Well, guess what, lately we've all had a few more dots to link together and it really hit me hard: Apple is indeed after world domination, it's no funny crackpot joke!

And believe you me, they are going to do it – simply because they've got something nobody else does: hardware and software! Other companies have software OR hardware. No time to go deeper on that but it's easy to see how that plays.

Apple has taken advantage of that edge and turned it into an Eco-system – the Apple Eco-system.

They will not spend their 18B$ buying Sony out [or merging with it] because they don't need to.

This is really the reason why we have come to see so many seemingly desperate attacks on AAPL, biased media taking every opportunity to take a jab at Apple. I believe that indeed AAPL is being thoroughly attacked not just by this so-called media but on other fronts too. They are scared sh**less of what's right now unfolding before their own eyes.

It doesn't take a genius to realise what's Apple underlying far reaching plan. World domination, of course, is a jokey way to put it. But I won't be surprised when AAPL is at $600 in a year's time, when it is quite evident what's going on.

AAPL is the next GOOG, enough said. The only thing standing against it is a stock market crash, a dollar currency crash, the US+Israel starting a war against Iran that somehow might affect the US economy negatively. Otherwise, unless Apple stumbles over their own shoelaces, it's quite a straightforward thing.

I actually lost my iPhone about a month ago- a devastating event to be sure, but made even more so when I remembered all of the sensitive contact information that is stored on my device (I've worked in politics and high tech, so my address book is full of cell phone numbers and email addresses belonging to many very recognizable individuals). I called AT&T to see if they could remotely delete the address book, and what they told me is that all of this info is stored on the SIM card, so when they disable the phone service, the SIM card is locked along with the data on it. This isn't quite a "remote kill," but still pretty good nonetheless.

John

Here's the analysis: A company that makes niche products that appeal to maybe 10% of a given market (iPods excluded of course) at a premium price point, will never dominate that market. The fanboys constantly predicting world domination in PCs or phones are the ones that don't get it. AAPL can't gain huge market share in those spaces because of the premium prices needed to maintain its margins. Increasing volumes would lower margins – it may also have the unintended effect of pushing the core hipster doofus demographic away. The Motorola RAZR was cool when it came out, but less cool when every housewife in America had one. Same thing with AAPL – if everyone had a Mac or an iPhone, AAPL would become Dell: a provider of commodity products with no "cool factor," which, lets face it, is why most of you are with AAPL to begin with.

It's amazing how many of you lack an understanding of the wireless business. The 8GB iPhone is a $400 device with no subsidy, plus the additional $1400+ commitment for a 2-year contract with data plan. That's beyond the means of a large % of people. The revenue sharing requirements also limit the number of potential wireless partners. AT&T was obviously willing to take on the iPhone as a loss leader for the cachet, apparently Verizon wasn't, and T-Mobile's network is a joke compared to AT&T. So currently, the iPhone is limited to one GSM network in the U.S. representing maybe 40% of total wireless subscribers. Unless Jobs cuts prices dramatically, I don't see any realistic way that they get to the 10 million target while maintaining margins. And what do you think will happen to the stock if the huge iPhone growth engine fails to materialize? A 40% decline will be a fond memory.

There's nothing wrong with being a provider of niche products with a dedicated customer base. It's the smug assertions of manifest destiny and the air of entitled superiority of the Mac-olytes that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. The same claims of AAPL domination have been made since the 80's. Don't underestimate the size of the population that detests AAPL and all of you latte-swilling slackers.

I'd rather own a company's stock where mkt share upside is huge and it's growing rapidly, compared to another company's stock that is maxed-out on mkt share, with minimal upside and marginal to no growth. Dell and HP are not growing share like Apple, not even close, and this has been the case for quite some time now. The iPhone, in less than a year, and in very limited markets, has seen awesome mkt share gains in the smartphone arena. Leopard, likewise, tons of upside, and is growing share incredibly due to its presence of various Apple platforms.

It's about mkt share growth and upside… and AAPL has tons of it. And, when they are dominant in a segment, as with the iPod, they are innovative enough to evolve it, making it even more desirable (the iPod Touch is not even seen as an mp3 player per se). Can't say MSFT did this with windows, to the contrary actually (see Vista).

For two years, over 8 or so quarters, AAPL has been growing earnings consistently, averaging 60+% YOY growth. AAPL has a current PE of less than half of this proven growth trend! When one does the math on the deferred iPhone income and sees what's going to happen to EPS in coming quarters, the future is brighter than anything already experienced.

Apple is gradually cracking the corporate world; and today's news helps in this regard. Companies, even big ones like Sun, moving to Macs is the beginning of bigger things to come…

Come on Fortune, if your going to pay a guy to write nasty things about Apple and the iPhone the least you could do is buy him one so he can sort of know what he's talking about first hand.

Considering RIMM is the "one to beat", I'd say AAPL is getting stomped. BADLY.

You know you want an iPhone, gamer.

Any of you who are inclined to denigrate the iPhone (or other products, whether by Apple or not) clearly don't get it when it comes to ease of use in interfaces.

One place that Apple has shone for years is in simplifying interfaces to make it more accessible and easier to use for people who are not inclined to want to tweak every last little corner of the device. The vast majority of people fall into this category.

I and millions of other people are perfectly happy to get in our cars and turn the key and drive down the road with nary a thought about carburator mixtures and 50,000 other possible-to-be-tuned widgets under the hood of the car. Similarly, we are happy to use simplified devices in the computer and technology realm as well. (Personally, I can handle techie toys and configuration ad nauseum – I just have no interest in doing so.)

You may sneer at them all you like as 'toys'. But in the mass market 'toys' of this nature win…

Actually, there are Fortune 500 companies which

already host secure email and company webpages

on iPhones aplenty. I know one corporate

multi-campus environment that has literally

*thousands* of iPhones in operation, merrily

replacing Blackberries en masse. All purchased

on the AT&T corporate account program, all

doing company business with Cisco VPN routing

just fine. Sounds like the author needs a

new IT department.