[From today's Globe and Mail] It was no less an expert than Michael Dell who forecast the demise of Apple Computer Inc. In 2001, the chairman and founder of the computer company that bears his name said Apple had sealed its fate by failing to build computers that used Intel Corp. microprocessors and software from Microsoft Corp. In sticking with its own proprietary technologies, Apple could not survive. “We know how the movie ends,” Mr. Dell, now 39, said. “It's just a question of what happens in the middle.”
But three years later, it is Apple — not Dell Inc. — that some say is now the best bet for investors interested in backing a computer maker.
Long an ugly duckling for investors, the Cupertino, Calif., company has been the soaring swan of the market for the past year. Its stock is up 176 per cent in the past 12 months (it closed yesterday at $70.10 U.S.), compared with 13 per cent for Dell. Apple already rivals Round Rock, Tex.-based Dell in manufacturing efficiency, and is poised to beat it on profit margins, earnings and revenue growth. On new product innovation, analysts say, Apple is unrivalled . . . [Read the full story ]
sorry it is about the Ipod. try taking that revenue out of the balance sheets.
newly announced puters are just that, newly annound, not sales.
I think it's an arguable point and my thesis is that the Apple story right now is more than just the iPod.
Worldwide sales of all laptop and desktop computers from all manufacturers grew about 12 per cent in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004. Sales of Macintosh computers grew 26 per cent in the same period. Apple sold just over a million CPUs in the fourth quarter. iMac sales more than doubled from the year-earlier period. iBook sales were also up but Apple sold fewer Power Macs and PowerBooks.
Apple still earns more revenue from its CPU business (although it's true that iPod revenues are not far back).
You can look it up.
Analysts tell me also that Apple makes a bigger profit, as well, each time it sells a Power Mac or a PowerBook than it does when it sells an iPod.