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Wed, Mar 17, 2010 - 10:32 PM EDT  —  AAPL: 224.12 (-0.33, -0.15%)  |  NASDAQ: 2389.09 (+11.08, +0.47%)

We’ve never seen anything like this in our careers: ‘Apple’s greatest idea yet’
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 01:12 PM EDT

"There is an Apple story that I don't want you to miss. It's bigger than the Mac, it's bigger than the iPod, and it's bigger than the iPhone. Steve Jobs briefly mentioned it in the quarterly conference call and it deserves repeating, 'We've never seen anything like this in our careers,'" Jason Schwarz writes for Seeking Alpha.

"Of course, I'm talking about the App Store. This store is causing a sea change in both the mobile phone industry and the gaming industry that threatens the viability of all competitors. There have already been approximately 250 million apps downloaded among the 6000 applications available," Schwarz writes.

"Apple has brought the Internet to the next level. That level that everyone expected during the tech bubble has arrived. The efficiency of distribution is impossible for the traditional model to compete with. Consumers are eating this thing up. During a quarter in which consumers supposedly quit spending, Apple grew real revenue by 54.5% and grew net income by a staggering 81.2%. That kind of growth is absurd for a company as mature as Apple. That kind of growth is absurd during an economic collapse. But it happened. And it's just beginning," Schwarz writes.

"The competition is too late to the party. The snowball has begun. There will come a time when Apple stock will no longer be bogged down by its sector. I don't know exactly when that day is but it's coming. Investors ask, where can I make money? Apple offers the best answer in the market. During the last 13 months of this bear market Apple has proved itself again and again. It maintains record sales even in the worst of times," Schwarz writes.

Full article - recommended - here.

[Attribution: MacSurfer.]


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Nov 19, 08 - 02:18 pm Comment from: Randian

"There will come a time when Apple stock will no longer be bogged down by its sector."

May we all live long enough to see this come to pass! But as long as Motorola, RIM, Microsoft, Dell, Palm, Gateway, et al., are grouped with Apple in one way or the other, AAPL will have lead in its shoes.

Nov 19, 08 - 02:18 pm Comment from: Richie

Got that straight.

Nov 19, 08 - 02:26 pm Comment from: thethirdshoe

It will happen.

Nov 19, 08 - 02:28 pm Comment from: Sweatshirt01@aol.com

Motorola, RIM, Microsoft, Dell, Palm, Gateway, et al. are languishing by the wayside as Apple glides past them. Their products have been shown, and are now generally realized to be, largely inferior to those proffered by Apple, Inc.

Nov 19, 08 - 02:29 pm Comment from: Crabapple

I just hope that I have my grubby fingers deep into that pie!!!!

Nov 19, 08 - 02:34 pm Comment from: Demon

The End of the first fiscal 2009 Quarter for AAPL could cause the FTL drive in the market to spin-up as long as Apple has a winning big quarter in face of the gloom and doom holiday shopping forecasts.

Only time will tell.

Nov 19, 08 - 02:38 pm Comment from: Mark S.

Got a slideshow and Apple is in it!

Nov 19, 08 - 02:39 pm Comment from: whoitis

it's a trap...!

Nov 19, 08 - 02:44 pm Comment from: Jimithy

Long live our favorite fruit company!

Nov 19, 08 - 02:53 pm Comment from: Ouate de Phoque

Yup. More good news to drive the stock down!

Nov 19, 08 - 03:11 pm Comment from: Gregg Thurman

Somebody gets finally it.

Wall Street be more than two years behind now. There is hope.

Nov 19, 08 - 03:12 pm Comment from: Gregg Thurman

The above should have read:

Wall Street CAN'T be more than two years behind now.

Nov 19, 08 - 03:23 pm Comment from: Crazylegs

What a sham - you guys really eat this stuff up, huh? The app store isn't some revolutionary thing, it's another step in building out the entire ipod/iphone ecosystem. perhaps the last step, well maybe not (enhanced mobileme anyone? i would like to bring my MX record to mobile me and still use my email address) but an important step nonetheless. but don't believe for a second this is the second coming of jesus, like this guys seems to think. the investment merit of Apple without the app store is totally intact. just remember that apple runs the app store like the itunes store - just above break even. it's another attraction to sell ipod touches and iphones, that's it.

Nov 19, 08 - 03:31 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

No wonder MS is finally embracing the Cloud since the PC retail store will disappear for good. They need to get us on to the subscription model before all physical consumer sales dry up.

The only problem for MS is consumers will be left with only physical Apple stores and consumers buying computers on merit rather than physical location.

Nov 19, 08 - 03:40 pm Comment from: Aprel

Macworld expo - apple will annouce all of it's software catalog available via the app store - in fact - all of the software they sell will be sold via this mechanism.

It will be only a matter of time before they can offer the ability for all the other developers to do the same thing.

Secure, trusted, available, convenient, easy to use.

Sweet!

Nov 19, 08 - 04:02 pm Comment from: CD

@Crazylegs
Tell that to the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS!
They are taking a huge beating, and in only a couple months...six thousand apps in a few months...in two years the games to choose from will be enormous...especially after ID finally gets a good one out the door. Even my four year old loves the Touch.

Nov 19, 08 - 04:19 pm Comment from: It's About Time

All equipment and software manufactures tethered to the Microsoft platform are now experiencing the sinking weight of MS bloatware. This can mean nothing but dismal news for the lot of them.

Meanwhile, the Mac wave we saw building two years ago has arrived. Hopefully the stock market wakes up to this reality soon. Surfs up! smile

Nov 19, 08 - 04:59 pm Comment from: MacintoshSoftwareList.com

The end is near for all others.

Nov 19, 08 - 05:38 pm Comment from: Quad Core

I've said it before and I'll say it again....

The brilliance of the App Store is in the ability for even small developers to compete on a level with big companies.

This ability will allow for true software innovation. In the past Adobe or Microsoft could get mega amounts of attention for even the smallest, crappiest software, while some small company with a great piece of software might not ever get noticed.

Nov 19, 08 - 06:14 pm Comment from: Hank

The time will be after the liberals are voted out of office if they don't tax the US to death and cancel the military before then.

Nov 19, 08 - 06:23 pm Comment from: The Muffin Man

I've said it before and I'll say it again:-

The 'touch' is going to outsell the iPhone.
(... and the 'touch' doesn't even get a mention in this article.)
BIG MISTAKE!

Of course I'm pleased that they're both doing very well, and the iPhone is going to be huge; but the 'touch' will be even hugerer (coined a new word).

Time will tell - and probably prove me right.

Nov 19, 08 - 06:29 pm Comment from: Desinformado

At last somebody that know a thing about mac and the economy around it....

Nov 19, 08 - 06:51 pm Comment from: rws

As for AAPL: Don't argue with the market!

Nov 19, 08 - 07:05 pm Comment from: BillyBob@home

finding the bottom of the bear market in which to invest in apple isn't going to be easy. Every time I think I see it, Wall street surprises me again. Ugh!

I agree though... apple is a company worth investing in for the long term. They're doing everything right quarter after quarter.

Nov 19, 08 - 08:01 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

Needs more cowbell...

Nov 19, 08 - 08:04 pm Comment from: Steve

Here's a different take.

This current trend for Apple is actually a "window of opportunity", i.e. it will come to an end.

Apple thinks it is an upward trend is rather the opportunity given because of Vista's woes.

However, with Windows 7 looking "good enough", that window will close as Microsoft users will be assured that things are back to normal, and will not be compelled to shift as they are now.

Remember, Windows 7 does not have to be brilliant for its users (XP users) to remain with Microsoft. It just has to get the job done without too much trauma. Right now, Vista doesn't even meet that minimum grade, or so the market feels. So, when Windows 7 meets the admittedly low-bar, this current window of opportunity -- where there is impetus to move to Apple, which Apple milks with their "Get A Mac" ads -- will close.

It was a now-or-never moment for Apple to licence it's OS to steal greater marketshare. If it's not now, during the Vista season, then it will be never. Windows 7, even it is barely ok, will restore Microsoft's momentum to world hegemony. All Windows 7 has to avoid is being a total disaster, like Vista was at its launch.

Nov 19, 08 - 08:52 pm Comment from: other side

Let me get this straight. Apple's ‘Apple’s greatest idea yet’ is... an online software store???

Not that the App Store isn't significant. It is.

But to classify it as Apple's greatest achievement is a bit of a reach.

Nov 19, 08 - 08:52 pm Comment from: Dave

As long as App Store dosn't get flooded with Craplications, a la Facebook. We want quality apps people.

Nov 19, 08 - 11:39 pm Comment from: Long time Macster

Apple should NEVER license OS X.

Those who have a clue will understand. Those who only started reading about Apple last year won't.

Nov 20, 08 - 07:57 am Comment from: ripper

@Steve:

I'm thinking Windows 7 will have its own share of woes, too. Windows always has compatibility/driver issues, and let's face it, Windows 7 is a re-branding of Vista (otherwise known as Vista SP2) and is basically the same old antiquated Windows experience.

What MS needs to do is start over from scratch with fresh ideas, and a brand new OS, with an emulation program for legacy Windows software, like Apple did with PowerPC to Intel, System 9 to OSX, and the move from 68K to PowerPC before that. Each time Apple bridged the technologies while completely changing the guts of the 'machine.' They were able to bring their users along without being stuck with old, bloated code on top of old bloated code, as MS has been.

How can MS attract the consumer market, where computing has converged with a digital lifestyle? Apple has a pretty strong grip on this convergence philosphy, and because of this their products work together. MacOS is moving toward becoming the leading mobil OS, and that's where the untethered future lives. MS's window of opportunity for the mobile computing market was open for a few years, and they did nothing with it. Now it belongs to Apple and Google. MS is an also-ran in this space, so I don't buy your argument at all.

Nov 20, 08 - 02:24 pm Comment from: disposableidentity

@"Steve"
The funny thing is they're not even talking about the Mac here. Apple created this market from their own ingenuity. You can't take that away from them.

Developers are moving over to the iPhone (after some have toiled for years on other phone/mobile platforms with nothing to show for it).

It is a snowball. It is growing exponentially. It will starve the other platforms of oxygen.

Nov 21, 08 - 06:52 pm Comment from: Rudge

Not one of you guys have mentioned why The App Store is such a good idea for Apple products and not necessarily needed for Windows. It's because you can go to a Safeway store and buy a Windows program or game. They're so ubiquitous you can get many programs anywhere.

Mac users have been forced to be more creative about where and how to get our programs. Some people have to drive hours to find a brick-n-morter place to buy a Macintosh game or some compatible software.

Finally the Internet is our biggest savior. Yes, the App Store is great and I wish it even more success in the future.

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