Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Steve on Apple and Pixar
Well linda El-Steve-O says alot of things that don't always add up. No Video iPod ? He stated that he didn't believe in the convergence concept yet my Mac Mini and display doubles as a high definition TeeVee / Video entertainment set top box. He makes statements designed to goad and cajole those who would sell Pixar or APPLE short ... I guess you can call that hardball. I also believe he says some things to keep a few ACES up his sleeve this way Steve can pull a rabbit out of his hat and take the competition by surprize. Its kind of like a slight of hand trick and its worked Miralcles so far. I wonder what else he has up his sleeve.
-Alt
Yay, Bootz more fruity goodness !!!!
AAPL - Disney to offer ABC Sports, ESPN content to iTunes
1:12 p.m. 01/03/2006 By Gabriel Madway
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Walt Disney Co. (DIS) said Tuesday it will offer additional programming that can be downloaded from Apple Computer Inc. 's (AAPL) iTunes music store, including content from ESPN and ABC Sports.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/default.asp?siteid=mktw
-Alt
AAPL Freight Train $73.38
Annie an Dill, The G5 PowerMac Quad isn't going to be discontinued anytime soon.
That's a very affordable high end system when you compare it to the Beige boxes.
Best Workstation
Apple Power Mac G5 Quad
Impressive hardware specs, sub-$5,000 price tag, and the magic of OS X
-Alt
;-}
Its a CPU running Mac OS X .... that works for me.
I sometime use my MacMini as a media server connected to a 30" Syntax Olevia HDTV. It does everything my G4 Ti Powerbook does with the added feature of displaying various video formats.
-Alt
I predict Mac CPU sales will break above 5% by late 2006.
-Alt
Sinclap, People don't appreciate what Apple delivers
until they lose data and spend repeated man hours keeping their windows systems safe. Its usually after the Third windows rebuild that they throw the towel in and assume its a hardware issue and make the biggest mistake ....they buy a new windows system and the cycle repeats. That being said if you follow some simple security rules don't use insecure applications you can get by with a windows system. The time being spent being that vigilant to keep the system safe could be used for more profitable man hours. It all depends on how informed and system savvy the individual is. Malware, spyware and phishing exploits are now the biggest threats to windows. Traditional Viruses aren't the biggest threats anymore which make Anti-Virus applications almost useless.
-Alt
... ditto to that Win !!!
Tomm and Roni
All attempts to lock the Mac OS X software to the Intel hardware have been circumvented.
Trust me on this.
-Alt
Apples Winning Strategy
Until all of Apple' hardware and software competitors for media get their act together Apple will continue to gain traction in the iPod/iTunes media market. In my estimation Sony teamed with Microsoft and Creative have the best chance of competing with Apple in this arena. Apple is about Two steps ahead of the current competition and in 2006 I expect Apple will introduce new products which will drive the iPod advantage even further. This will again spill over into Mac cpu sales. Until some serious competition emerges I will remain bullish on AAPL's outlook for the foreseeable future. Many people have under-estimated the leverage Quicktime affords AAPL on the windows platform. iPod, iTunes and Quicktime is transforming the PeeCee market in Apples favor. The move to Intel will seal the deal. Darwine for x86 which would allow Windows applications to run on Mac OS X without the Windows OS could be the killer app that makes Mac OS X a viable option to those who require the use of certain legacy windows applications.
More info can be found here:
http://www.osx86project.org/
Thanks to all on this board for their great insights into both investing and technology.
You all have a happy and prosperous New Year !!!!
Best Always,
Altaire4
..... So was it a pair of Aces
Here are the facts. From 2000 to 2003, Apple lost 46% of its market share. It lost more money in the disastrous first quarter of 2001 than it made in the final 3 quarters of the boom-blowoff-blastoff year of 2000 ... combined. Apple lost money not for a quarter or two, it lost money for nearly three years. In aggregate, it lost $328mm or roughly $1/shr.
Lango, Would you say that 2000 - 2003 where great economic boom years ?
Yes, jobs pointed to the broader economy as a factor but he also indicated that they would innovate during the downturn .... they did and they delivered under his leadership.
