Needham

A smartphone race to the bottom

In a turf war between Android and Windows Phone 7, Apple's iPhone could be the winner

"The major event in the [past] quarter," writes Needham's Charlie Wolf in a note to clients issued Friday, "was the successful launch of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's new smartphone operating system."

With so much at stake, he expects Microsoft (MSFT) to compete aggressively with Google (GOOG) for the loyalty of the major smartphone manufacturers: HTC, Samsung, MORE

Mac enterprise sales surged in June

Apple scored its biggest gains in government, big business and the European home market

Given the Mac's tiny share of the worldwide PC market -- roughly 3.5% as of June -- Apple (AAPL) has a lot of room to grow. And grow it did in the second quarter, as a note to clients issued Monday by Needham's Charlie Wolf makes clear.

Using IDC's numbers for calendar Q2, Wolf takes a close look MORE

Apple: A small fish in 3 very large ponds

A veteran Apple watcher raises his price target from $280 to $375 per share

A lot has changed since Needham's Charlie Wolf published his last Apple (AAPL) valuation back in February 2010, and in note to clients issued Monday he rattles off the things that have surprised him most:

Explosive iPad sales. "We forecast that iPad sales would reach 20 million in 2019, the final year in our valuation exercise. iPad sales MORE

The magnetic draw of the Apple Store

London's new Covent Garden store proves once again that Apple can pull in the crowds

Before we talk about numbers, you might want to check out the video at right (and on YouTube here) shot 10 minutes before Apple opened its newest and biggest store, in London's Covent Garden.

This is not London's first Apple Store. In fact, the city already had three others, including one on Regent Street that was, until MORE

Charlie Wolf: How the Mac roared back

Needham & Co.'s senior analyst explains how Apple outgrew the PC market seven fold

Needham's Charlie Wolf was as surprised as anyone when Apple (AAPL) reported that it had sold a record 3.05 million Macintosh computers in its fiscal fourth quarter -- a 16.4% increase compared with just 2.3% growth in the PC market.

The estimate Wolf had filed -- 2.63 million units for the quarter -- was one of Wall Street's MORE

Putting lipstick on Microsoft's pigs

At the end of a long report on the Apple Stores -- and the corner he believes they have turned -- Needham analyst Charles Wolf turned his attention this week to Microsoft (MSFT) and its plans to launch a fleet of company-branded stores of its own, complete with wall-sized digital screens, spaces for free public events and "Guru" bars to deal with customers' software complaints.

Let's hope Steve Ballmer isn't on MORE