numerous other things with regards to their supply chain and logistics.

The big question for me with Apple is, at a trailing P/E nearing 50, can they keep the growth required to sustain these price levels?
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Post by kcowan »

ChrisC wrote:The big question for me with Apple is, at a trailing P/E nearing 50, can they keep the growth required to sustain these price levels?
And a PEG of 0.80 - a great level for a growth stock. Can they sustain it?

Well so far so good!
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Apple (AAPL) Mac OS (Leopard) Sets Sales Record

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Apple (AAPL) Mac OS Sets Sales Record
Apple (AAPL) today announced that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple's history
.

http://www.247wallst.com/2007/10/apple-aapl-mac-.html
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Post by Wallace »

kcowan wrote:
ChrisC wrote:The big question for me with Apple is, at a trailing P/E nearing 50, can they keep the growth required to sustain these price levels?
And a PEG of 0.80 - a great level for a growth stock. Can they sustain it?

Well so far so good!
I remember in the 1980s looking at Microsoft and thinking "My, that's expensive." I kept waiting for it to go down but of course it never did. Now we have (expensive) Apple gaining market share and coming out with products that every teenager on the block "must" have.

I was convinced about Apple when a friend's teenage daughter came over one day. She isn't academically-bright, and would normally have watched TV in sullen boredom throughout the night, but this time she sat all night with her ipod. I asked her how it worked and instead of being brushed off with a bored answer, she started flipping throught the controls with great dexterity and enthusiasm. This non-technical teenage girl knew everything about her ipod.

So this time I bought in.
Can they sustain it?
Yes, if this teenager has anything to do with it.
There's a new crop of teenagers produced every year!!

I can't believe I'm rooting for teenagers !! :lol:
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Post by kcowan »

Wallace wrote:I can't believe I'm rooting for teenagers !! :lol:
Holding AAPL stock will do that to you.

Two tears ago, we were vacationing in San Diego when we drove to the Fashion Valley Mall. While DW went shopping, I wandered into teh Apple store. It was packed with young people waiting to be shown how to use their Macs for photo management and music sharing.

This was mid-week and mid-afternoon. I think "the tipping point" has been reached...
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Post by cycle »

You know a stock is priced for perfection when a two-day decline makes headline news:

Apple declines for second day
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Post by nisser »

Now that microsoft and other companies are getting into the MP3 player business, apple is going to have a very rough time. Their ipods are nearly GUARANTEED to break within 2 years. If this was anything else, they'd have been under water a long time ago but there's literally nothing else on the market to match the ipod.

Also, if you've been following the CES show in the last few days, many many companies are bringing out their touch phones/players. I think their growth is going to come out to an end real soon.
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Post by kcowan »

John Maudlin wrote:Tiffani has bought a new Apple Macbook Air. It is amazingly thin and light, with a full keyboard and lots of cool features. She loves it. I liked the look, but did not want to spend the time learning a new system. I have always teased people who use Macs as being members of a cult.

Then I started using the iPhone. I am simply blown away. I love this thing. Yes, there are some features I wish they had, but not major ones, and I bet the next versions will have them in a year or so.

So, I let Tiffani persuade me to go to the Apple store near my home. We actually set up a private 30-minute appointment online with a sales representative. When we met, he carried a sign that said we were in a private meeting. I was blown away by the MacBook Air. I am going to get one before my next trip. It will reduce my carry-on weight by 4 pounds or so.

And for $99, they will let me come in one hour a week for a whole year for one-on-one personalized tutoring on any program or aspect of anything Apple makes. Any question I want.

It is likely that when we move next, we are going to convert the office to Apple. I can run my Microsoft software but not have to deal with viruses and garbage.

