Recently, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares sold off on the announcement that company leader Steve Jobs would skip the keynote address at the next Macworld convention. This news fueled speculation that Jobs was in poor health.

Concern over succession at AAPL has become sport of late, and it's a big deal to certain investors. Shares dropped some $15 on the news.

Shares of AAPL have fallen more than 50% since late last year, even though the company has solidified its position in the PC market, maintained its lead in digital music and introduced one of the most exciting, must-have electronic items in 2008 -- the iPhone

AAPL is THE definitive growth company, and it is positioned to do well despite a weak economy.

That strength will translate into a dominant position in the market when times are good and consumers are flush with cash.

Think about it. If people are buying AAPL products when times are tough, imagine what will happen when consumers feel more confident about the future.

Hello, I am a PC, but I want to be a Mac.

Riddle me this Applenauts, Mac Geeks, and other assorted nerds: Is dealing with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) always such a royal pain in the butt?

The reason I ask is that my wife and I joined the Mac cult yesterday. We became the owners of a new, aluminum MacBook. My dad -- an Apple fan since the 1970s -- could not be prouder. I, too, was ecstatic. Finally, I am going to be one of the cool kids. I would be part of the revenge of the nerds. My technological joy, however, may be short-lived.

Our problem was with Apple's customer service or lack thereof. For one thing, we weren't able to complete our order on Black Friday because of a technical snafu on the Apple Web site that made it impossible for us to use the company's zero-percent interest financing offer. The rare sale discount we were able to get for the machine evaporated. My wife tried to get a hold of customer service on Saturday, but got disgusted after being disconnected. We drove to Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to look at laptops but nothing grabbed our fancy even though many of the machines offered comparable performance to the MacBook for much lower prices.

Recently, my wife heard a kitchen installer bemoan his economic fate on a local talk radio show. A job that netted him $10,000 a year ago, now goes for $4,000. This shows that the economy is not discounting goods and services. It's correcting prices.

The installer will never get $10,000 for that job ever again. How could he since he's willing to accept less than half the original price? The same thing holds true for the automakers. Every consumer with good or decent credit will now insist on zero-percent financing. How will the automakers -- especially the embattled Big 3 -- be able to afford these incentives? Is it any wonder that one in 30 new car dealerships are expected to fail this year with another 1,000 expected to shut their doors in 2009.

Retailers are offering huge bargains early in the holiday season to entice cash-strapped consumers. The problem, though, goes beyond this expected dismal season. Consumers are getting used to paying less and getting more and will not be satisfied if they do not get what they want.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Going by ad campaigns alone, you would think that every person -- or, at least every cool person -- had abandoned their Windows PCs and hoisted themselves onto the Macintosh bandwagon. Not so. The truth is that PCs far outnumber Macs in the market. The big-business worlds of finance, law, medicine use predominantly PC, while the areas of video production, web design and art use Mac. These computers do most of the same things (play games and DVDs, word-process, create web pages, store and play music) but they are completely different operating systems. Even though Apple computers now include the Intel processor that makes it possible to use Windows-only applications, it can still be hard to compare products.

But what about the companies themselves? What does the Apple brand signify that the Dell brand does not? And vice versa.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL): Providing innovative products and a user-friendly interface, Apple has turned the whole computer thing into a fashion accessory. For someone who used Dell products for years and then switched to Mac, the difference is like night and day. A Mac is so easy to use. With a clean interface, a near-universal compatibility with external products and tools, these computers are a beautiful breeze. And now that Macs include Intel processors, one can switch back and forth between a Windows interface and a Mac interface, making previous incompatibilities (software, games, etc.) now perfectly compatible. And when it comes to customer service (see below) Apple really socks the house.

Well it's harvest season here in New England, and the Macintoshes are ripe. But in Silicon Valley, it looks like Apple (NYSE: AAPL)'s Macintosh brand is the fruit filling in the PC market pie. According to TheStreet.com, Apple's Macintosh is gaining market share.

How much? In the third quarter, Apple's Mac computers accounted for 6.3% of all PCs sold, up from 5.7% a year earlier, according to IDC. This growth means that Apple pulled further ahead of its competitors as it increased its lead as the third-ranked player in the market, a position it took over earlier in the year.

This gain in market share should help Apple when it reports on Monday, as the Macintosh has been accounting for a greater share of Apple's own profit pie. In the first nine months of the company's fiscal year, the Mac accounted for 41% of the company's total revenue, up from 36% during the same time last year.

It's a tasty time to own Apple shares. The question for investors is whether Apple -- trading at a Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) ratio of 2.6 (on a P/E of 49 and earnings growth forecast of 19% to $4.48 in 2008) -- is ripe for harvest or hot to hold. What do you think?

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Apple.

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When it comes to predicting various product sales from hipper-than-hip Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), it's good to know that we have more than financial analyst statistics and feelings to look at. One stock watcher recently hung out quite a bit at several Apple retail stores to try and collect empirical data from his own two eyes to see if Apple's analyst-predicted iPhone and Mac product sales numbers are indeed stacking up or are falling short.

The conclusion? Apple will most likely achieve its goal of 730,000 iPhone sales in the quarter ended September 30. In fact, the conclusion this analyst came up with from his store checks indicate Apple could bypass its own estimate and sell over 800,000 iPhones in the July-September quarter.

As far as Apple Mac sales go, Gene Munster's research stated that about 2 million Mac systems would be sold in September alone, pushing past his earlier estimate of 1.9 million. It's interesting to note that the average Apple retail store sells over 55 Mac systems per open day, not counting website sales or other retail sales, like those inside Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) locations. Are Apple shares headed above $200 territory? Munster maintains his $211 target.

Today saw a massive leap in Apple's stock price, a $6.40 leap, some 11.83%, ending the day at $60.50. On the evening of the 18th I noted that at $52.90, with basically one trading day to go, Apple was very attractively priced due to fears of back-to-school iPod sales forcing it down and the stock options scandal.

As Grant Robertson blogged earlier this morning, a 48% increase in profit, 1.3 million Macs moved, and 8.1 million iPods sold, made for some great numbers. Fears about the iPod? Sales were up 32% this quarter, and the next quarter is usually a more standout one for Apple. They seemed pretty psyched up in their conference call about a lot of really good numbers.