Steve Jobs assumed full control of AAPL in 1997 and built a new Apple team over a three year period. He hired Tim Cooke formerly of Compaq who revolutionized how Apple handles manufacturer and deals with Inventory. He hired Jonathan Ive's who has produced some of the finest and stunning industrial designs. He also brought his next step team which has quickly developed Mac OS X into what is argubably one of the finest Unix Operating Systems ever produced. He launched the Think Different campaign as a way to both rally and inspire his Apple employees and sell computers. The initial iMac was well received but I have no illusions about Jobs he made some big mistakes the pricing of the cube, and a failure to deliver a reasonably priced entry level machine which the WinTel competition delivered for years. During this time economics played a factor but Apple was still struggling to remake itself the results of those efforts and the lessons learned reflect in Apples current success.
If Steve Jobs had not returned in 1997 we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
..... So was it a pair of Aces that beat your Kings ?
-Alt
Competition is good for Apple
Its good to see some competition to the iTunes/iPod store. This will keep Apple on its toes.
-Alt
Music downloads rise 50% as iTunes dominates
Visits to music downloading websites saw a 50 per cent rise on Christmas Day as hundreds of thousands of people began loading songs on to the iPods they received as presents.
According to figures from Hitwise, the online intelligence company, visits to music download sites, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, saw a 50 per cent increase between December 24 and 25. Hitwise also found that visits to download sites were 15 per cent higher than last Christmas.
Even before the Christmas increase, the BPI, the UK record companies' trade association, said download sales had topped 23m this year, five times the 4.7m sold in 2004.
Weekly downloads already exceed 650,000 and may pass the 1m mark for the first time this holiday season.
The figures reflect the growing popularity of MP3 music players such as the iPod, which were among the most popular Christmas gift items this year. A number of retailers, such as Amazon, have reported that MP3 players were their biggest-selling electronic items in the run-up to the holidays.
Some analysts expect Apple to have shipped 37m iPods worldwide by the year-end, with about 10m sold in the key Christmas quarter.The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.
Apple's iTunes Music Store increased its dominance of the download market, receiving twice as many visits as its next closest rival, Sony's Connect internet site. This compares with Christmas Day last year, when iTunes was only 10 per cent ahead of its then closest competitor, Napster.
more here
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20051228&ID=53802...
.... How quickly we forget
If you compare the average growth figures of the Dubbya years to those of the Two terms of the Clinton administration you end up with slow growth fueled by Hot Checks. During the Clinton administration we had reached a point of nearly full employment anybody who wanted to work could find work.When Dubbya leaves office this country will be a certified economic basket case. I'm praying that Roni's assertion that their is no Real Estate bubble is true because if it does pop we will be in for a recession.
Turns out we had one of those environments not too many years ago. Apple performed utterly miserably. And CEO Steve Jobs said repeatedly during earnings calls that the business was doing poorly because the nature of Apple's business was such that in weak economic conditions it would suffer. In fact, he guided repeatedly that if the economy sputtered, everyone should expect Apple to continue to do poorly.
Steve Jobs stated that AAPL would innovative its way through that period and you know what he delivered. We are seeing those results today as AAPL continues to produce and lead the technology sector.
So what gives .... did Steve cheat you in a poker game or what ?
Roni I hope 2006 will be a prosperous New Year for AAPL investors.
KCMW I have to agree
I think a reasonable case can be made that Apple has been quite innovative and aggressive, even without the immediate threat of competition nipping at their heels. They have been upgrading and replacing models at a pretty fast clip. Color, photo, video, flash, size, capacity, etc.
In fact Jobs dropping the iPod Mini Apple's biggest selling iPod in favor of the Nano's which are currently selling like hotcakes was a tremendously risky move. Monopolists typically don't take such risks. As long as Apple stays hungry they'll be a place for AAPL in my stock portfolio. I hope your holding some Apple shares because 2006 is going to be a watershed year for AAPL.
