Appletell

“Apple and Microsoft are on opposite trajectories in terms of their cash reserves” say recent reports, and we don’t really need those reports to tell us that either.  These differences have recently become more evident then ever, both from the fail of Vista and Apple’s rather large jump in market share.  Now, with recent three-year earning figures released, Apple’s increase compared to Window’s fall has been set in stone.  Three years ago, Apple had a pretty measly monetary reserve of only $5.5 Billion.  In comparison, Microsoft had a monetary reserve of $64 Billion.  Recent earnings reports show that Apple’s earnings have almost quadrupled, to $19.4 Billion.  In great contrast, Microsoft’s reserves to have plummeted to only $26.3 Billion.  Microsoft should be happy that their deal with Yahoo went through the floor, as they would have had to borrow a considerable amount of money.  Speculations show that Microsoft saved over $40 Billion in the short term. 

“The company’s overall decline is attributed to deliberate investment decisions, namely continual stock buybacks and special dividend payments, such as a $32 billion plan announced in 2004. In the most recent quarter, Microsoft bought back more than $1 billion of its own stock, a strategy which is likely meant to enhance the company’s EPS rating.”

Apple’s sharp increase in profits, fueled by Mac and iPod sales, has been enough to surpass even those of Google ($12.1 Billion), IBM ($12 Billion), and Intel ($10.9 Billion).  With Apple’s huge recent sales increases, both from the Mac and iPod, it seems like those numbers can only go up.

Read [MacNN]

Can Apple be stopped on their run to the top?  My guess is no, at least not in the next few years.  This was further solidified by the Fortune 500.  Last year, Apple jumped a whopping 38 spots, from 159th to 121st.  This year, they made another jump, though less substantial, from 121st to 103rd.  Fortune Magazine says that the main contributors to this year’s jump was the announcement of the iPhone and MacBook sales headed skyward.

Yet another confirmation of Apple’s juggernaut approach on the tech industry is its rating among the “20 Most Profitable Companies of 2007”.  In this, they are safely situated in the 8th spot, a ranking no one expects them to lose any time soon.  With the future of Apple looking up (the imminent 3g iPhone, unexpectedly high sales numbers, etc.), maybe they can crack the top 100 next year on the Fortune 500, and maybe even the top 5 of the 20 Most Profitable Companies of 2008.  Maybe the fact that Microsoft is up at the top of this year’s Profitable Companies list will light a fire under Apple’s butt and inspire them to work harder.  Not that they don’t work hard now.

Let you voices be heard: leave a comment about where you think Apple is headed, and if you think that their current skyrocketing trend is a momentary high or something thats here to stay.

With recent news of Microsoft opening up retail stores, it got me thinking.  Why?  Microsoft already has its OS available in almost every technology retail store there is, and you can get a Xbox 360 or Zune in almost all of these places, too.  Sure, it would be great to specifically promote your own brand and give consumers another store to shop at, but would it just fight for sales with the many stores that already sell Microsoft products?  If you ask me, Microsoft doesn’t really even make enough products themselves to make the store interesting enough.  They have the Zune, 360, their OS, and some peripherals, but how interesting could a store with just this really become (unless they have 360 game competitions, that is)?  All I could see these stores really being good for is maybe a cheaper alternative to Best Buy’s Geek Squad.  Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t think a Microsoft store could create quite the community the Apple stores are so famous for.

Apple stores offer an experience like no other.  They are full of life, learning, and, of course, awesome products.  If you ask me, Apple stores aren’t just stores.  With the Genius Bar, One on One Lessons, and daily help sessions, they are full of activity other than just buying.  They don’t pressure you to buy products, they make you WANT to buy the product.  They make people like me and you get excited about visiting them and cause you to want to come back.  I just can’t see a Microsoft store doing this.  I don’t know why, it just seems like it would be sort of dull.

Do you think a store made by Microsoft is just what they need to get back on track after the Vista disappointment, or would it be a waste of money?

According to BusinessWeek and the Boston Consulting Group, Apple is on the top of the heap when it comes to innovation.  “The publication states the list is based on companies who nurture cultures that value creative people in good economic times and bad, as well as those that develop a diversified stock portfolio, and display independent though for corporate strategy, despite “finger-wagging” from analysts.” says a MacNN report.  The statistics were compiled by the Boston Consulting Group, and the ratings were based on the opinions of hundreds of Business Executives.  Although the results were based almost entirely on the survey, 20% of the results were calculated based on the company’s stock return, margin of growth, and their three-year revenue.  In second and third place, respectively, were Google and Toyota, with General Electric, Microsoft, Tata Group, Nintendo, Procter & Gamble, Sony, and Nokia accounting for the rest of the top 10.  This is the fourth year in a row that Apple has received this honor.  Also of note, Apple came in second and fourth place in the Entertainment and Retail categories, respectively.

