Well put, I think that Apple has been working on this for months and they have a pretty good idea of what they're doing. They have worked out a very conservative amount of money to give back, and still have plenty to keep in the warchest for any R&D or M&A. With $55 billion around, they could outbid Microsoft on any acquisitions that they want (I think MSFT has close to $40 in their chest, but don't quote me on that). And before you mention that Apple is not known for acquisitions, they're also not known for buy-backs and dividends; Tim Cook might be shaking things up how Apple is doing this from a business perspective