[Swordmaker]

A Business analysts FUD about Apple research spending... complaining that Apple has allowed R&D as a percentage of sales to decline in the past year... despite Apple's increasing R&D spending by 21%. PING!

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[pageonetoo]

They gotta bitch about something. Apple is making inroads into the mainstream, and the windoze crowd were slow to catch on. They were too busy poo-pooing.

OTOH, I sold my stock in January, because I suspected a correction may be due. I started at 13+, saw it split, and then reaped a handy reward for my guessing. My suspicions were realized, but I see no reason why they can't keep up their ascent. The iPod/iTunes connection is making it into every facet of our culture, and now with video and movies, the profit picture is fabulous...

I still have a little while to re-invest, but i'm not sure whether to jump back in... but I did stay in a Holiday Inn!

[Richard Kimball]

Later on in the article, they note that Apple gets the best bang for the buck in R&D. The actual dollars spent on R&D is increasing, it's just not increasing as fast as the profits. They also point out that if Apple tried to increase R&D as quickly as they've increased profits, they'd have a lot of wasted money (Quick! Research SOMETHING!). Research without direction of some sort is pointless. It think Jobs learned his lesson not to let vision outrun technology. Apple stays ahead of the curve now, but not so far ahead that the hardware can't keep up with the design ideas.