After having read your consitantly anti-apple missives for some time. I am left to wonder who is paying you to "swift boat" the stock? Apple's competition or the shorts who hang on your every word.

Dream On...
What no analyst or competitor seems to realize is that Apple is the most lasting vision of Camelot... a state of mind held in beloved belief by millions, even today. Boomers revel in the physical proof of their counter-culture aspirations finally overcoming the putty colored world they work in, while the young flock to engage devices that are immediately oriented to the need and speed of their society.
So, remember as you value this stock that even the trendiest and priciest fashions cost only a few dollars to make. The rest of the price, just like Camelot, is the realization of a dream. Dream On Apple.

What’s wrong with apple fan boys? I don't think this site is anti-apple. Apple is just another company that sells overpriced computers. Please get over your so called dream.

"Apple is the most lasting vision of Camelot... a state of mind held in beloved belief by millions, even today. Boomers revel in the physical proof of their counter-culture aspirations finally overcoming the putty colored world they work in, while the young flock to engage devices that are immediately oriented to the need and speed of their society.
"
Words like these from the iFanboys clearly tells you how well Steve Jobs has learned to exploit them. At the end of the day Apple is just anothe multi billion dollar companey and much hyped one. The cool factor is hard to brak but once it does....there is a long fall down.
I wonder how many iFanboys will seek therapy that day.

Those that don't speak well of Apple, are the same that are jealous of their success. Having worked for an IT company that places is own greed before his customers needs and 'feelings', is why I can understand Apple success, and this is way iPod owners love Apple products, because Apple is the next best thing in IT 'fashion' and innovation, something that the pure techies at most IT companies lack or can not understand.
And Apple is telling a lesson to the whole industry, I hope that some companies can be humble and digest the learning’s, so all of us will see more new and appealing products, and the IT industry can flourish again.
PD May be some of you don't like Apple, but still is time to buy some stock, and I bet is even performing better that your own company stock options.

Okay, so I'm a dreamer and in Apple I see visionary research, design and marketing come to life in the form of enviable, advanced products. Shame on me for putting an emotional spin on a practical reality. On the other hand, do you naysayers want to wear brand name clothing? Drive technologically advanced automobiles? Want good things instead of bad ones? Do you like pretty instead of ugly? Like customer support? Want reliability? Want forward technology in computers and electronics? Then buy an Apple product & you'll "get it."

Those who claim that Apple makes over-priced computers and somehow sells them to goofy people willing to pay inflated prices miss the true story. Look behind the surface and you will find a very well run company with no debt, billions in the bank, selling very well made mid-range and upper end computers for a reasonable price. What Apple does not sell is stripped down junk for ultra low prices.
Apple is a very interesting story right now. Unique in the industry they own most of their own technology (operating system, design talent, hardware design). They have a huge installed base, margins run about 28% (far higher than the competition), no debt and something 8 billion in cash (I can't keep up with this growing number). Having switched to OS X and Intel processors they have dropped all their legacy connections to historical products. Now they are really ready to pounce. I don't know which way they will move but they are in a superb position to do what they want.

Come on people, please don't worship apple. Get a iLife or iTherapy. And please don't cry about it either.

Recent high-fliers include RIMM, P/E 70.87; GOOG, P/E 64.63. AAPL's P/E is only 39.78. If Google is not exactly comparable, Research in Motion certainly is. It essentially has one product, the Blackberry. Four of the top five selling electronic products are different versions of the iPod, the fourth selling one being a Canon camera. It seems iPod has got a product for every gift budget. The only concern is really whether Apple rush enough products to people's sox by Christmas. And we have not begun to talk about the slow but persistent attack of the Mac's on the PC market or two possible iPhones. I just don't see how Apple can be overvalued, let alone "most overvalued."

John hit the nail squarely on the head. The public is tired of junk disposable PCs that are easier to replace then the clear the viruses off of. They want quality, innovation, and service and are willing to pay for it. Just like Target is a healthy and prosperous company in a retail world dominated by Wal-Mart , Apple is doing great in a market dominated by Dell & HP(Not that Dell is doing well lately). Apple has figured out what consumers want in a technology company and if they stay on that track they will continue to have a bright future.

