In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple reported that it plans to spend $700 million this fiscal year on such things as new stores, real estate, and technology infrastructure. Only two months ago it reported that it planned to spend $420 million. Last year it spent $260 million on capital expenditures.

That's a serious increase, but it seems investors aren't too worried about it. The stock recently reached $72, up 87 cents (1.2%) on a banner day for stocks.

Much of the increase -- $265 million -- has to do with Apple's plans to build a second campus in Cupertino and also add a new data center.

Who says being a city council member doesn't have its perks? Members of the Cupertino city board were treated to a personal visit by none other than Steve Jobs on April 18, an event that was captured on camera and is making the rounds of the blogosphere via YouTube.com.

Watch it if you can. You'll see Jobs give a kind of mock-humble speech before the local officials where he made it clear he was doing the town of Cupertino a big favor by building campus #2 in town, rather than moving on to cheaper locales. "It is more expensive, but it was something where we could stay in the area we like best," he told them.

Jobs reminded the council a couple of times that Apple had been in the nabe for 30 years. "We're your largest taxpayer, so I thought you might be happy," he said.

Jobs was clearly trying to curry favor ahead of the inevitable future battles before the local land use and zoning boards of Cupertino.  Apple has bought nine separate parcels adding up to 50 acres, which they will raze and then build a whole new campus which will house up to 3,500 employees (keeping campus No. 1 as well). I'm sure local officials and neighborhood groups will have something to say about how the new site shapes up.

I've never seen Jobs speak when he wasn't in front of a mass audience of adoring fans presenting a new Apple innovation. So it was fun to see him in that somewhat subservient role -- even if it was all an act, really. Everyone knows Jobs is the real king of Cupertino, which gave his presentation a sort of sitcom quality.

In fact, my overall impression after watching the video is that Jobs is a little like Larry David. Curb your enthusiasm, Cupertino?

The launch of the iPod in 2001, was the watershed event that turned Apple around.  Since then Apple has been on a design-meets-tech quest to brand and sell the next phase of the 'digital revolution'.

Apple is no longer just the name of a manufacturer, it is synonymous with a lifestyle.  This stellar revival reaches beyond the advertised iPod rocking, Powerbook using trendsetters (artists, designers, celebs) to where the Apple brand and product are almost ubiquitous with digital media across all generations.

A byproduct of this phenomenal growth from a $6 billion revenue company to a $20 billion beast, is that Apple needs to expand!  So over the course of the next 4 years Apple will be designing and constructing its new 50 acre campus about 1 mile from its current headquarters in Cupertino.  The new facility is targetted to accomodate in the range of 3,000 to 3,500 employees.