So, I was briefly discussing the significant jump in AAPL's stock price in the last few days as well as the not-so-rosy situation with INTC with my dad. I'll start with AAPL and possibly post on INTC later if I get a chance:

AAPL has seen a significant jump in the last week in particular as you can see here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL&t=5d

I believe this has to do with 2 things. First, iPod sales look to be increasing significantly. As noted by Appleinsider.com:
"In a research note released to clients on Wednesday, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said Asustek -- Apple's overseas iPod shuffle manufacturing partner -- accounted for 11% of SigmaTel's revenue during its recent quarter, representing a 31% increase quarter-to-quarter."
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1349

iPod Nano appears will clearly be a big seller. At this point, all analyst reports I've read so far think that more Nano's will be sold than any other iPod model. Although I cannot find anyone to attribute the quote to, AI also stated that Apple was at least at one point expecting/preparing to sell as many as 4 million Nano's/month. This is interestingly in contrast to most analyst's expectation of +/- 9 million iPods sold in total.

The big wildcard here is the new iPod (video). Despite it's meager offerings in comparison to virtually all of the PMP's that have been coming out of Asia in terms of both screen size/quality and battery life, the ease of the iTMS and the iPod brand have clearly contributed to a solid consumer reception. Given the quantity of reviews and the overall positive tone, anyone who was interested in buying the previous revision iPods is certainly not getting less for their money. I have not seen anything indicating market saturation in the iPod field, thus I think it likely we'll see all the people who were looking for an iPod photo at $299, all the holiday buyers, as well as anyone new who's drawn to the video features making a purchase. Still not enough info to make much of an accurate guess at how many they'll sell, but it should become apparent as the holiday unfolds.


The Second thing that is probably causing the run up in AAPL has been news that 1 million videos were sold in less than 3 weeks. Now this is certainly less than the 1 week it took for music files, but it gives the company much needed bargaining room with film and TV studios. There is a big risk with some of the "who owns what" lawsuits flying between those who own ABC's Lost and Desperate Housewives and their various chained holding companies (ABC, Disney, et al). Regardless, it sounds like analysts really like the idea of $2million revenue to Apple if just for the mindshare they're gaining in the process.



That's all I have to say for now, please comment as I'd love to hear some feedback.

Mark

This is of course the first of what I hope to be the beginning of a persistent record of my thoughts, random web crap, internet memes, and a continued dialogue with all who are interested. It is my hope that this become a recorded forum of some of the various discussions between myself and both Real World™ and online friends. Ideally, you should expect posts once or twice a week. Feel free to see pictures at my flickr account. You can find it with a quick google search or by asking me.

Mark