thinner, longer, more battery capacity, You can hold it in 1 hand and press the screen etc....competition- same thickness, bigger srcreen...square. I think its a better form factor, we will see... prediction is 250 million... 140 billion$$$$

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Ian

Big numbers: iPhone 5 could boost GDP 0.5 percent, JP Morgan says - Bottom Line

Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be ordering 2 of them (3 if I can pry the Crackberry out of my wife's hands). Hoping for a killer map/navigation app and improved Siri. Icing on the cake would be NFC.

I'm with you but only ordering one.

I'll be buying two of them. We've been due to upgrade for a while, but have been holding out for a 5 vs the 4S.

Incidentally, both my Verizon and ATT services give me the full upgrade pricing after only 12 months of use, with a new 2 year agreement. That means just $199 per phone (for the lowest GB model). I think you used to have to wait 2 years.

Any of you guys who actually bought RIMM on the earlier recommendation are in for a treat tomorrow:

RIM's Earnings Beat Expectations; Shares Up 16% - WSJ.com

RIMM is now up over 20%.

I own quite a bit of stock which I bought for well under $7/share. Unfortunately, I sold almost half my stock this morning as I could not take such a high stakes gamble. I still will make a very tidy profit which will be put towards my new car fund.

I also bought two Playbooks which I love for $150 each 8-)

I also got to play with a beta version of the new Blackberry 10 device (the one without a keyboard) and it is very slick.

It only had a few applications loaded on it (not the "Blackberry Hub") but what I saw, I liked a lot.

BTW, I was mistaken saying this. ATT is an 18 month wait, Verizon slightly more.

Nice job with the Rimm!

Would that be a RIM job?

Coldstart - I hear you.

I grabbed some RIM at $7.07 back in late July. Thought about doubling up last week but I did not. I could sell tomorrow but think I am going to hang onto it. I think....

What really bugs me about the Apple, Samsung, Nokia and RIM battle is the media.

(1) The media created a hype about how there are not enough iPhones to go around creating the idea of exclusivity and demand. I went into both an Apple Store (Fairview Mall in Toronto) and a Rogers store (one of the big local phone company in Canada) last week and they both had lots of iPhone 5s in stock, the 16gb, 32gb, etc. in both black and white.

(2) The media constantly portrays that Apple is the innovator and everyone else is the copier. What did Apple innovate?

The first smartphone-- RIM or Palm.
The first smartphone with rounded corners-- RIM or Palm.
The first smart phone with a touchscreen-- Palm.
The first icons on a smart phone-- RIM or Palm.

There were even tablets (with rounded corners) and MP3 players well before Apple. Apple just made them popular and mainstream. I will admit that the iTunes store for music was pretty original and that Apple does a great job and provides a very good and slick product. I also do not know who came out with "rubber banding" first-- maybe Apple.

I do agree that Samsung has innovated little but in patent law Apple should not have rights to that Apple did not invent.

(3) The media stokes the notion that RIM is going bankrupt and one should not buy a Blackberry because they likely will not exist in 6 months or a year. RIM has over $2 billion in cash and no debt. To go bankrupt, you must owe money. RIM will not go bankrupt anytime soon. This is a big fear for consumers and is a self-fulfilling prophecy as people don't buy a company's products because they think a company will go bankrupt, the company will eventually go bankrupt.

(4) Specifically, the Canadian media bashes RIM, a Canadian company, at every chance. The CBC (the government paid media) is especially nasty. For example, today after RIM reported way better than expected earnings, sales, cash on hand, the CBC prints an article entitled "RIM's losses less than expected - Business - CBC News". The Canadian media should be championing RIM like the US media does with Apple, the Korean media does with Samsung, etc.


Yes, I am obsessed with the smartphone wars and like making lists.

Personally, I own: an Apple iPhone 4G, a RIM Playbook, an Apple iPad2, a Samsung LCD TV (and almost bought an S3 phone recently) and a Nokia phone. I think that it is healthy to have lots of choice in the market for innovation and competition to bring diverse and better products to the end consumer.

I also own stock of AAPL (way up), NOK (down) and RIMM (up).

Marketing and service seem to be the defining factors that differentiate Apple from the others.