BR, Altaire4
AAPL, Intel and WiMax
Intel shows new chips, outlines platform directions
From: August 2005
By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 01:00 PM EST
Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum on Tuesday company chief executive Paul Otellini said the industry is on a new "performance per watt" course that will deliver powerful Intel-based computers that are increasingly smaller, sleeker and more energy-efficient.
During his keynote address at San Francisco's Moscone Center, Otellini unveiled the company's next-generation, power-optimized micro-architecture for future digital home, enterprise, mobile and emerging market platforms -- and low-power products aimed at a new category of converged consumer devices.
In the second half of 2006, Otellini said Intel will introduce the micro-architecture, which combines the strength of the company's current Intel NetBurst and Pentium M micro-architectures and adds new features.
The multicore foundation will help enable unique computer designs that will power the industry's most sophisticated and user-friendly digital home and office PCs, according to the company. It will also help IT managers increase responsiveness and productivity while at the same time reducing real-estate and electricity burdens company's face as server data centers grow.
"You're going to see Intel combine its R&D innovation, manufacturing and technology leadership with energy-efficient micro-architectures and powerful multicore processors to deliver unique platforms best tailored to individual needs," Otellini said.
"We will deliver 'factor of 10' breakthroughs to a variety of platforms that can reduce energy consumption tenfold or bring 10 times the performance of today's products."
Otellini showed the first public demonstration of Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest, which are codenames for upcoming Intel processors for notebook, desktop and server platforms designed on the company's 65-nanometer technology manufacturing process. He also said Intel has more than 10 processor projects that contain four (quad-core) or more processor cores per chip.
Otellini also announced that forthcoming lower-power products will lead to a new category of ultra energy-efficient "Handtop PC" devices that provide a converged communication and PC-like experience but require less than a watt of processing power and weigh under a pound.
At the event, Intel also showcased a concept "community computer" that has the ability to run for several hours on a car battery and withstand temperatures greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It includes screens and filters to reduce the effect of wind storms, dust and bugs, and can provide Internet access through wireless networks such as WiMAX. The company believes WiMAX plays a key role in both delivering high-speed broadband and premium entertainment to digital homes, as well as Internet access to rural areas.
Intel also said it is working closely with the emerging digital entertainment industry to spur innovation in the home, including PC and CE devices that work together effortlessly and deliver the latest online content services for anytime, anywhere access.
The Intel Developer Forums runs throughout the week and is expected to provide further details about the processor architecture in news briefings.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1244
Some of what we might see at MacWorld S.F.
Sources: Intel developing next-generation Power Mac for Apple
By Kasper Jade
Published: 01:00 PM EST
In a move that may surprise some Apple watchers, reliable sources tell AppleInsider the Mac maker has contracted the design duties for its next-generation Power Mac motherboard over to industry heavyweight Intel Corp.
Specifically, sources said Intel's facilities in Oregon picked up the project in late-October after Apple sought the chip maker's help in meeting deadlines associated with its accelerated transition from PowerPC processors to Intel chips.
Around the same time, Intel quietly formed an "Apple Group" comprised of both engineers and sales staff, several of which are rumored to have been assigned to the Power Mac project.
With Apple moving aggressively to introduce four Intel-based Mac models in the first four months of 2006 -- iMacs, 15-inch PowerBooks, 13-inch widescreen iBooks and Mac minis -- resources at the company's Cupertino, Calif.- based engineering labs have worn thin, sources said.
By enlisting the help of Intel to design (and possibly manufacture) the Power Mac motherboard, Apple hopes to remain on track to begin shipping the first Intel Power Mac models during the third quarter of 2006, sources added.
It's likely, but not confirmed, that the new Power Macs will adopt Intel's next-generation desktop processor, code-named Conroe, also expected to ship around the same time. Unlike Intel's Pentium 4 processors and derivatives, Conroe will not use the company's NetBurst architecture and instead will be based on a completely new architecture, sources say.
Apple's decision to work with Intel Oregon on the Power Mac design may also have its costs benefits. Mark Margevicius, an analyst for Gartner Research, said any effort by Apple to pass-off its motherboard designs to Intel would help reduce the costs to manufacturer Macs and result in lower prices for the consumer.
