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Intel, Dell, Microsoft, etc., in contrast, are technology companies.

I can see Intel...they make CPUs, created AGP, USB, etc.  But Dell?  What's the last technology Dell pioneered, designed, created, or innovated with?  All Dell does is take components made by other people, snap them together, and sell them for a low low price.  Apple does more technological innovation and creation than Dell does just by having their own motherboard design and custom ROM.

And Microsoft?  Give me a break; Microsoft doesn't do anything Apple doesn't do.  Ok, so Apple doesn't make as many peripherals as MS does, but Apple's software ingenuity, design, and functionality, hardware ingenuity, peripheral design, etc. all outclass the works of MS by leaps and bounds.

Just because a technology exists in some form or another doesn't mean it is useful, functional, or meaningful to computer users.  Even Apple being able to design a fully functioning experience around other existing technology is far more innovative and pioneering than anything Dell or Microsoft have ever done.

you think 50 Apple stores is making a dent in PC retail sales?  Jesus christ.  for every 1 Apple store there are thousands of BestBuy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, and even Walmart stores selling millions of computers.  Don't forget the thousands of online sites you can buy PCs from.  Dell, Gateway, Alienware, Falcon Northwest...
50 stores?!  WAKE UP!  an average of 1 STORE PER STATE is going to increase market share? 

What about 99%+ of businesses in the USA that use PCs?  What about the 99%+ server marketshare PCs have?  50 stores selling iMacs to old people that are confused by a two button mouse is hardly anything to brag about.

Thank you, your tiny view of the world made my day.

Where did you get your statistics from?  Any braindead sack of pus fanboy can create statistics like yours.  99% server marketshare?  I don't buy that unless you can show me some hard statistics from an un-biased source to back it up.  Maybe there is a 99% server marketshare for non-Apple systems, but certainly not for Windows and x86 systems.  With the power, reliability, and low-cost (especially on the software end) for the XServe, coupled with it's multi-platform interoperability, I think we can expect to see Apple's marketshare in the enterprise server market grow, though.

On the retail end of things, Apple has 50 stores which are making money and selling primarily to former PC users or users without computers.  Apple's online store sells systems like there's no tomorrow; they've had over 1 million sales online.  Then there are places like MacZone, ClubMac, MacConnection, and MacMall which do very well for themselves through online and mail-order sales.  CompUSA does well enough selling Macs, though they could do better (not Apple's fault, really).  Add to that the hundreds upon hundreds of local retailers with both strong online presences and great brick and mortar stores (such as Small Dog), and all of those Best Buys, Circuit Cities, and WalMarts don't look so formidable anymore.  Of course PCs are going to sell more.  I don't think anyone was disputing that fact; given their proliferation, low initial cost, and the stupidity/ignorance of the average consumer, it's rather obvious.  I don't care, though, because of two things; 1) Apple pulls in better profits than the majority of PC builders, and 2) holds on better through tough economic times.  When others are losing money, closing stores, and going out of business these days, Apple manages to hold on, sell more computers and software, and post respectable profits.

By the way, would you mind giving some examples of the type of R&D Apple does for the PC industry? Apple doesn't make video cards, or hard drives, or sound cards. They didn't invent the super drive and the rumored 970 processor that may show up in towers down the road was developed by IBM (a PC company or all things).

Have you been living under a rock the past 19 years?  Apple has done nothing but come up with the ideas mimicked by the PC industry at large, or develops/adopts technologies to improve computing (beyond just making the computers faster) the rest of the industry takes years to grasp, plus creates countless innovations in their software and operating system.  Recent examples include the original and new iMac's level of industrial design, FireWire (and FireWire 800), wireless networking, the Power Mac G3/G4's industrial design, virtually everything from all PowerBooks and iBooks since '98-99, rapid USB adoption, UNIX with a real GUI, Rendezvous, iMovie, iDVD, promotion of DVDs as a recordable medium; need I go on?  I won't deny that the folks on the PC side of the fence have ushered in some innovations and enhancements of their own; USB was developed by Intel (but was going nowhere until Apple adopted it), and many things for 3d gaming graphics originate with PCs, but it's Apple who genuinely strives and innovates on an incomparable magnitude in order to improve the computing experience.  Each individual component of hardware and even software is useless until it is tied into a unified and complete experience and integrates with one another.  It is Apple who continues to innovate and better computing in that respect.

