Magic Or Savvy? More Apple Miracles In 2006?

Just in time for the Macworld Hypefest, a Special Report from Business Week designed to sell more copies by mixing and matching fact, rumor, speculation.

The big question? Are there More Apple Miracles in 2006? For those of you who bought AAPL at a price above $70, we hope so.

Business Week is just one of many traditional media news outlets who love speculation as much as fact, rumor as much as news, speculation as much as a good headline.

The latest headline designed to grab your ears and eyes is perfectly timed for Macworld; ”More Apple Miracles in 2006?

In a six part article, Business Week Online fans the flames for Apple and Mac lovers and haters. For example, how can you resist looking for the answer to the question, “More Apple Miracles in 2006?”

I’ve already forgotten the miracles of 2005, and 2004. Maybe it was the iPods. Maybe the switch to Intel. Maybe the hot (literally) PowerPC chips from IBM.

Business Week says, “Surprises or no, Apple and its buzz-generating lineup were certainly a hit with investors in 2005. The stock more than doubled last year, closing on Jan. 6 at $76.13. Trouble is, Wall Street continues to expect more.”

Yep. We’re not waiting around for an encore. We want more, more, more.

Second on the list is the pronouncement, “Just What Apple Needs: Intel.”

Frankly, it’s hard to disagree with that header. But what does Intel bring besides chips? What does Apple do to help Intel (besides buy chips)? Inquiring minds will want to know.

Business Week says, “ For Intel, the rewards are clear. CEO Paul Otellini, in a December interview with BusinessWeek, pointed out that Intel gets a new customer for its chips, ranging from microprocessors for Apple computers to flash memory for the iPod lineup.”

And, “Apple has proved, however, that it brings much more to the table: Innovation that moves whole industries. Indeed, proponents of the switch to Intel chips note that Apple systems debuting this year will be the only hardware capable of running all four popular classes of software—OS X, Java applications, Linux, and Windows at near-native, or optimal, speeds.”

Whoa. Who wrote that? Business Week or Apple’s PR department?

Not only is the iPod Apple’s hottest product and THE gadget of both 2004, and 2005, it’s the reigning kind of accessories in both years and will prove to be so in 2006.

So, I know what you’re thinking. What are “The Latest Add-Ons for iPods.” Isn’t it a coincidence that Business Week’s writers were thinking the same thing?

Finally, someone comes up with a list of cool accessories for the iPod. I was afraid 2006 would come and go without anyone doing that.

It’s a slide show you won’t want to miss. So exciting is it that BizWeek offers a warning: “Some of these new accessories cost far more than you paid for any single iPod. But one way or another, they’re meant to enhance the way you see, hear—and yes, even touch—your beloved player.”

By far the biggest news item from 2005 was Apple’s announcement to dump the steamy chips from IBM and go with something fast and cool from Intel.

That also means all Mac software must be configured, jiggered, tinkered with to run on the new chips. Who could resist an article entitled, “How Goes The Mactel Software?”

Who’s the biggest Mac software daddy besides Apple and Adobe? Microsoft? How’s it going, this change to Intel? Business Week managed to get a Mac Business Unit droid from Microsoft to talk:

“Microsoft has a lot riding on making the transition to Intel as smooth as possible. Moving its Office for Mac application—used by some 8 million people around the world—presents no small challenge.”

Why? Office is 20 years old and has 8-million lines of code. No wonder it takes so long to load.

Since most of us haven’t heard a sliver of anything about that very topic, well, no news is good news, because news is usually not good. Unless you’re Apple’s Public Relations department.

Yep, the PR minions in Cupertino only know how to produce good news and they’ve certainly shove their share over to the news droids at Business Week, who lapped it up faste than Anna Nicole at a Western Sizzler buffet.

Got iPod? Not if you’re in Europe. Business Week explors “The Great European iPod Famine” of 2005. iPods aren’t potatoes. And they’re not for sale everywhere. Here’s why living Back in the USA is a good thing.

“Major retailers in France and Germany started running out of nanos in mid-December, and many are still waiting for fresh supplies...”

And, “Apple did a remarkable job in supply-chain management to get as many iPods to market as it did—and yet it still came up a bit short of demand.”

My favorite title in the whole Business Week lineup of titles designed to pull on your eyeballs is really a tie. “Fast from the Apple Rumor Mill.”

In exchange for a huge PR piece right before Macworld, Apple must have divulged which rumors are true and which are not. Here’s a favorite:

“Did you hear Steve Jobs will unveil an iBook nano?”

Then, to close it off and give Sony and Microsoft a glimmer of hope for 2006, BizWeek buckos come up with the saucy, “How Apple Could Mess Up, Again.”

Of course, very few of the people working at Apple were working at Apple when it messed up last time. When was that? It was a century ago.

Even Business Week says, “Apple’s fortunes have been on the rise for nearly a half-decade now, and they seem to be only gaining steam.”

What’s wrong with that? When asked the question, ‘Can Apple keep it up?’ BizWeek’s Peter Burrows responds with a curt, “I don’t think so.”

Then he sums it up with, “once the technology matures and becomes good enough, industry standards emerge. That leads to the standardization of interfaces, which lets companies specialize on pieces of the overall system, and the product becomes modular. At that point, the competitive advantage of the early leader dissipates...”

Blah, blah, blah, what goes up must come down. Duh.

Still, you’ll be treated to a great dish of Apple news, rumor, speculation, insider knowledge, tips, tricks, facts, inuendo, and a slides show when you Click Here.

Be warned. Everything you read becomes ancient history and obsolete. Tomorrow.

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