I wonder how many people like me are going to get an iPhone and start to think about other Apple products. And love the service?
This was in the middle of his rant about lousy Sprint service but I thought it was insightful regarding what is happening to continue to stimulate Mac sales
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Post by Buteo »

kcowan,
This was in the middle of his rant about lousy Sprint service but I thought it was insightful regarding what is happening to continue to stimulate Mac sales

A related observation, though totally anecdotal:

Of all the students using laptops at University of Toronto, a good 75% or so are using Macs. iPod penetration is probably higher. (This is strictly my own "walking-around" survey.) That's a generation of consumers growing up Mac users.

Buteo

Disclosure: I use a Mac.
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Post by nisser »

I'd imagine they're all purchased by their parents. As a student, I don't like and would never buy an Apple lapotop. They're more expensive and have issues with compatibility with much of the software out there.

I laugh inside every time someone comes to a seminar and has trouble loading their presentation that was prepared on a MAC.
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Post by adrian2 »

nisser wrote:I'd imagine they're all purchased by their parents. As a student, I don't like and would never buy an Apple lapotop.
My daughter is studying at UofT and I've bought her an HP Windows laptop (she did mention that some of her friends have a MacBook but I don't know the proportion). She's usually pretty picky and aware of trends, she is at her second iPod (first one died) and she's happy with it.
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Post by Buteo »

Well, I didn't post my anecdote to start a Mac vs. PC debate. Simply a demographic observation.

However...
I laugh inside every time someone comes to a seminar and has trouble loading their presentation that was prepared on a MAC.
This is probably not the Mac's fault. :D

For what it's worth, I have seen plenty of PC-based PowerPoint presentations fail to launch.

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Post by Qfinger »

Buteo wrote: A related observation, though totally anecdotal:

Of all the students using laptops at University of Toronto, a good 75% or so are using Macs. iPod penetration is probably higher. (This is strictly my own "walking-around" survey.) That's a generation of consumers growing up Mac users.

Buteo

Disclosure: I use a Mac.

Hmm.., I doubt there will be any significant gain in Market share for the Mac in the overall computer market.

I recently finished some company sponsored courses at UBC and I would say 90% of the students there uses Windows based PC's vs Macs. I can understand why when you see $500 Windows laptops advertised in Futureshop flyers vs $1000 Macs.

On the corporate front, my company employs over 30,000 PC/laptops, all Windows based. All custom software is Window based, so the probability of switching over to a Mac is zero for the foreseeable future. I suspect this is the same for most major corporations.
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Post by pitz »

Last college campus I was on (UC Berkeley), I'd say nearly 100% of the laptops being used in the coffee shops were Macs. I felt like the odd man out when I whipped out my Dell to check some email (even though my Dell has the same guts as the latest/greatest Macs, a better screen, and arguably a much more rugged enclosure).

Like Apple or not, their brand penetration is enormous. And since the days of quick obsolescence in laptops is over (a laptop bought today can probably last at least 4 years hardware-wise -- something that was impossible of laptops even just a few years ago -- that is, if the laptop mechanically can survive..), buyers can spend more on the machine they want, rather than buying a cheap laptop and replacing it 2 or 3 years down the road due to processor or RAM obsolescence.

Also, everyone is moving away from PC (or MAC) based apps, and towards web apps in business. So much so that it often really doesn't matter whether you're using a Mac or a PC in a business environment -- all your corporate IT stuff runs in a web browser or through some thin client package that can run on anything -- whether Mac, PC, Unix, etc. If a new employee comes to the office and is familiar with a Mac -- employers these days are much more apt to let him continue to use a Mac, versus buying a PC and letting him suffer with the loss in productivity from having to learn a new environment.
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Post by Buteo »

I wrote...
Of all the students using laptops at University of Toronto, a good 75% or so are using Macs.
I performed my informal survey again today and produced the exact opposite results: roughly 75% PC, 25% Mac.

Go figure.


Anyway, I am curious about the generational thing. If more young people choose Apple every year, and remain loyal, then eventually the market share moves. [Edited in retrospect: I guess sales could increase without an increase of market share.] Journalists often say that Apple has 5% of the market, but perhaps university and college campuses tell a different story?


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