Apple Has More Cash Holdings than US Government

According to a BBC article, Apple has more accessible funds than the United States Goverment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/technology-14340470

That is some amount of money though. The article effectively asks the question "what does Apple need the money for? What are they going to do with it?"

They aren't going to do anything with the money. There is no place to invest it. Google had the same problem. They decided to try the cell phone business. I didn't hear much about that after it was announced.

Why is there no place to invest? The answer is that there is under consumption. That means that the people don't have the money to purchase produced products, so why produce them? They will end up in the 99 cent store. It's very simple, if there is no demand, why manufacture?

So, whilst it is good to have the finances they have what good is money if you can't do anything with it?

I just clicked on the link i posted. Is it obvious i posted the post earlier from my iPhone?

It's always good to have money, even if it stays in a money market for low interest. Why do you have a fascination with rich peoples' money?

I don't really. I saw this article, thought it was interesting and thought i'd share.

Ok, thanks for sharing.

Non-mobile version if anybody cares:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14340470

What could Apple do with Barnes and Noble?

Book stores are on their way to becoming obsolete.

I think it could be good to take advantage of the current position Barnes and Noble has. If they buy in soon they can encourage the sale of more Apple products.

I agree with Don2007, Book stores are definitely on their way to becoming obsolete but with the like of Kindle becoming quite a big hit interest in eBooks i would imagine is booming to a certain extent. For Barnes and Noble to eventually focus on the technology market a bit more* would allow Apple to reach out to more customers.



*Barnes an Noble, while a well known name, don't appear to have any stores in the UK...if they do then i am so far yet to see any so my comment is based on what i believe to be true.

I can't see a reason to spend the amount of cash that would be necessary to buy out Barnes and Noble, especially if it is being used exclusively as a retail outlet for their devices. Apple already has a number of retail outlets, as well as having other companies(BestBuy, Target, Walmart, etc) selling their stuff. The only reason I could see to them buying it out is for access to Barnes and Nobles e-books department, which would be small fish. They could open up their own system, most likely for around the same amount or less, and have complete control over it(a much more Apple like idea).

Netflix on the other hand I could see them picking up. Unlike Barnes and Noble, Netflix is currently on the up climb, where as Barnes and Noble is going down hill. Replacing iTunes VOD services with Netflix's would be a huge improvement, and would result in Apple having a better delivery platform.

I have doubts that Apple will purchase either company. Instead I think Apple will invest it in building their own similar product to an existing, or come out with something entirely new, that is not a simply a new device(IE Software or Services).

Also, maybe they could spend a small amount of that in rebuilding iTunes from the ground up so its not so crappy? Just a thought

Could Apple actually afford to buy a small country for Apple zealots to move to now? It would be a land of turtlenecks, Starbucks coffee, and Apple products. PC devices would be illegal and being caught with one punishable by deportation.

I suppose you could say that to a certain extent Apple has enough wealth to take some considerable chunk of the US if it wanted to.

I'd be fine with selling them California...