But, then, this is all moot, because some PC wanker with no life will roll by and criticize my "limited world view" and attack Apple and Mac users with passion and zeal, despite his proclamations that Apple is doomed, Macs are insignificant, and he doesn't care about Apple or Mac users one bit.  Well, I don't need to defend myself and other Mac users against you witless fools with nothing better to do than partake in your little bouts of circle-jerk irony, prancing around like the master of the universe trogoldytes you are, spouting your rhetoric while contradictory rhetoric is hurled at you in response, just so you can get yourself off and satisfy your ego in sad little attempts to compensate for those phallic deficiences you desperately try to hide in your charades.

Nor do I need to justify myself to you.  You just don't get it, and never will, and I honestly pity you in your sad little lives if these attacks are what you need to resort to in order to extract meaning from your life.  I have better things to do, and should get back to work on a design which will surely pay for a new 20 GB iPod.

In one sentence you write "Any braindead sack of pus fanboy can create statistics like yours."

Next paragraph you allege facts with no "..hard statistics from an un-biased source to back it up"

Just an observation.

BTW Apple is being sued over the creation of Firewire, it may turn out Apple didn't innovate that technology. Wouldn't that be funny? (and costly).. and "wireless networking" is not an Apple innovation.

Look at this photo of a very old computer:
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Alto.GIF

Monitor on a swivel, keyboard below.. was the imac design inspired by this?.. It's old and crude, but the concept looks a lot like modern imac.

No question Apple has played a part in molding Personl computers into what they are today, but there were countless others too... giving Apple too much credit is silly.

In the words of  Bruce Horn:

"I'm sure some things I remember as having originated at Apple were independently developed elsewhere"

I think thats says it all.

Wow! A monitor that swivels. Hey! I got one of them there things too on my CRT!

The innovation is not in the concept but the design.

I think the forums need a "KILL TROLL" button, anyone else interested in seeing this feature implemented ?

Yes I have also own a PC, speaking of which decided that it didn't want to recognize it's RAM any more.  Amazing a computer that can go from 196Mb of RAM to 32Mb with just one re-start !  Wow what a piece of crap, I'm glad my trusty old G3 doesn't give me any grief.  Sure it costs more but I trust it with all my work, I have a hard time trusting windows just to work for an hour at a time !  Oh goodie thank you windows 2000 I sure have missed that nice blue screen of death since you showed it to me an hour ago.  Shove it Gates and company.


GODZILLA DESTROY ALL TROLLS

Look at this photo of a very old computer:

LOL
what the hell are you on.

from MacNN

"Apple was No. 4 in the US server market with 1.2 percent marketshare" which was an increase from .9%  -and it's also a MacNN typo- Apple is number 5, not number 4.

From MacCentral: "Apple shipped only 1,525 server units." in 2002.

Suck on that Mr. Twisted Guy.

Hey Twisted Guy!

have you heard of google.com?  you can find all kinds of interesting things about Apple like

"The company's U.S. market position rose to 3.7 from 3.4 percent a year ago. Apple's share, though, is smaller than what it was a few years ago.   However, other PC makers fared better in the United States for the first quarter. Dell grew 19 percent to just over 3 million units; IBM grew 2 percent to 577,000 units; and Hewlett-Packard remained steady with 1.1 million units sold. "

"Apple's share of the school computer market has dropped from 37 percent for the 1999-2000 school year, to 30 percent in 2000-01, to 26 percent in 2001-02, according to an annual survey of school purchasing officials conducted by Quality Education Data Inc., a subsidiary of Scholastic Inc."


It doesn't take a genius to know that putting a bigger screen on one of Apples seven computer lines isn't going to help.  For every Apple retail store, there are hundreds of other stores selling cheaper and faster PCs.

I really can't see why anyone's disputing AMD's earlier post, the SEC filing.

It's a quote from Apple, after all. Sure, it's incredibly long, but it's from 'the source'. The difference is that they had to strip it of RDF prior to filing, so it's a little dull. The only poit I could raise with AMD is that it's too long for forums (summarised points are easier to skim, as most of us do) and that it's possible there could be a context issue (although that's unlikely, given the extreme length of the quote).

The information is as accurate as anything can be.

The lawsuits are nothing special. I'd imagine that many large companies attract lawsuits in the US, like large animals attract flies. None of them were of the "US Government versus Microsoft" anti-trust type, so they're nothing to be overly worried about. Most of the ones there looked like ambit claims (correct me on the terminology, but the point stands).

poor analogy- BMW makes improvements to their product line.