Via [MacNN]

For you not brushed up on you Latin, carpe diem is a popular literary expression meaning, “Seize the day.” What do I mean by this?  If Apple wants to take control of the computer world that Microsoft has dominated for so long, now is the perfect time.  All the planets are aligned, so to speak, and Apple just needs to take advantage of the situation.  If they do it right, the tables could start to turn on Microsoft, leaving them wondering what happened.  Here are three reasons the time is perfect for Apple to take control.

1) Vista. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of the population is fairly disappointed with Vista.  After years of development and delays, it didn’t deliver.  For that reason, the time is right for Apple to really push the idea of switching to Mac OS X and learning how to use an easier, more responsive operating system.  The company needs to take advantage of the fact that Microsoft has been playing catch up with itself after Vista and really start hitting some nails into the coffin.  For example, one area that Apple is really doing a great job of pushing users to switch is in their Get a Mac ads.  Another strong point in this argument is the fact that Macs can run Vista and, in some cases, even better than a PC can.

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We keeping hearing rumors about Apple moving over to Blu-Ray in laptops and desktop computers. I’ve got a few theories of why Apple will never use Blu-ray for Macs. Before I speculate of why the format won’t be coming, Apple signed up for Blu-Ray about 3 years ago! Since then, they haven’t done anything and probably won’t in the future.

Movie rentals. Apple is pushing them hard to succeed and putting Blu-Ray players in Macs will lower the chances of buying sales/rentals of HD content from iTunes. Blu-ray has all the major vendors in the movie industry, and Apple still hasn’t hit 1,000 movies in the iTunes Store.

No optical drive in MacBook Air. Apple told us that we don’t need a DVD player to watch movies, the iTunes Store works fine. If they don’t want us watching DVDs, it won’t be any different for Blu-ray movies.

Professional applications don’t yet support Blu-ray. Rober X. Crinigely of the PBS predicts. Even though this is a valid missing link, he says that this would be a lame excuse to not use the format.

Why don’t you think Apple hasn’t switched to Blu-Ray yet?

Microsoft was due to release an update to their latest Office 2008 suite this month. I have found my overall experience with Office 2008 to be good, but it is almost as slow as 2004, and has some bugs with Leopard features like Spaces. Today, Microsoft released version 12.0.1 - an update that should have popped up in Microsoft AutoUpdate - if it hasn’t, you can download it here. The update applies to Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008 and Entourage 2008.

This 114MB download “fixes critical issues in Office 2008, including issues that might cause Office 2008 applications to stop responding or quit unexpectedly” according to Microsoft.

MacNN has found a Microsoft patent application patenting a program with features similar to those of CoverFlow.

The patent idea revolves around “stacking wheels” and is mainly designed for mobile applications, and possibly the Xbox 360. Personally, the patent reminds me more of the iPhone, as it is based around the idea of having multiple windows open and rotating through them as if they are laying on a giant wheel, which is like swiping through pages of applications on the iPhone home screen or moving through Safari windows.

Overall, this is just another way Microsoft is adding Apple-like features to it’s products.

Read [MacNN]

Sony is currently in the process of recruiting Apple to drop blu-ray hardware inside of Macs and also talking with Microsoft about supporting blu-ray - perhaps in the Xbox 360. This was discovered during a media dinner with Sony Electronics US president Stan Glasgow. If Apple were to switch over to Blu-Ray users would benefit from the upgrade dual layer or double layer recordable DVDs, storing up to 8.5GB per platter to a newer technology that can hold about 50 GB per disc. Apple rarely comments on future project releases, and this isn’t any different. Personally I believe that Apple won’t use the Blu-Ray discs in their computers. We saw with the MacBook Air that Apple is moving away from optical drives. In the future I expect to see Apple pushing out more movies on the iTunes Store in HD.

Via [Macworld]

Us Apple fanboys love the iPhone SDK, but what does Microsoft’s CEO think of it?  During mix ‘08, he was asked about the iPhone SDK, Active Sync, and if their competitor to flash will be coming to the iPhone. He stated that “Silverlight for the iPhone is of course interesting,” but didn’t give any specific details. He also thought that Apple taking a 30 % share of iPhone app sales, is possibly digging too deeply. The main highlight was Ballmer’s Monkey Boy Dance, where we yelled and danced “Web Developers,” quite a few times…

Via [Engadget]