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> For that we should listen to Apple telling us directly (which they have repeatedly done), not just check some field on their govt filings.

Between trusting a company on what they claim and what they actually report, I'd go with what they report. That's what's legally binding. Not that the final result is much different, cash isn't an obstacle in whatever Apple wants to do (and hasn't been in quite some time).

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You aren't listening. You're taking a field on a report which means X rather than Apple's statement about their Y. They are NOT THE SAME THING. You're simply looking up the WRONG STATISTIC from an official source and saying it trumps A DIFFERENT STATISTIC from another source.

Financial reports use phrases that sound like common sense things but actually have precisely defined meanings that are not equivalent to what they sound like they mean. Basically it's excluding a great deal of Apple's liquid assets because they don't fall under a specific definition.

No sense in arguing over something that is easily accessible (see Note 2 to the financial statements): http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/00011931251023...

Total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of 9/25/2010 = $51.011 billion.

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