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Shrewd Investors, Maine (11/11/02)
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Investing's a tricky business these days, as we're sure you're all well aware. If you're anything like us, you've watched your 401(k) balance drop sharply over the past year, while your personal stock portfolio looks something like a train wreck that got fed through a wood-chipper. More and more, it's looking like the wisest investment one can make these days involves stuffing wads of cash into a mattress and standing guard with a loaded shotgun and a handful of amphetamines. But what if we told you there was an investment out there that's still generating a whopping sixteenfold return?
Just one word. Are you listening? iBooks.
No, seriously-- consider Maine, who chucked some $25 million at Apple to buy 36,000 iBooks to provide a laptop to every middle school student and teacher in the state. That deal isn't even a year old, yet, and delivery of the goods only started a few months back... and yet what do we hear? According to Computerworld, Maine schools have just been granted $400 million in free software ("the latest technology learning tools") from Electronic Data Systems Corp. because the state's moving forward with its iBook-equipped Learning Technology Initiative. That's something like a 1600% rate of return in less than a year. Not bad, hmmmm?
Now, granted, scoring $400 million in free software isn't quite the same thing as being handed $400 million in cash-- and we're not entirely sure how much moolah you'd get if you listed $400 million worth of EDS's "Product Life-cycle Management" software on eBay. (Sounds strictly Snoresville to us.) Still, though, in this economy, you're lucky to walk away from any investment with an intact credit rating and most of your vital organs still in place, so when all's said and done, we think Maine came out of this pretty well.
By the way, if any of you $999 iBook customers suddenly get a call from Ross Perot (he apparently started EDS, as noted by AppleLinks) offering you $16,000 worth of free software, you'll let us know, right?
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SceneLink (3832)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 11/11/02 episode: November 11, 2002: Apple grabs top ratings for technical support in a PC World subscribers' survey. Meanwhile, the company moves the grand opening of its Emeryville store from this coming Saturday to "soon," and the Mighty State of Maine appears to have scored a lot of free software after having shelled out the ducats for middle school iBooks...
Other scenes from that episode: 3830: Shilling For Apple Support (11/11/02) "The best-backed computer may not be a PC." So sayeth PC World in a recent article pointed out by faithful viewer agent86; guess who they're talking about? Yessirree, folks, PC World polled nearly 30,000 subscribers about their experiences with computer manufacturer technical support, and Apple wound up "rated higher than any other computer maker."... 3831: Emeryville: Party On Hold (11/11/02) Heads up, Bay Area AtAT fans: it's time to put your groove thangs on the back burner and let 'em simmer for a while. We know we just mentioned last Friday that the Apple Store Bay Street in Emeryville was slated for a November 16th grand opening, but apparently Apple has suffered some sort of a setback...
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