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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Phillip C. Lee who wrote (8691)	2/22/1998 10:43:00 PM
From: Bill Jackson	Respond to of 213173

Phillip, I and others have observed AAPLs share erosion over the years. I attribute it to the inability of the better technical product to overcome a cheaper product. In money they call it Gresham's Law, bad money forces out good money. A debased currency forces a good currenecy out of circulation. I place the blame squarely on AAPL management, who treated their product like Pepsi Cola, and concluded all you needed was marketing and you could over come the Wintels. It worked with Coke and Pepsi, how many buy Mrs Jones Cola?? but it failed with AAPL. Year after year they placed their bets on the wrong cards. AAPL could have competed pricewise easily. Look at all the fat earnings they still have on hand. They would have traded some earnings for share, and they might well have made more money in the long run. They mishandled cloning, and still do. What do you think did it?, a conspiracy theory??, Shots from the grassy knoll??. APPles graphic niche is a mature market that is slowly dying as Wintels make inroads. It is probably shrinking by 10% a year. educational is also shrinking. Consumer is shrinking too. The profits came from cuts to make Apple a leaner company. They must get the graphics niche, the educational niche and the consumer niche to grow to make the share price grow with a high multiple. Management of a declining market in a profitable way is quite possible. The company stays profitable and computer volume falls by 10% annually. Share price will settle in the $15 area. If Apple diversifies into growth areas, computer/software/OS livences/clone licences it can reverse this downtrend. Do not let a few cents/share for a quarter tell you the battle has been won. It has just started and it will be a long hard battel just to stop the decline, let alone grow share. Bill