What a bloody shame. I saw this article and was hoping that RC would have his gloom and doom wisdom of the day smeared across it, but I guess I'm too quick. I'll just have to wait for later today.

I wonder if any of this has to do with a possible market saturation. In all honesty, even the first gen iPods are still incredibly useful, so once the market is saturated by buyers, they don't have any need to upgrade. I guess that theory pokes a hole right through RC's logic of Apple using poor hardware since even the first gen products are live and well.

A stock drop means one thing: Buy.

I agree, with the recent news of an Intel based system that will be able to run Mac OSX AND Winblows, which will inevitably be a very popular system, it would be wise to buy stock at the lowest price possible. Chances and hopes are that we won't see Apple stock this low again for a while, unless it splits of course.

Wait I'm confused. I thought Sigmatel only provided the controller chip for the shuffle and other companies provided the flash memory. If that's the case, then what does Apple have to do with a decrease in orders of flash memory from Sigmatel? But I'd say its more likely their shortfall is mostly going to be caused by the decrease in flash prices and that obviously has nothing to do with Apple.

O.K. That's it. Apple's doomed. Will the last one out please turn the lights off?

(pre-empting a troll attack)

Sounds like time to buy to me IMNSHO.

I guess I'm confused. The price is dropping across the semiconductor industry for most all chips. Prices for everything from Shuffles to large LCDs are going down. CIBC analyst Daniel Gelbtuch beleves this will translate in to LOWER iPod sales? Seems to me more affordable products could mean higher sales. Seems like their "lower-than-expected sales and resulting price cuts" are as likely the result of competition and a too high price point on the companies part.

The guest post starting with "I guess I'm confused..." yadda yadda was me

The iPod quality problems have come home to roost. Apple is now famous for pricey shoddy merchandize. Check the facts iLemmings:
http://hardware.silicon.com/pdas/0,39024643,39131292,00.htm

The posting quality problems have come home to roost. R. C. Gumby is now famous for pin-headed, shoddy merchandize. Check the facts Micro-Trolls:
http://macvspc.info/

count me OUT! Aaaahhh, there it is. Our resident special needs mouth breather has returned. A day without RC is like a day without pinkeye.

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
The iPod quality problems have come home to roost. Apple is now famous for pricey shoddy merchandize. Check the facts iLemmings:
http://hardware.silicon.com/pdas/0,39024643,39131292,00.htm

The Creative Zen quality problems have come home to roost. Creative is now famous for cheap, shoddy merchandise (notice it is spelled properly). Check the facts zLemmings:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-25920-trying-to-understand-usb-and-creative-Zen-touch.html

EDIT: Ain't Google a hoot!

Apple is so famous for quality problems that we have to be told about it. That makes sense. Just cause nobody has heard about them doesn't mean they aren't famous. Er. Something like that. DOOMED!

The article is garbage, but the 1 million or so posts following it are priceless !

… is that the memory maker's stock lost only .8% and Apple's 2.9%. Wall Street logic …