Apple

[JaiDee]

I love the fact that Apple computer, stock symbol aapl, is about to reach a new all-time this month as they announce their latest earnings on January 24th and are expected to blow away even the rosiest expectations. Although I waited a bit too long to jump on the aapl bandwagon [2 years earlier would have literally set me up for life] I still got in at a good enough time where the very generous returns on their shares mean I can continue to lead the life of a bum in a very cheap country for many more years to come. Thanks, Apple! And, of course, Mister Steve Jobs {RIP}.

But their products.....well, lets just say I don't get it.

I bought an Ipod once, probably 4 or 5 years ago, still have it too and it's decent, but it's not enough to make me cream in my jeans like the typical Apple fanboy. Iphone? Nope, can't think of why I would need one, my little Nokia I purchased at MBK in 2007 for 5000 baht still works fine and is small and compact, just the way I like it. The Iphone would weigh at least 2-3 times as much and is easily twice the size. Ipad? Naaaa....got one for my daughter on her graduation from H.S. in 2010 and played around with it and again, I don't get it. Even SHE doesn't use it; now in college, she much prefers to bring her laptop to class for note-taking and says of the Ipad; "It's OK for games, I guess, but I don't really use it much". Great; a 650 dollar graduation gift down the drain right there.

In October I was shopping for a new 'travel' PC, something to take on my frequent trips to weird 3rd-world countries where I don't want to lose or damage my treasured and awesome Dell Inspiron I am typing on right now. I decided this time for sure I would buy a MacBook and see what all the excitement is about, and even though the cost was rather prohibitive I figured what the hell, I only buy a laptop every 2-3 years so why not? But when I checked the specs on the MacBooks I couldn't believe how weak they were! Small hard drives, slow processors, even the screen was much smaller [13.3]on the low-end models. Yes, for sure I could get a 15.6 inch deal like this one, and even get a 500 gig hard drive and probably a faster processor but by that time you are looking at spending almost 2 grand. Fuck that. The entry-level ones were about $900 and looked like something a 5-year old child would use; mid-range MacBook Pro's were about 1500 but again, the specs were really weak.

So I gave 'em a fair shot, even played around with a few at the Apple store on St. Catherine's street in Montreal, but besides the fact they were light and slim [especially Macbook Air] I was left unimpressed. I ended up going to Best Buy, where I got a really nice Toshiba with a 600 gig drive, a quad-core processor, 15.6 screen and a nice smooth keyboard. Some teenage whiz kid there even optimized it for me for free and took out all the junk it came with from the factory; it boots up now in about 15 seconds and is ready to go and works like a charm. Total cost, with tax; 525 bucks. No joke.

Hmmmmm.......$1500 [minimum] for a slower, less efficient Macbook Pro with only eighty gigs of drive space [what is this, 2005?] and with the only advantage being that it was lighter and had that cool logo on the cover, or 1/3rd that price for a Toshiba which will work great for 3 years or more? No brainer.

Apple- love the stock, don't care for the product.

[KendoUK]

When I saw the topic title, I thought it might be a thread about young Apple from Pooks I shagged in November, oh well...

I have an iPod classic, have done for about 3 years now. Before that I always made a point of buying non-Apple mp3 players instead but I love my iPod to bits now, been on 4 trips to LOS with me so far and comes in handy for those internal flights with no in flight movie.

I am indifferent to owning an iPhone though and I think Macs are just too expensive.

[JaiDee]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/survey-more-than-half-of-those-looking-for-a-new-smartphone-will-make-it-an-iphone/

soon it will be 75%, then 85%, etc.....

ever heard anyone say "man, my Motorola smartphone is so freaking cool"?

prolly not......but how many people say "Man, my iPhone is da bomb?" while all their non-iPhone friends seethe with envy

Everyone wants one these days, good for the share price :)

[rxpharm]

Iphone is losing market share to the Android phones. So you may indeed see someone saying my Motorola android phone is so cool!

Apple is no doubt successful, but the problem is price. It will not never be as affordable as the lower cost Android phones, and so while profitable will not get the highest market share (now I'm talking world wide, not just the western countries).

[JaiDee]

Released in China today and pandemonium breaks out at the Beijing store!

Not enough security in place to hold back the crowds so they just closed the store and sent everyone home.

