I’ve recently come to grips with where this economy is headed, with or without the bailout. And there is no doubt that a bailout bill will stem the imminent collapse of our global financial system. But this bill is not a panacea. The fundamental economic and financial problems will still be there. What the bill will provide us is a temporary perch from which we’ll get a good look at where we are going. And from that perch we’ll get the opportunity to plot a sensible path.

From an Apple fundamentals point of view retail sales will likely suffer in the coming quarters. The reason is simple; consumers are faced with mounting pressures that affect all manner of consumer spending. With climbing unemployment, declining consumer spending, and more restrictive consumer credit, people will be purchasing fewer PCs and personal devices like MP3 players and smart phones.

At the same time I believe this is an unique opportunity for Apple, with zero debt, Apple will be able to capture market share in a way that would be fundamentally impossible for other companies of lesser means. Perhaps this has been the underpinnings to Apple’s hint of a ”future product transition,” during their last earnings conference call by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, that will reduce profit margins, but will have features and be at a price point that will make it impossible for others to compete.

Oppenheimer  - Apple expects 31.5 percent gross margins in the fiscal fourth quarter, impacted in part by a future product transition that “I can’t discuss today.” But the new, unnamed product will continue to have “technologies and features that others can’t match,”

Was Apple prophetic? Did they see and plan for this economic calamity? Was their cash hoarding strategy the first step in the master plan? And then once the economy slips, is the plan to introduce a family of low margin, compelling products, that will simply blow away the competition? As Apple approaches $25 billion in the bank, it would seem they will be uniquely positioned to grab significant portions of both consumer and enterprise PC markets.