Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: Stock Fluctuations, Apple News

Just some updates and opinions on recent Apple events.

Apple's stock has been on a wild ride lately. Many analysts are bullish based on heavy iPod sales, and the corresponding "halo" effect that seems to be driving up Mac sales. (The new iMac G5 is reportedly extremely popular this fall.) So in the past few months, the stock has skyrocketed.

But no one is really sure when it comes to Apple. There's been a bit of nervous profit-taking selloff lately, and one or two analyst downgrades (from "buy" to "hold"). The thing is, everyone expects the iPod bubble to burst eventually; at some point, a competitor will make something just as good. I mean, Sony couldn't ride the Walkman forever either.

For those of us who follow Steve Jobs closely, we know that he's probably got a stable of new products coming. That's what Apple does: it doesn't stick around to dominate a market, it just creates a new one. In five years, Jobs won't care if iPod sales are declining, because by then, he'll have come up with some new earth-shattering device. We know what he's capable of.

So does that mean Apple should just drop the Mac too? Even IBM, who was once synonymous with the PC business, is getting out.

I still say no. For Apple, the Mac is not only a cash cow, it's the thing that lets them have an exclusive market for any new product they introduce. (I wrote about this earlier.)

So I'd ignore the investor jitters and stick with Apple stock, if you've got any. I really believe that Apple is poised to be a force in the electronics and the entertainment industry.

In other news, someone in the UK is suing Apple for charging more for iTunes songs there than in other parts of Europe. They cite some sort of EU law about that. Here's what I don't get, though... it was the British that made the decision not to adopt the euro as their currency, so how is Apple supposed to maintain price parity? Should Apple change their iTunes prices daily based on exchange rates? It all seems ludicrous to me. Maybe someone can explain to me how this case has any merit.

Finally, rumors are heating up about the next generation of PowerPC processors from IBM. Dual-core, 3GHz+, etc. etc. I'm anxiously awaiting this, because I'm just about due for a new computer. Not that my three-year-old G4 is sluggish by any means; but buying the latest technology is just part of the curse of being a technophile.

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