"Intel has done exactly this for the Wintel world several times over, and the benefits from a manufacturing cost have been huge," Margevicius told AppleInsider. The analyst believes Apple has had pressure exerted on its desktop systems from a manufacturing cost perspective, and has finally realized that the real differentiation is at the operating system and software levels. "While cool white boxes are attractive and desirable, they are becoming more and more tough to justify compared to a plain-ol' PC," he said.
"While I have no insight how much this will save Apple, let's not also forget that Intel also offers marketing dollars (several hundred million, if I'm not mistaken) to [computer manufacturers] who display the 'Intel Inside,' 'Pentium,' and 'Centrino' logos on their hardware," Margevicius added. "I would expect Apple to do the same."
However, other analysts wonder how the traditionally tight-lipped Apple will maintain control of its designs, plans and intellectual property once in the hands of Intel.
"The risk with this strategy is that it could make the Power Mac more 'open' than other systems as Intel's specs could be published for others to follow," said one Wall Street analyst who provides coverage on Apple, but asked not to be identified. "It'll be interesting how Apple retains its proprietary architecture -- which I assume will be more than software."
The analyst also fueled rumors of an even closer relationship forming between Apple and Intel, saying there are indications that the two companies may be working together on a custom microprocessor chip-set that would appear only in Apple systems.
As expected, sources say Apple will remain in control of the external industrial design for the new Power Mac models.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1431
Roni Real Estate speculators are not neccessarily local
the internet has made it easy to locate investment property. A bubble occurs after unsupportable prices make housing unaffordable. The artificially low interest rates made it is easy for this to occur. Anybody who buys at the Top of the market can get hurt badly especially with these absurd no equity deals.
Slow growth and Low Lying fruit
Tomm Good Point. But would it slow an innovative fruit company ? It seems that Apple hasn't been hurt to badly in the slow growth environment that has occurred over the last three years.
-Alt
iPod Features
Tarmar those Zen features can be added to the iPods with third party software and hardware accessories. I believe Apple views Satellite Radio as a competitor to the iTunes Music store.
-Alt
Core hold on to your seatbelt the Road to MacWorld S.F. 2006 is going to be a bumpy high flyer !!!!
El-Steve-O must have really cranked up the juice
on the Reality Distortion field.
iPod is leading the way. I would say Apple has batted this one out of the park and into next Tuesday.
2006 is shaping up to be the year Apple goes mainstream in more ways than one.
-Alt ...... Look for Mini-Macs at a grocery store near you.
Up UP and away 74.72 !!!!
MacTel Speculation
The biggest task before Apple with intel is to create an x86 system that is significantly better than the Commodity PC. In the recent past Firewire 400,800 and 802.11g was the extra added something that made the Apple systems unique. I'm betting that 802.11n will be the cutting edge advantage in the Macintel systems but that may not be enough. Apple will introduce something evolutionary this year but damn if I know what or when it will be introduced. With iPod sales on a tear this gives Apple enough breathing room to come up with away of evolving the personal computer. Fast, Light and mobile seems to be what people want ... time will tell.
-Alt
Then you can look at the sales results to give you a sense of where Apple is heading.
-- iPods ruled the holiday season in Electronics, owning the top three slots- the Apple 3 GB iPod Nano (Black), the Apple 30 GB iPod with Video Playback (Black), and the Apple 512 MB iPod Shuffle were the top sellers.
Looks like there's no stopping Apple
By MAY WONG
The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Five years ago, Apple Computer was barely an afterthought in the halls of electronics companies.
Not anymore. With its best-selling iPods and landmark licensing deals with music and television moguls propelling new ways of consuming digital media, Apple now is the pacesetter.
"In the consumer electronics world, there's always talk now about Apple, the way people used to talk about Sony," said analyst Richard Doherty of The Envisioneering Group. "At the water cooler or in boardrooms, they're asking, 'What is Apple doing next?' or 'How do we stay out of their way?' "
If anything, the company's momentum accelerated in 2005. It gave us the iPod shuffle, the Mac mini, the nano, the video-playing iPod, a new iMac with a remote control and TV shows for sale on its iTunes online store.
