Well, since I have a lot of Apple stock, I'm happy, as usual, to see it go up, but I would love to think that this is more than a bubble caused by a quickly dissipated rumor.

As far as sales number go, I'm hearing two distinctly different things. One is that the "halo effect" is overwhelming the "Osborn effect", and that cpu sales are doing very well, because most consumers don't know or care about the switch. Or two, that Apple's cpu sales are taking a huge hit because of it.

The first would propel Apple's stock comfortably above 50, possibly to 55. The other would move the stock to 40 or below.

It's going to be difficult to wait it out through September unless we get some numbers soon.

I wonder how this would work and I speculate how Google would integrate iTunes into their offering.

Perhaps Google would offer iTunes through something similar to their Adwords/Adsense program. That would allow Apple to build a presence on numerous websites. Google would then get a referral from Apple for each song that leads to a sale. If this is how it will work, it will lead to more iPod sales which in turn will continue to drive the "Halo effect" with an end result of increased Mac sales.

That's just me speculating. It will be interesting to see what happens with this potential partnership.

I assumed something like that, that searching for a band name/lyric/song title would give you links to the iTMS as well as the actual hits. Much like the AdWords, but more prominently displayed.

I've not heard of this rumour, but I quite fancy the idea. A couple of weeks ago I searched for info on Cocoa programming on Google and at the top was a picture and link to a book within the Google Print section. I hadn't heard of Google Print at the time, so went and had a look at the book. I think this would be their most ideal method in selling tunes. Have a itunes.google.com address and have the top hitting result appear on google.com.

edit: Found a result which shows a book at the top: Google Search for Terry Deary

I sincerely doubt that Joe Public knows and/or cares about what processor is in the consumer mac that will replace their PC. I don't expect that this would cause pause for anyone related to the halo effect.

The only people I imagine caring are mac/pc fanatics/power users. Myself, as a business owner, I will buy a computer if and when we require one - and it won't be a PC.

As a personal user, in the know regarding the processor change, sure I might chose to wait and see what the Intel mac will offer. But I still don't see the average consumer (the majority) knowing what a PowerPC is or what it means to them to even ask. Let alone investigate the processor roadmap for the Mac that they are purchasing to complement their iPod.

It doesn't have to be the majority. It just has to be enough to lower sales numbers sufficiently to make Apple's advances halt. If Apple's expectation of $3.5 billion comes true this quarter, that could be enough to drop the stock. If it is around $3.7 billion, that could be enough to raise it.

Unfortunately, investors today expect a company to beat the street, not meet expectations. This is what happened to Dell. They forecast further in advance than Apple does, so they have had to lower expectations that they set two quarters ago. Apple also lowered expectations for last quarter, then blew through it. This quarter they have also set low expectations, but the street isn't buying it, for the most part at this time. But if it proves to be true, the stock might plunge.

If this Google-Apple deal is real it will help for now, but the stock might fall back again in a few days. That's what happens on this type of news. It might rise to 49-50, but profit taking would drop it back to 46-47.

The rumored deal isn't in enough detail to tell us anything useful. Assuming it's real. Hopefully it is, and they will announce it in a day or two to keep the momentum up.

Then it has to show that it will actually increase revenues rather that merely be for show. It might increase page hits for Google, but will people who haven't been been buying from iTunes buy, or will it primarily be the same people coming to the iTunes site from another direction?

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Apple announce its iTunes partnership with Google? Or maybe something else?

I know that this is being way too critical, but this is not specifically a rumor. It is a regurgitation of an analysis of a rumor.

Anyway, regarding the rumor, I would love to see a Google/Apple/Phone Company triumvirate develop to push standards away from MS "standards" and away from RIAA pressures.

Google is of course in a big war with MS - so is Sony and it is only a matter of time before MS buys itself into content beyond MSNBC. Even with the iPod halo effect MS doesn't have to worry about switchers in the short term. Like Rome, even if it falls eventually it can buy its way into other industries with time to spare.

I just wonder if Apple can give Google enough advantage over MS to make it worth their while.

I don't know, but I posted this on another thread.

http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatc.../08/15.1.shtml

The MS/Google war has really been heating up and this (if true) is just one more aspect of it.

So far, I see Google getting more out of this than Apple. While I can see Google getting more page hits, and thus more AD bucks, as well as being paid for redirection to the iTunes site, I'm not convinced that it will result in a significant increase in iTunes sales.

MS announced some time ago that they were leaving the MSNBC business. I haven't kept track of that though.