I think you should also add material quality to the mix. No phone on the market, at least not that I've looked at, has the same quality tactile feel as an iPhone. They use aluminum and glass where others use plastic, and the quality of construction is top notch. A plastic phone may work just as well and in some cases be more practical (you can't shatter plastic), but it just doesn't provide that same intangible feel of quality.

Apple's success is due to their hardware, software and build quality. It is reinforced by clever marketing and good service.

Great marketing will sell lots of widgets - until the word gets out that the widgets are crap. Historically one could fleece folks for quite a while before their rep caught up to them. The Internet has changed everything. Any product is only a handful of bad Amazon reviews away from mediocrity.

Apple sold 5 million phones in a weekend. Mostly to people who already owned a device which essentially does the exact same thing. Impressive.

As we used to say in the ad agency business: nothing will kill a bad product faster than good advertising.

Well, the rumor mill says the iPad Mini announcement invites are going out tomorrow & China Mobile is close to signing on for the 5. Interesting . . .

Ian

AAPL: How low will it go?

It can stop going down any time now.

Well, I remember when it was $10.50 -- that was two splits ago.

Where's my time machine?

Yeah, and even a lot more recently, I remember discussing it on this board when it was around $90. wasn't that long ago.

Rumors of a 5S iPhone for early next year . . .

Apple Rumored To Begin Trial Production Of iPhone 5S Soon: Farewell Yearly Update Cycle?

Ian

Buy now. ($526)

That is all.

I'm feeling pretty beat up right now. Not even sure if 526 is a deal... I think I'll wait a bit longer and see where it trends.

I'm going to start buying shares each week for the next several weeks. Doing a quick analysis I think AAPL is a steal right now at $524. That won't stop it from following the markets if they continue a downward trend, but fundamentally the company is very strong. They have a ton of cash in the bank, excellent earnings, no long-term debt, etc...... the current p/e ratio is near the all time low.

I've never bought Apple, but have always been tempted (pun intended).

I remember when we were discussing it here a few years ago, when it was at $90. I didn't buy.

I went in a few days ago at $550. I only did 20 shares, as a "tester." If it keeps going down, at some point I'll do another 20 to dollar cost average that down a bit.

Just not sure how long to wait.

Let me know when you go back in!

I do worry about the post-Jobs Apple, though.

Remember what happened the last time Jobs left.

Only this time, he's not coming back.

I also have some concerns about the "good enough" theory. I was at the Verizon store the other day, hadn't been there in years. I was surprised to see that most phones look like an iPhone now, and function basically the same.

But, it seems at a lower cost. If that's the case, will a large number of consumers find the non apple alternatives "good enough?"

I also wonder if the iPhone format (look, function, etc.) is going to basically stay the same for the next decade. Or can apple revolutionize the phone again?

Apple seems to be on such a treadmill. They need to keep moving upward, expanding, growing, all while not making mistakes.

b-i-n-g-o

Cmon baby, cmon....

Hmm, should have bought more at $525?

AAPL also has $100 Bil in cash.

I had planned on buying this morning first thing, but got to my machine too late. So 558 it is. Time to offset some of the 675 stuff I have :)

I doubled up on a down today for the same to average.

Related: $1M of AAPL bought by Robert Iger

"After the transaction, Iger Robert A's stake was reported as 4,592 shares of Apple Inc stock. As noted on November 20, 2012, Iger Robert A's purchase was done directly over 4 transactions on November 19, 2012. The share price ranged from $562.13 to $565.08 according to the regulatory filing detailing the transactions."

He is the current chairman and chief executive of The Walt Disney Company (Hugh's boss) - hence the insider disclosure.

Ian

Its slightly different now... Apple OWNS several market segments. And, they have hordes of cash. Tim Cook is one of their own, rather than someone brought in from Pepsi or wherever else.

Sort of like Scott Forstall was one of their own? Even more so than Cook by all accounts? "Like" Steve Jobs does not mean that person is Steve Jobs and I 100% firmly believe you can't teach what Jobs had.

Without constant ingenuity, Apple will slowly erode away. I'm not saying they will go out of business but the best days are clearly behind them.