Steve Jobs, Apple's rainmaker, was even parodied in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, evidence of how the Cupertino, Calif.-based outfit is ingrained in pop culture like no other tech company.
Apple is characteristically mum on the products it has in store for 2006.
Different varieties of the iPod are reported in the works by sites run by Apple aficionados. Perhaps an iPhone, or an iPod-cellphone hybrid.
There is considerable speculation that iPods will get wireless Internet connectivity. Analysts also expect a bigger display at some point for better video viewing.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002704276_btview26.html
Happy Holidays
Feed your iPods. Christmas Music performed by the United States Air Force Academy Band in Mp3 Format. Courtesy of noradsanta.org.
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/downloads.php
-Alt
Intel Transition
AAPL has been planning this transition for years running intel based hardware with Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.x) and earlier. Rosetta was believed to be a handwriting recognition software back then but was really the building blocks for the transition in 2006. The current x86 version of Tiger is very stable I've seen it running on off the shelf commodity hardware. Mac OS X for x86 is ready for primetime. What the Apple engineers are working on is adding features that you will not find with off the shelf commodity hardware otherwise we might as well buy a dell box. At least one MacTel box of some form factor will be released at MacWorld SF 2006 .
-Alt ;-}
Apple Branding name changes ?
With newer Powerbooks moving to Intel from Power PC chips it would seem sensible to change the brand name. The anticipation for dual core notebooks from APPLE makes it likely that one of the new Notebooks will use a Dual-Core Yonah chip. I don't know what this line of Apple notebooks will be called but I can guarantee that AAPL will produce a different kind of x86 laptop computer.
-Alt
OT: Zaga, Stop with the Vintage American Wine
and have a Big Mac with some Fries.
-Alt
ditto to that Tomm.
Revenue Prediction
6 Billion 900 Thousand US dollars.
-Alt "The Swami" 4
More on Intel's plans
Reports detail "Yonah" processor specs, performance
By Prince McLean
Published: 03:00 PM EST
Intel Corp. is preparing to make a splash early next year when it officially launches its next-generation dual-core "Yonah" notebook processors, which will initially debut at a top speed of 2.16GHz dual-core.
The world's largest microprocessor maker plans to introduce two versions of Yonah: a single core version running at 1.66GHz and dual-core versions in 1.66GHz, 1.83GHz, 2.0GHz, and 2.16GHz. The company will reportedly market the chips as Centrino "Solo Core" and "Duo Core" processors.
The Yonah processors, which are widely expected to power the first wave of Apple laptops and consumer desktops, will each sport a 667MHz font-side-bus (FSB) and 2MB Level 2 cache. A faster version of Yonah due by the middle of next year will reportedly increase the chip's top speed to 2.3GHz.
Yonah will offer several improvements over Intel's previous generation Pentium M chips based on the Dothan core. One of the most significant improvements Yonah has over Dothan is its dual-core nature. However, since Yonah is based on Intel's new 65nm process, a dual-core Yonah die is about the same size as a single core Dothan die. This allows Intel to manufacture a dual-core Yonah at approximately the same cost as a single-core Dothan.
According to an Intel Yonah roadmap that surfaced in September, the company plans to charge approximately $209 for single-core 1.66GHz Yonah chip. Dual-core versions will reportedly fetch $241 (1.66GHz), $295 (1.83GHz), $422 (2.0GHz), and $639 (2.16GHz) per unit.
In a recent series of business-oriented and multimedia benchmark tests, AnandTech compared a pre-production dual-core 2.0GHz Yonah processor to a 2.0GHz Dothan-based Pentium M 760, as well as three AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors ranging in speeds from 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz.
In the business applications test, Yonah failed to shine, primarily because applications like Microsoft Word and Outlook Express do not take on a heavily multithreaded workload, which dual-core chips are designed to optimize.
With Yonah, "Intel has increased the L2 cache latency by 40%, and thus it is outperformed by the older, single core Pentium M processor despite the fact that they run at the same clock speed," AnandTech explained.
