actually, i think apple will have a tougher time in the future. android phones have closed the gap sufficiently to the iphone to make apple either lose market share and/or erode their margins.

maybe they'll be able to surprise with future products. although many people have argued against a TV, i think it does make sense for them and could introduce a new line of products with decent margins and regular 'upgrade' cycles.

Or make a huge, non-core acquisition? They need to do something with all that cash

maybe they can buy a chunk of the music/film industry and make it apple exclusive

At the height of the financial crisis in the US, I bought Apple shares at $90ps, sold them earlier this year when they hit $660ps (should of waited a few days, it peaked at $700ish if I remember correctly )... personally though I would not buy any of the shares you put in your poll as they are pretty much only going to keep static with the odd rise and fall... Facebook is the exception and I would never go near a social networking share ever.

I must prefer Aviation, Entertainment, Financial, Insurance, Nutritional (Nestlé and the like) Pharmaceuticals and Telecommunications. I am currently looking out for Construction and Energy options.

The bears bot a spanking today with Apple rising 7.5% today, 1000 must be in sight over the next 12 months, it's a huge bargain at today's prices.

I sincerely doubt it, Apple are honestly no longer innovative, I mean the iPad Mini? they are following a trend rather than setting one in that instance as it was something Steve Jobs allegedly never wanted but Apple had to provide to prevent products like the Kindle stealing market share.

Lets not forget that Android phones are catching up and in many cases surpassing the iPhone both hardware and software wise, the only people that don't see this are Apple fan boys that have too much money to spend.

The only way that Apple's share price will go up to $1,000 is if they release an Apple TV (an actual TV not the current box offering).

Then again I could be completely wrong and the BRIC countries Apple expansion creates continued stronger growth (which is highly likely). Like I said previously in the thread, I don't pay much attention to Tech companies anymore and I could be completely wrong but it is just my view.

Take a look at the trends in thepast year Samsung global market share went from 20 to 30% Apple was pretty close to stable at near 14.5% reason was Apple products are unafforsable in the majority of the world. Apple will need to lower the price to stem back this trend so at the current price they are massively overpriced.

Add to this Apple have needed to copy Samsung with the issuing of the mini iPad where previously they stated there was a zero market for a device of that size.

Clearly Samsung have it figured out and Apple are scrambling to save face

Apples profit margin is higher by a huge margin , first they sell a phone , then they sell loads of apps. It's a very clever model. Strip out cash & share price reflects more if a boring utility rather than a company with room to grow, people doubted Apple at $10 at $50 & at $500. Many institutions can't buy shares that don't pay a dividend, there is huge pent up demand for the biggest tech co in the world .

Apple lost once already betting on own software + hardware.
They were setting a certain price floor and that made certain markets virtually inacxessible for them. Same thing might repeat - lower market share leading to less support from developers, unless they figure out how to make lower tier products for the emerging economy so they may stay relevant as the platform and not just gadget maker. Nokia (and Motorola before Nokia) have demonstrated how easy it is to fall from the cliff in the consumer market.

The only time I ever doubted Apple was when Jobs left. He was the vision as even the NeXT clearly showed (no other workstation at the time had PS to the display, LaTeX, Ethernet built-in AND a laser printer all in a sexy black box). There were so many bits ahead of their time with the NeXT, though the Apple LaserWriters were first in the workstation grade of printers, the NeXT really brought a whole new class to the quality of the output with the PS fonts...but it was Jobs really pushing for these things well before anyone thought folks would pay for them. The Ethernet was what told me he understood where computing was going as I had been enjoying the internet for a number of years before then and couldn't imagine a computer without a network.

This is not to say that Apple won't succeed in selling products and making lots of money, but I do think that it's not going to be a leader in technology anymore. If the Quadra was any measure of what the company is like without him, well, I'd short it and hope for the best. I sold most of my stock that I got back in the 90s last year just before he died.

Amazon is the pick of the lot, but I'd hold for now since the tax-free days may be coming to an end in the US and, when that happens, they're going to take a hit in sales. Even so, they're hard to beat as even for folks like myself who prefer to give local business the sales, shopping at 4am with no tax and free shipping with a greater selection is a convenience that wins even if you have to pay the tax.

And Facebook? At some point, folks are going to get tired of it and move on no matter how much they 'innovate'. Why anyone bought into their stock I don't understand, but maybe I'm just a bit bitter about all the hype about 'social' media driven by a bunch of new media whores who wouldn't know an rj-45 cable if it were strangling them.

I would invest my money in a series of index funds and not single companies. Especially true when said companies are not paying dividens.

As Facebook is cheap (and probably risky) I think my chances would be better there to triple my money before the others....unless the others split --which is not likely.

Facebook is not cheap on any valuation model......if it was priced like apple it would be around 6 usd

My point is not about the valuation of the company but about the cost per share.

I would still invest my money in index funds regardless of the price.

I think that they would still be OK with a smart-phone market-share of 20% while maintaining their 40-ish% profit-margin while the 80% of the market fights for the scraps.
HP, Dell, Acer beat Apple in PC and notebook sales volume and you get the latest processors, more RAM for less money from them.
Yet, Apple absorbs most of the profit in that market with products that come to the market later, with not-so uptodate hardware sold at a premium.

The value of FB is in the datacenter-know-how, and how to scale a PHP-app ;-)
I don't know if that is worth a lot so that it's justified to go public with it...

I distinctly remember when, after years of being ridiculed for being an Apple user, carrying my Wall Street Powerbook was no longer a stigma and I was sad that I was no longer an elite niche computer user. They have good products and I understand why people pay the premium for them but, over time, and without Jobs, that will probably change. That iPhone maps disaster would never, ever happened had Jobs still been at the helm. He may have been a total bastard, but he cared about the products and the company.

If datacentre and scalability know-how was that valuable, I'd be listed on the Nasdaq. I'm still outraged that they bought and moved into the Sun campus in Palo Alto. All they're selling is eyeballs and once those eyeballs get bored of posting their relationship status daily, there won't be much left other than the hum of machines not doing much. Look at Pintrest....a collage for girls planning their weddings and wish lists for their dream homes. It's like rubbernecking inside a high school cafeteria. The next thing will be along soon.

I think more and more people will start using apple computers, its just a matter of getting used too and paying a premium for there machines, but the way things look they had there peek, even if they go back to 700$ there's a limit how often people will upgrade to the latest edition !

Facebook is just allot of hot air !! (i guess a heck lot) which might have a short term spike but long term will be amongst "psion, palm, tamagotchies and so on!!

Cost per share is irrelevant , apple could split their shares 10 or 100 times , the value of the company stays the same.

Had you invested your money in the index 10 years ago , v a friend in Apple, your friend would have about 70 times more money!

i know one guy who is now a millionaire because he invested in apple at the right time!

Well 2000 shares @ 5 usd would have done the trick, of course that was about 6000 chf at the time! Not even a big punt! I bet his friends thought he was an idiot at the time!