Again, something you would never hear about when Samsung or Blackberry release a new model.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-13/apple-china-iphone/52529164/1

These products are status symbols.....true that they are expensive, but the people who CAN afford them, IE westerners and well-heeled 3rd-worlders, are trying to get one for themselves.

[JaiDee]

AAPL reached and closed at an all-time high yesterday of just over 429 bucks per share.

I am guessing that will land somewhere between 445 and 450 when they announce their blowout earnings on the 24th, a day us AAPL shareholders are waiting for like a kid waiting for Christmas.

Apple; making life fun for their fans and even more fun for their shareholders :)

[Hefe]

Well I sold all my shares about 2 years ago because I thought they (AAPL) were getting "too frothy"...... I bought an oil services etf with the $$$ & that has proceeded to lose about 40% of it's value ( & in fact it discontinued last week & now I have about 20 oil/petro services individual stocks, for another extra fee of course....)

In a public service I might tell all here what my next market moves are so you can jump in & do the opposite & make a fortune.

I own a MacBook Pro, iPhone, & work on a Mac Pro for my filthy lucre & I guess all I can offer here is that there is a reason that you will pay more for a Lexus & a Mercedes over your Ford & GM cars. Up to you whether it is worth it.

Just this past weekend I installed a Mac Mini into my hifi system, all sort of exotic boxes filled with tubes/valves & exotic speakers, my "other hobby" ;) ,

& the mini played a sample of my 10,000+ tunes sounding as if there was someone in the room with a guitar & fed my plasma 1080i HD images from it's HDMI feed with no issues at all or freezes or screens of death or mysterious codes that have to be written in after calling various support lines for hours, as I fondly recall from my Dell Inspiron days.

But if all you want to do is surf, email & a few minor other things a cheap PC will certainly fit the bill for less $$$.

[pdogg]

( & in fact it discontinued last week & now I have about 20 oil/petro services individual stocks, for another extra fee of course....)

That would sure piss me off and if it's not in a 401K or IRA who knows how to handle the cost basis?

I now have a Mac Book Pro. I'm still at the point where a PC would be easier but once I get the hang of it I'm pretty sure I'll like it better.

[JaiDee]

I own a MacBook Pro, iPhone, & work on a Mac Pro for my filthy lucre & I guess all I can offer here is that there is a reason that you will pay more for a Lexus & a Mercedes over your Ford & GM cars. Up to you whether it is worth it.

Just this past weekend I installed a Mac Mini into my hifi system, all sort of exotic boxes filled with tubes/valves & exotic speakers, my "other hobby" ;) ,

& the mini played a sample of my 10,000+ tunes sounding as if there was someone in the room with a guitar & fed my plasma 1080i HD images from it's HDMI feed with no issues at all or freezes or screens of death or mysterious codes that have to be written in after calling various support lines for hours, as I fondly recall from my Dell Inspiron days.

But if all you want to do is surf, email & a few minor other things a cheap PC will certainly fit the bill for less $$$.

I get the analogy and as I said I was determined that "this time for real" I was going to get the MacBook Pro. The $1500 dollar entry-level price isn't what scared me away, so much as when I compared specs; the Mercedes I was prepared to buy had a Hyundai drive train! Damn, eighty gigs of drive space means 25% of that is taken up by the OS and a few other programs, leaving me maybe 60 gigs for photos and movies, etc...... couldn't do it. The processor was a lot slower also, so I guess for another few years I will be a PC guy.

As for hooking up all your gadgets to sync with your Apple stuff; you will be REALLY excited when they start making TV's, which Jobs said he had figured out just before he died. Now with Siri, iTunes, basically i-Everything, all you will have to do is walk into the room and talk and your TV will do whatever you want. This is great for me because I'm not moving the bulk of my AAPL shares until they reach 600+, and with all the apple fanatics out there as well as huge growth in the China market that won't be hard.

As for your last point, that is very true.....I only use this thing to check e-mails, download movies, read this forum and my Google news feeds, facebook, wiki, etc.....simple to use and cheaper is better, at least for me. As always, I want to spend LESS time on my gadgets, not more.

