Why iPod Can't Save Apple

MadMirko writes "MacNN quotes an article from Money Magazine titled Why iPod can't save Apple, which says 'the buzz on the digital music player and "swank" storefronts are masking an ebbing bottom line, noting reduced CPU sales (resulting a shrinking marketshare), decreased profits (in part due to the lower-margin iPod and little-to-no profit at the iTunes Music Store), failure of the iPod to drive CPU sales, failure of the retail stores to increase marketshare, hidden retail store costs, no operational income, and little value in the stock.'"

Apple...

[Azadre]

Going out of business for over 28 years

Re:Better link to article!

[BiggsTheCat]

What about my halibut?

iPod tried to save Apple...

[bcolflesh]

But in the midst of the rescue attempt, the battery died and couldn't be replaced!

Welcome to last year...

[kakos]

And the year before that...

And the year before that year...

And the year before that year...

Welcome to every point in the past 10 years except NOW.

Re:Better link to article!

[turgid]

Here, you won't have to sell your sole to read it:

Good. We wouldn't want impared perambulatory function or to have to miss dinner.

Good!

[Dirk Pitt]

Here, you won't have to sell your sole to read it

I hate having selling my fish to read the news.

Well...they do have a point....

[Anonymous Coward]

OS X is based on BSD....

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[tdemark]

Yeah, but this article is different... I don't think they used the term beleagered [reference.com] once.

- Tony

Re:Facts

[The I Shing]

Geez, that point, obvious as it is, went right over my head, just like must have gone over the head of the analyst.

It's like in HGtG when God exclaims, "Oh dear, I hadn't thought o that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

Re:Apple is dying...again.

[morelife]

Yet at the same time, Google has reported [google.com] an increase in the percentage of Mac users using Google.

Exactly, they're all shopping online for new PCs.

Hey, where would Microsoft get all their R&D from if not for Apple?

If you're going to ingest hallucinogens, at least - offer us some.

Re:Little value in stock?

[zhenlin]

APPL!?

What does Appell Petroleum Corporation (APPL.PK) have to do with Apple Computer?

You must mean AAPL.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[theLOUDroom]

And one year they'll be right. It's a definite that one day apple will die. Just as IBM will die, Intel will die, AMD will die, America will die, England will die. Over an infinite amount of time all these things will one day end. It's a definite and provable truth. So yes Apple is constantly about to die, but the question is on who's timeline are you talking?

I dunno about that. Some groups (IBM, The Rolling Stones, etc)have so much money and power they'll probably be around forever. Even if the universe was going to end, IBM's R&D would probably to develop a method to transport itself to an alternate dimension.

Re:Oh, come on

[Anonymous Coward]

Jobs just needs another big idea like the iMac and the iPod and everyone will forget about Apple's demise for a few years.

How about an iDea?

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[Jonboy X]

Over an infinite amount of time all these things will one day end. It's a definite and provable truth.

Reminds me of an old joke from a friend's sig line: "I plan on living forever. So far, so good."

Re:Apple...

[Timothy Dang]

Hey, we'd all know if they were really going out of business when they have a sale. Just think, iPod mini's for their actual value.

Re:Apple is dying...again.

[Anonymous Coward]

You would think that windows would die first, what with all the viruses it keeps getting.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, I'll bet you're a real buzz kill at parties.

Re:Apple is dying...again.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're going to ingest hallucinogens, at least - offer us some.

Ahhhh, spoken like a true Linux user: Wanting someone to give you something for nothing eh?

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[TheRaven64]

I prefer the line from Blake's 7:

`I plan to live forever. Or die trying.'

Re:On a long enough time line the survival rate ..

[lee7guy]

On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

Has Highlander [imdb.com] taught you nothing?

You haven't been paying attention

[Del Vach]

The first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club.

The second rule of fight club is you DO NOT talk about fight club.

Re:Better link to article!

[Hiro Antagonist]

Quit floundering around and just read the article.

Apple needs saving?

[kberg108]

If I remember correctly Apple has 20 billion in cash. If having 20 billion in cash means you need to be saved we are all doomed.

Re:Better link to article!

[Black Perl]

Why so crabby?

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[bluethundr]

No no! It's true! I have a sign right here a guy I used to know [dvorak.org] grabbed right from the front door of One Infinite Loop!It reads "Going out of Business! Everything must go! Up to 50% off BRAND NEW INSTOCK Macintosh II, IIx, IIcx, Mac Plus, Mac 512, Apple II, Apple III cpus and the BRAND NEW IN STOCK Apple Laserwriter!" I didn't think to keep it mylar, and it's a little yellowed and the edges are curling up a bit, showing a bit of wear. At one point I think I might have spilled coffee on it.

