[D.L. @ Nov 15th 2007 3:33PM]

So, it's legal to cheat and lie as long as you do it on the up side of the bubble? I guess that's what the Enron guys did wrong.

[Josh L @ Nov 15th 2007 4:17PM]

D.L., I'd like you to meet my friend, American Legal System.

[D.L. @ Nov 15th 2007 4:22PM]

If you don't mind me saying, your 'friend' is a bit insane.

[rip @ Nov 15th 2007 4:39PM]

What bubble would that be? The one where Apple went from zero iPods to 150 million? The one where Apple increased Mac market share from 2.5% to ~6%? The one where Apple increased revenues from a few billion a year to a few billion a month?

Or are you suggesting that Apple is committing fraud and cooking the books like Enron.

Reality check: Apple largely sells physical products and has physical inventory, unlike Enron which was largely involved in derivatives commodity trading. What that means is that all you have to do is look around and see if Apple stores are crowded and moving merchandise and if you see more people with Apple products to check if Apple is making more money. About the only thing you can do is play with your AR, and that is largely legal.

The basis of this suit was that shareholders/investors were harmed. Considering that Apple share price has increased about 1000% in the past few years, due to great management, it's hard to argue they were harmed.

Please get a clue before you post.

[Chris @ Nov 15th 2007 6:55PM]

rip - Apple did not account for backdated stock options. It's fraud and it is cooking the books. It is different from Enron in as much as it did not sink the company. But it is still wrong. That is what DL was saying. Unless you think that fraud is okay as long as nobody gets hurt.

By the way, there are quite a few ways for a company like Apple to 'cook the books' other than playing with A/R.