10 Ways Apple Could Spend Its $100 Billion

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Early this morning Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer took the stage to explain what Apple will do with its massive cash reserve of $100 billion. Yes, you read that correctly: Apple has nearly $100 billion in cold crisp cash chilling in a bank somewhere collecting interest. When Steve Jobs was alive, he decided to not touch the company's paper, instead letting it stack to the perfect height. However, now that the company is under new management, the investors and top execs are looking to make a move. So what did Apple decided to do?

It decided to do a dividend payback which would reward Apple's shareholders with some dough of their own, and a share buyback which will have the company, as the name implies, buying back some of its own stock. Neither of which surprised many analysts. However, we think Apple could do some really, really interesting things with all that cash. Like what? Well, like this…

Build its Own Factories

The black cloud obstructing Apple's otherwise sunny situation has been the news of events coming from China's Foxconn factory. It has been said elsewhere that Apple should do something ensure that the factory workers get proper healthcare and adequate work environments. However, as Fast Company points out, Apple doesn't own Foxconn, and Apple is not its only customer, HP and Dell also work with Foxconn. Instead, we think Apple should take it back to the early days and build its own factories overseas. Instead of buying machinery for Foxconn to build its products, it can buy those same machines for itself, and ensure that the workers are being treated fairly.

Acquire Twitter

Apple loves Twitter. That's no secret. The micro-blogging platform is the only social network worked into the frame work of an Apple OS, Twitter was, and is, a hot property that a lot of larger companies have thought about acquiring. Google offered anywhere from $2.5 to $10 billion, and Facebook tried to buy the company in 2008 for $500 million. Though it's been seen as a company in disrepair, a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article showed that the company has finally set itself up to main a few dollars and is on pace to to bring in $260 million in 2012. Since Ping didn't work out, it would make sense for Apple to acquire a social network that people will actually use.

Found Apple University

Online learning has gotten a major co-sign in the recent years by big-name universities like M.I.T. and Stanford offering courses for free on the Internet. Apple is interested in the transformation of the country's education system. That's evident from its attempt to reform the textbook business with its iBooks app and from the wide selection of podcasts and video lectures in the iTunes Store. We think Apple should go one step further and launch an online university. Image a school that combines the best of Apple's technology with new-age educators like the good people from the Kahn Academy, a company co-signed by Bill Gates that offers schools personalized tutoring services over the Internet. It can be a serious game changer.

Start a Record Label and Movie Studio

Some independent artists already treat Apple's iTunes Store as a record label in that it handles the distribution of their music. Why not go all the way and launch iTunes Records? The service could be the music version of Amazon's Kindle Single service that gives independent authors the ability to have their books edited and published digitally. We've seen artists like Joe Budden and Lil B try the all-digital approach with Amalgam Records; image that on a much larger scale with promotion and performances held at Apple's own stores. We know, we know: If it does start a label, it will probably get sued by the Beatles label, Apple Records, so, Apple should just it outright.

On the movie front, we don't see why Apple couldn't get its YouTube on and help independent filmmakers produce their projects. A main complaint about the short film market is that there's no place to see them. The only time many people hear about all the live action and animated short films is at the Academy Awards. Apple could change all of that by not only giving these artists a worldwide platform, but by helping them bring their ideas to fruition.

Sponsor a Race Team

The last time Apple was involved in motorsports was in 1980 when it sponsored a 935 Porsche for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Take a look above at that awesome livery. How sick would it be if Apple made a return to auto racing. The company would fit right in in Formula 1 with its highly technical race cars and complete secrecy. Or, if they wanted to partner with automaker for another Le Mans entry, that would work, too. Apple Racing 2013. Let's go.

Start an Airline

No one likes the airline industry. People merely tolerate it as a necessary evil, like Qdoba when Chipotle's not available. If there's an industry ripe for a complete reformation it's the airline industry. Sure, Jet Blue and Virgin Airlines are both cool and take some of the drudgery away from air travel, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. We envision an airline where everything from the seating positions to the method of payment and check-in is re-envisioned to be better and smoother. If nothing else, the Apple Air terminal will be beyond amazing, with iPads everywhere, numerous dock connectors to charge your devices, and free WiFi.

Acquire Lytro

For the first time a while, the hottest new gadget doesn't have an Apple logo on it. It's the Lytro camera. A device that allows users to adjust and edit the lighting and focus of their pictures after the photo has been taken. It's a revolutionary concept that will undoubtedly get better as time goes on. At the same time, smartphone cameras are improving by leaps and bounds. To keep up, Apple should acquire the company and work to implement the technology into all its iDevices. Let's see HTC try to top an iPhone with a Lytro camera built in.

Buy 4G Spectrum, Start MVNO

This idea has been kicked around ever since Apple introduced the iPhone. Steve Jobs once hoped to start his own wireless network back in 2005 using unlicensed WiFi spectrum. With such a popular device (and now the iPad), wouldn't it make sense for Apple to buy a wireless company like, say, T-Mobile? No, not really. Apple owning a wireless company would put it in competition with global partners like Orange in the UK. However, Jean-Louis Gassee of the UK's The Guardian brought up a great point: Why not buy spectrum space from various wireless carriers and start a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). Essentially, a MVNO acts as a wireless carrier, but operates over other company's infrastructure. Think about Virgin Mobile or 7-Eleven's own wireless network, 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless. If a convenience store can have its own wireless company, then why can't Apple?

Acquire an Island Nation, Call it iLand

When it came out that Apple's stock price hit $500 a share, it's valuation at the time of $416 billion made the company more valuable than Norway. With $100 billion in the bank, Apple could undoubtedly snatch up a small nation, dub it iLand, create its own laws and taxes, and move all its operations there. The trip to iLand could be a pilgrimage of sorts of the Apple faithful. We're only partially joking here.

Clone Steve Jobs

Duh. Steve Jobs 2.0.