At least the Rolling Stones...

[Kjella]

I dunno about that. Some groups (IBM, The Rolling Stones, etc)have so much money and power they'll probably be around forever. Even if the universe was going to end, IBM's R&D would probably to develop a method to transport itself to an alternate dimension.

At least the Rolling Stones but fortunately, the Afterlife doesn't seem too keen on issuing passports. Now, IBMs R&D probably invented the time bubble that the Restaurant at the End of the Universe in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is in. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe they've already invented it, that'd explain a lot...

Kjella

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[Codifex Maximus]

G4? That's so last year. Go for a dual G5 Aluminum Cased Tower.

I wouldn't mind having one of them... now if I could just get past the one button mouse thing... :/

Re:At least the Rolling Stones...

[TXG1112]

I remember an old full page PSA in some magazine:

The truly evil thing about heroin is it doesn't always kill you. Sometimes it just turns you into Keith Richards.

My own theory is that he died in 1969 and nobody told him yet. Either that or he's a vampire.

Re:Apple has to make a decision

[Anonymous Coward]

can't run the games and software that PCs can

I've seen some of those PC games. That's the equivalent of the following conversation:

Joe Customer: Look, Marge! We can get a plate of meatloaf for $10, or a bucket o' shit for $2.99.
Marge Customer: Git th' bucket Joe! Git th' bucket!

Of course, anyone who underestimates the stupidity of Joe Customer is pretty stupid themselves.

Obligatory Simpsons Reference

[Manhigh]

Bart: I feel like I'm going to die, Lisa
Lisa: We're all going to die, Bart.
Bart: I meant soon.
Lisa: So did I.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[nattt]

That was one of Villa's lines. But I still like his request for "100 virgins in red fur uniforms - I'll call them Villa's Royal Mounties" from the episode Orbit.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[southpolesammy]

Keith Richards doesn't even need money. His brain has been dead for years but the drugs are keeping his corpse animated enough to fool most people...

Re:Better link to article!

[blackmonday]

You're giving me carp-al tunnel syndrome hitting page down on my keelboard.

Now with apple out of the way...

[srcosmo]

...I predict that 2004 will be the year of Linux on the desktop!

that explains it!

[PollGuy]

Yeah, but this article is different... I don't think they used the term beleagered once.

You're saying that "beleaguered" is not a part of Apple's full company name? Wow!

(credit where credit is due [anecdotage.com])

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[TitusC3v5]

Apple - Unsuccessfully going out of business since 1995.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[darc]

Optionally, they can just have their legal department file a temporary injunction against the universe ending.

They DO have more lawyers than the universe has employees, they're that big.

(Apple==sell, SCO==buy)==WTF????

[mojoNYC]

lately (well at least before last week), many analyi$t$ have been recommending SCO as a 'Buy,' so this should tell you something...

i find it hard to believe that these Wall $treet analy$tS have any shred of credibility left anymore--not counting the last few years scandals (Enron and MCI were analyst darlings, the disgrace of Jack Grubman and Mary Meeker, among others)...

oh, wait, Martha Stewart was indicted, so that means they've cleaned up Wall Street!;>

Re:Let's see your Dell zealots

[baumanj]

Gee, I wonder how many would have turned out if the weather was nice?

OTOH, Japanese have umbrellas built into their quadriceps like robocop

This guy is still counting...

[sjonke]

death watch [andromeda.com]

Beleaguered!

[jkent]

So what's really happening is that Apple is writing up a story every quarter or so about how they're failing, on their last legs, sounding the death rattle, and of course, being the perennial passive object of beleaguering... then letting their rabidly loyal customers write hundreds of pages of rebuttals on every discussion board out there!

You know the drill...
1)
2)
3) Profit!!!!

Re:Better link to article!

[niko9]

He's usually very mellow; must be a fluke. :o)

Re:Better link to article!

[fearboy]

This discussion is giving me a haddock.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[Feral Bueller]

Maybe if IBM became a religion they could live forever.

Then Apple has nothing to worry about.

Re:Yes, yes, yes, Apple's dying, blah blah blah

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure I wanna be know as the kid who tagged his mom after the senior prom. But if thats your style, so be it.

Yay! Apple's beleaguered again!

[tuxedobob]

Have to wonder if the article actually used that word. :)

In other news

[IntergalacticWalrus]

That guy is sooo last year, talking about Apple dying. Nowadays, all the cool financial analysts are talking about the nearing death of Nintendo, duh.

Re:At least the Rolling Stones...

[Anonymous Coward]

Makes sense... [ananova.com]