Clearly some of it is being kept for Apple’ s periodic acquisitions and to safeguard its supply chain.
But that still leaves an awful lot of cash, enough bail out most a couple of nations.
But, and whisper this quietly, Apple is already passing on some of its wealth.
To its customers.
The latest Mac OS X version cost just £20.99. Windows will cost you 4 times that.
Yet, as Apple’s detractors love to point out, Mac OS X has a much smaller installed base and conventional wisdom suggests that should make it dearer than Windows.
Apple’s iWorks suite is also a bargain compared to Office, and a lot more flexible – thanks to Apple’s Mac App Store you can buy Pages, Keynote and Numbers as standalone packages for just £13.99.
Those prices are being subsidised by money made elsewhere in the business.
Apple has its cash pile because it’s successful. Its products sell because even difficult to please types like me are happy to hand over our money.
It could, and possibly should, donate some to a worthy cause. But the howling of its detractors is unlikely to speed that process up.