Agree totally with CA Grum..& you constantly compare Microsoft dumping millions in to Zune be an"ipod killer" as translating into to trouble for apple. And somehow have ignored the lackluster sales (Zune) and loss of market by Microsoft in cross-platform that apple offers. Microsoft is reactive not proactive in bringing products to market. Apple is just at the beginning of being priced for value and a long way from being overvalued.

Hey Doug, reading your articles and listenting to your viewpoints is like listening to a drunk discussing politics in a bar!!!!!!! You are DEFINITELY no freind to AAPL that is quite obvious!!! Keep stabbing away as the stock value keeps going up, afterall, if it was a fly catcher, I am quite sure it would start some graphic decline in stock value. I'LL BET YOU WISH YOU OWNED IT, DON'T YOU??????? Jealousy makes people do the strangest things doesn't it?????????

Apples upside will come from the Mac side, not the iPod. Apple sells a combination of hardware and software, and the software (MacOS X) is factored into the price. If they sell twice as many Macs, the cost to develop the software doesn't rise one little bit.

I am one of the people who used to be a big Mac fan and then switched to Windows in the late 90s. Guess what, I recently switched back. And I know lots of people who are planning to buy a Macintosh on their next hardware replacement cycle. With their bungling of Vista, Microsoft is handing it to Apple.

I was sceptical at first, but ALL of my windows software runs under the Parallels "virtual PC" on the Mac. On top of that, I get the much more secure Mac applications for the most important functions. It is seamless. Apple is making a bad job out of explaining how you can run all existing Windows programs on a Mac at the same time as Mac programs (using Parallels). But seeing is believing - I have converted dozens of people to the Mac (just as I was converted myself) just by showing it to them.

The Mac will gain lots of market share in the next year, by word of mouth.

Michael

"One of the things that investors often shy away from is a company that has large, well-financed competitors. Another is a company that has an extraordinarily high share in a market where competition is heating up."

Who is Apple's competition?
Microsoft is well financed but certainly not competition, I believe Apple sells more iPods between 6 and 7 P.M. on a Thursday than Microsoft has worldwide sales for the Zune in it's introductory and most highly publicized week.
Where is competition heating up?
Creative? Microsoft?, Toshiba?
Nice try, all of them put together still isn't 10% of the market.
You should back up your suppositions, you are completely devoid of any supporting facts or even rumors or even hunches to back up your lame article.
I hope you are better at whatever your real job is than being a journalist or research analyst. Facts are the hallmark of all serious opinion pieces and I believe you are consistantly missing the point as well as coming off to the investing public as undereducated and overly opinionated.

overvalued? the stock is $4 higher than it was in january of '06. since then, apple has completely redone its ipod and macbook lines. plus, the switch to intel processors makes macbooks capable of running windows, so there's really no reason to buy some dell piece of junk. just about everyone i know has said that their next computer will be a macbook or macbook pro. now analysts are projecting billions in revenue if apple captures a few percentage points of the cell phone market. it all adds up to huge growth in '07. the stock is grossly undervalued.

There's always the inertia of rest, meaning you tend to stay where you are. Analysts can have a hard time visualing future growth, as if everything will stay where it is today. Catch the spirit. Market share comes next. I expect AAPL to at least double in a year. If they could have conguered the movie downloads I would have said tripled from that. Apple is not harmed by viruses because it's written right. That's a big point. It looks like Zune did not design its features to appeal.

I have to laugh when I read a piece like this one. The only thing that will slow apple is a slow economy. Brand is the reason why. Look around at anyone under the age of 25 they have two brands Research in motion's Blackberry and Apple Ipods and Mac Computer. Every young kid looking for a laptop is taking a mac. Why? Because it's easy to use and it's compatable with almost everything. Unlike Microsoft which puts out products that are not compatable with each other. Zune is a joke right now. It is not even compatiable with Microsofts new software system Vista. Apple will hit 100.00 a share before the end of the year the last time microsoft was at $100.00 was at the end of the decade, the last decade. You keep your money in Microsoft and I will keep mine in Apple. Caught a quadruple with them the last two years. When was the last time you said that about microsoft?? I rest my case.

This is a relatively poor analysis, if not pathetically poor.

*DISCLAIMER* I am long AAPL and have seen the value of my position increase about 91% in the last 20 months.