Yonah's performance in multimedia and 3D-intensive applications is a completely different story. In a Winstone 2004 multimedia content creation test, Yonah faired significantly better than the Pentium M with a score of 34.7 compared to the Pentium M's 28.3.
The dual-core chip's enhancements helped Yonah score second amongst the five chips in a Office Productivity SYSMark 2004 test and third in a SYSMark 2004 2D and 3D test. In both test, Yonah showed significant speed gains over the Pentium M.
In a final series of overall system performance test using WorldBench 5, the 2.0GHz Yonah score atop the list, just barely beating out AMD's 2.2GHz Athlon 64 X2 processor. Yonah also scored impressively in iTunes MP3 encoding, DVD ripping, 3dmax, Adobe Photoshop CS, and Adobe Premier benchmark tests. It also faired better than the Pentium M in gaming performance when tested with Battlefield 2, Black and White 2, F.E.A.R., Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Quake 4.
"Our initial analysis still holds true, that for a notebook processor, [Yonah] will be nothing short of amazing for professionals. Looking at the performance improvements offered everywhere from media encoding to 3D rendering, you're going to be able to do a lot more on your notebook than you originally thought possible (without resorting to a 12-pound desktop replacement)," AnandTech wrote in summarizing Yonah's performance. "The one thing that Intel's [Yonah] seems to be able to do very well is to truly bridge the gap between mobile and desktop performance, at least in thin and light packages."
As first reported by AppleInsider sources in November, Apple hopes to be one of -- if not the first -- PC maker to introduce systems based on Yonah when it shows the first Intel Macs at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco during the second week of January.
Already the game is heating up, with NEC this week revealing details of its first Yonah laptops without getting into the specifics of the Yonah processors that will power the machines. Not to be outdone, Dell in Frebuary will reveal a slew of new laptops based on Yonah, including a full range of Precision M90, Lattitude D620 and Lattitude D820 models, according to a recent report.
Intel is expected to formally unveil Yonah along with its "Viiv" media center technology during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which kicks-off on Jaunary 5th, just days before Apple chief executive Steve Jobs will appear before a Macworld Expo crowd to introduce the company's latest consumer products.
http://appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1427
OT: ditto .... Symantec NAV
and Norton Utilities 8.x have become horrible products for Mac OS X.
ClamXav 1.0.1 is an OpenSource anti-virus app that runs nicely on 10.3.x and 10.4.
download from here:
http://www.clamxav.com/
A quickstart manual can also be found on the site.
An older version for 10.2 Jaguar also exists.
-Alt
$110.00 by earnings
Thats AAPL Uber Bullish or are you going to buy all that AAPL stock by yourself .... goodluck with that.
-Alt
Let me firm up that prediction
My Tarot deck says AAPL hits $88.00 a share between now and the day of the earnings report.
Altaire4 .....
Altaire"Swami"4 Predicts
Hmmmm
My crystal ball says that the AAPL runup to MacWorld will break 80.00 dollars a share and possibly approach $90.00 ..... It's getting clearer ....but I expect at least two brokerage houses will downgrade Apple to either a hold or even a sell after the blowout earnings report. Share price should settle post earnings at just north of $75.00 a share. They will site the Intel transition, constrained NAND memory as a factor to slower AAPL growth in 2006 and The Microsoft/MTV music store challenge to iTunes.
I'm Holding through earnings and expect another great year for 2006. I also predict at least another 30% return from AAPL come December 2006.
That's my story and I'm sticking too it.
Altaire4 ......... Now what do my Tarot cards say .... Hasta La Vista Baby !!!!
AAPL running 73.44.eom
OT: Tiger 10.4 Hidden Gem
Since image manipulation with Photoshop seems to be alot of peoples forte on this board one of the hidden gems with Tiger 10.4 is the Core image Fun House app supplied in the developers folder. This little application uses the core image kernel extension in Tiger to manipulate images nearly 10X faster than Photoshop an uses very little ram to accomplish this. Plus, Its free with Tiger !!!
-Alt