[KendoUK]

Given how wildly unpredictable AutoCorrect is on the iPhone I can't see how anyone could put any faith in Sirri. All looks good on the TV ads but part of me thinks when you ask Sirri to tell your wife you love her, she will get an SMS saying "Wife, your getting fat so I'm shagging my PA"

[Snick]

I've drunk the Kool Aide, I have enough apple products I could open my own store.

And for me, they are worth the premium.

I do have a high end PC (quad core, 4gb) with Windows 7, it randomly slows down to a crawl and I have to reboot. Every time I reboot flash wants to upgrade, again.

It always forgets about my printer and I have to unplug it and plug it back in to print. It also complains that one of my USB devices is slow, but god forbid it tell me which device.

My Mac ?, I can leave it running for weeks without any issues. Everything just 'works'.

My Take, I can save $500 on a PC and then lose 50 hours a year diagnosing and fixing problems, or I Can spend the money on the mac and have a nicer friendlier and MORE RELIABLE computer.

( ps. If you cant fix your own PC and need to hire a geek, then you just lost that $500 you saved ).

My iPad is great, nothing better on a long flight or even a 2 hour bus ride to pattaya.

My Apple TV, awesome, I got all my USA TV shows at my fingertips.

iPhone - The Best...except as a phone which is actually its weak point !!

[Hefe]

Ha! You're absolutely right... the phone is the worst part of the iPhone, & a few years ago all I wanted was a good no frills phone & now I have this space age super gizmo computer that is just starting it's evolution. I recently added a couple of apps that really improved the camera's image quality.

A smart phone has really become a necessity now.

And for those of you who stubbornly hung on to your AAPL shares unlike me, this just in.... "Apple (AAPL) reports a MONSTER quarter, highlighted by $37 million iPhone sales, well above consensus estimates... By all accounts this was a blowout report that should see the stock open sharply higher."

[RocketSquirrel]

I have been using Apple computers both at work and at home for about 10 years now. My phone is android (bc in the US, until recently, the carrier for iPhone was not good for me). I don't have a tablet...I want to go iPad, but I think I might go crazy with the restrictions...such as no usb and limited restrictions to the hard drive. I'm still not sure what I would use it for given that there is always a laptop running somewhere nearby. I am reluctant to get an Android tablet because the interface is not as "fun" as the iPad's. I would strongly consider an affordable Windows based tablet that functions like a portable computer.

A big issue for many of us Mac users was Apple's abandonment of Final Cut Pro after so many of us invested in the software and supporting hardware. Now there are rumors about Apple's abandoning the MacPro towers that are essential to anyone doing higher demand video or graphics work. They have not been upgraded in years. Thunderbolt was supposed to help make the now powerful laptops do what the towers once did, but so far it has lagged significantly.

Apple does indeed seem to be shifting toward a more consumer based business which might be fine for the company, its investors, and the general consumer, but it leaves many of us hanging after they had once tried very hard to get us to switch over. At the very minimum, I will be staying Mac based for now, but switching to Adobe software to take the place of Final Cut Pro for video editing. This way if I need to go back to PC, I will be up to speed with the software.

Overall, I agree with Snick. I do not want to spend time dealing with my computer's issues. It is totally worth it to me to pay more for a machine that just works. Hopefully there will not be a need to give up on Apple.

[JaiDee]

Love 'em or hate 'em, these guys are flying through the roof!

They are the most valuable company in the world right now, going past Exxon-Mobil; amazing for a technology company who still has lots of room to run.

With China Unicom [600 million subscribers] carrying their phones now, plus the Ipad3 and Iphone 5 coming out in 2012, this company keeps going nowhere but UP! Sorry Apple, won't buy your products but am more than happy to hold on to the stock :)

[JaiDee]

And for those of you who stubbornly hung on to your AAPL shares unlike me, this just in.... "Apple (AAPL) reports a MONSTER quarter, highlighted by $37 million iPhone sales, well above consensus estimates... By all accounts this was a blowout report that should see the stock open sharply higher."

I stayed awake until 5am to watch these results....it was like waiting for the super bowl.... after-hours trading was halted while Tim Cook spoke and when it resumed they went up almost 50 dollars in like 10 seconds! It was amazing and I've never seen anything like it; then down to 466, an 11% increase, before finally settling around 452.

The big boys will manipulate it now for a few weeks and send it back down into the 400-420 range, but all in all this is a 600+ stock.....not too late to get back in Hefe!