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A Standing Ovation (11/16/99)
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The quality of stardom is a funny thing. Sometimes it's obvious and loud; some stars you can recognize as stars when they first appear on the scene. Steve Jobs, for example, has been stealing scenes with his unique mercurial quality since long before he joined the AtAT cast. The iMac is another good example; ever since the public got its first peek at the Translucent Wonder, the press went wild and the iMac was skyrocketed to stardom months before it even made any in-store appearances.
But other times stardom is much subtler, and a cast member slowly blossoms and asserts itself as a certain special something. Take AAPL. Apple's stock has been around for years and years-- long before AtAT, and when it first joined our cast we didn't give it much screen time. After all, what's dramatic and entertaining about high finance, unless maybe it's intertwined with a steamy affair, a Russian count with amnesia, and a murder conspiracy between long-lost twins? But over time, AAPL's story evolved into a gripping sub-plot all on its own, growing from a low of under $13 a share a couple of years ago to a recent high of over $97. And slowly, the critics on Wall Street began to take notice, and rewarded AAPL with favorable write-ups known as "upgrades." Oh, sure, there's been the occasional bad review, but overall, AAPL is a hit with the critics.
In fact, the latest positive review is in; investment bank ABN AMRO has just started to follow AAPL's career, according to a MacWEEK article. (The article lists ABN AMRO as "Chicago-based," but faithful viewer Joost van de Griek says it's a Dutch bank.) And that coverage has started with a bang: a rating of "outperform" and a one-year target price of $115 per share. Analyst Jonathan Ross called Apple's shares "cheap" compared to those of its competitors (please-- we prefer the term "value-priced") and stated that "no PC maker is better positioned with consumers to take advantage of large opportunities in the emerging device and home networking markets." Bravo, AAPL! Take another bow...
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SceneLink (1916)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 11/16/99 episode: November 16, 1999: Sears is thinking about getting out of computer sales entirely-- now why would they do a thing like that? Meanwhile, AAPL continues to enjoy its stardom, as yet another analyst initiates coverage with a positive rating, and Presidential candidate Al Gore falls flat on his face while addressing a Microsoft crowd; could Steve have done better?...
Other scenes from that episode: 1915: Just Chuck 'Em All (11/16/99) Surprise! Reportedly, Sears isn't doing very well with its re-entry into the whole Apple reseller thing. When we read that at Think Secret, you could have knocked us over with a feather. We know, we know-- we've been hard on Sears in the past here at AtAT, given the sorry state of affairs at our local store, but given the marked improvement we witnessed during our last visit, we really thought things were 100% fixed and ready to rock... 1917: "I Also Hate Windows." (11/16/99) Wow, we got a lot of feedback on our off-the-cuff suggestion that Steve Jobs run for President. The vast majority of that mail violently opposed any such undertaking, on the grounds that it would leave Apple high and dry. But think, people: Steve managed to run Apple without ever giving up his CEO post at Pixar...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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