Let's critique this analysis:

(1) "The company's run on the back of the iPod and iTunes has certainly been fantastic. The stock has gone from $50 in July to almost $89 recently."

Actually, nothing of the sort happened. After record sales during the holidays, the stock dropped from $86 to $50 because the projected flat sales of the iPod last January.

Why did the stock come back? Certainly not because of iPod sales. They introduced no new models until September. Sales were good, but not spectacular. No - it was Mac sales, particularly the record breaking notebook sales - that brought the price of AAPL back.

(2) "At the same time, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has vowed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on its competing Zune player. Whether the software giant will be successful is open to question, but defending its turf will certainly cost Apple something."

Sounds good to me - as an opinion. Now, talk to me about how well Zune is selling... all one of the models. Talk to me about how AAPL has stood still in this market. The Mini, Nano, and Shuffle. Color. Video. TV Shows. Movies.

Am I an AAPL fanboy? Depends on your meaning. As a user I own a few Macs and love the form factor of the second generation Shuffle. I'm a subscriber to a couple of TV shows, but I won't purchase any movies from iTS. That's were I draw a line.

Speaking of drawing lines, everyone here should really consider the context of this discussion - investing and stock value. Trust me, I've considered selling some of my position and taking some profit twice - after the April quarterly reports each of thelast two years. Which brings me to my final point...

(3) "Wall St. can take nothing away from Jobs & Co. Few tech firms have been able to match them for innovations and product sales. Apple, however, is starting to draw flies."

I respectfully disagree. Leopard, iTV, possibly 2 iPhones(!) - oh, and what is already shaping up to be even a better holiday season than last year.

If you like to invest with a short horizon, I'd suggest waiting until the week of MWSF to sell. Maybe buy it back on the historical pullback in February.

If you like to invest with a long horizon (like me), I simply don't see any reason to sell right now. Obviously you should re-evaluate periodically, and with Vista and yes, Zune, out there you need to be objective about things.

But to suggest that AAPL is overvalued on the cusp of a record holiday season... without really naming any facts except that te stock has had an incredible runup... is simply lazy writing.

the writer is clearly not being objective when it comes to AAPL...

Doug, i am a PC user myself but i still think that apple is the most relevant/innovated company today.

look

btw - if you want to talk about overvalued stocks - cheek out Google at 500+ that's called faith!

The writer is a bit short sighted and doesn't take all the factors into consideration. It's obvious that the writer is probably a Windows user and is used to the drama attached with that and assumes that it's perfectlly normal. It's important to take the following into consideration:

1. Apple has passion AND vision. They always did. Unfortunately, they missed the boat when they lost the distribution war. These are important ingredients for any forward thinking company company to survive long term. Zune is a copy cat. Microsoft doesn't have the drive, ambition or vision. They just want to compete. Sure, they will have a disruption factor, however, they will need the other compoents to excel in beating a well funded company with passion and vision. A company with these compenents will always be one step ahead of their competition. Microsoft really doesn't excel at anything except copying. This is why many Microsoft users don't understand the Macintosh experience.

2. Apple gives people what they want. It would be impossible to attain such incredible growth projections without giving people what they want.

3. it would suprise me if Apple doesn't know what we'll be buying 10 years from now and is in the process of developing it as we speak. What else would you be doing with all those billions.

4. Apple is building an incredible distribution and brand loyalty retail network of stores that is undoubltly the most incredible formula for marketing success that I've seen. Just walk into an Apple store at any time of day and people are everywhere. In Los Angeles, there are about 5 store and each one of them is packed every weekend.

5. Use the products and you'll understand what the fuse is about. it amazes me that people will spend hours of their time just rebooting the comptuer 5 times just to add a piece of software. It's just time consuing and annoying. It's not like that on the mac. It's just a computer, but the user experience is just better. This is one reason why the company didn't get screwed to oblivion. Just remember, if Apple wasn't around, Microsoft users might still be using Windows 95. Competition is good for everybody.

6. Quality of products. I owned a macintosh since 2000 and have purchased 4 since. I purchased the stock shortly after buying my first Macintosh computer. The stock was at $14. I couldn't imagine it going down since I bought the stock based on the quality of the stock and the user experience. This decision has rewarded me many times over. They are doing what a company should be doing.

It's amazing to me how people defend Microsoft as it is the most forward thinking company on Earth. It's unfortunate.