Barron's Online - Beyond iTunes

Barron's Online - Beyond iTunes "The fuss over iTunes has distracted investors from focusing on the troubles in Apple's core business. Apple sells most of its computers to three markets: educational institutions, creative professionals and consumers. Business in the first two categories remains extremely soft. The lackluster economy, a severe advertising downturn and the implosion of many Web-based businesses has weakened the creative category. In education, Apple is losing market share to Dell at a time when the severe financial straits of state and local governments is forcing schools to trim information-technology budgets. The consumer sector, aided by healthy demand for the iPod, has been Apple's strongest market. Even there, though, it struggles to hold market share. Apple's current-generation hardware runs slower and costs more than comparable boxes running microprocessors from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices."