Apple(AAPL)

Apple is no longer the dreamer it used to be.

You, your friends, parents, or even grandparents ALL know about it. Apple “is” a cool company. I think so, too. But is it a good company to invest in the long run? I am not so sure now for the following reasons.

Hardware perspective. Apple products have always been expensive, and considered a luxury to own. However, it has changed. The iPad(Wifi, 16G) costs $499. It’s not the price I would’ve expected from Apple. When Asus released its Eee PC 901(8.9" LCD) in 2008, it was priced at $559. Now, you can get a Eee PC 100x(10.1" LCD) for around $300, and 1201N(12.1" LCD)for $479. The price for Apple’s products might not fluctuate that much, but it is extremely difficult to raise price up for any consumer electronics products. And some people said that “Hardware” is not important, Apple is going to gain profit thru the sales of software.

Software perspective. Yes, Doodle Jump, Angry Birds, Fieldrunners, Bejeweled… are very amusing games to play with. I am personally addicted to these games every time I had to wait in line for something. No doubt about it. These games are so creative. But they are not innovated by Apple. They were created by big companies like Capcom, Electronic Arts;smaller companies like Backflip Studios, Gamerizon; or self developer like John E. Hartzog and such. Apple just collects fees and make sure these approved apps don’t crash its system. Google can provide similar service in Android as well. I don’t know who(Apple or Google) is better in terms of software development, but I do know that Google’s OS market share in smartphone is catching up very fast.

Steve’s health condition. He’s got better, but uncertainly still in the air. It is cancer after all.

There’s a Chinese saying “”, basically means that something is more worthy when it is rare or scarce. If everyone owns a LV bag, you bet the price of LV bags will drop to the price of Jansports bags. And you will be able to get LV bags in Wal-mart. Apple products used to be owned by people who were yuppies or bobo. But Apple now seems to be targeting at the mass with lower price. Soon, everyone will own Apple products. I am not saying that Apple will dip from now on. In fact, I think it will be able to produce excellent quarters or years. Good revenue & earnings. But as a dream investor, it is no longer on my list.