[maxprogram]

Hacker News readers who are interested in how share buybacks work and how they can be a very good idea (even in the tech industry) should read up on Henry Singleton & Teledyne:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Earl_Singleton http://observer.com/2003/04/the-brain-behind-teledyne-a-grea...

Think of it as a way to reinvest in the future of your current business without having to actually expand it (which, in the case of a company at Apple's size/stage, would likely be wasted on low-returning incremental investments). Apple returning capital is a good thing -- it's how businesses should work.