As I noted here PALM was a screwy trade for me. I am glad I got out. I really want to see what is going to happen to the IV. I am glad I am out of that position ( with a profit no less )

My favorite commentary was here

The deal looks like a loser. Palm gets to add $400 million in debt, gets no new strategic partner, and adds a few people who have as their claim to fame being fomer managers at Apple.

This deal is a loser. Just because you worked at AAPL doesn’t mean you are Steve Jobs. Now if Steve Jobs was on the board……. But really, can Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s former head of hardware save PALM ? I think not. I cannot see any value to this thing.

If you are long, a 50% one time dividend is nice.

Looks like a good trading opportunity will be coming up for AAPL options around the end of the month. The wall street journal is reporting the iPhone will be here 6/29.

Commercials Confirm June 29 Launch Date For Apple’s iPhone

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
June 3, 2007 9:27 p.m.
NEW YORK (AP)–Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and posted on the company’s Web site.

AAPL IV has bounced between 51.79% and 23.34% during the last year. The last big spike was around Jan earnings, then the big drop off. I picked the right stock and direction, but IV came to bite me in the ass. ( Yes, I lost money when IV fell )

AAPL: DAILY 1 YEAR VOLATILITY CHART

Apple has never really held IV’s over 45% for long, and this being summer ( Sell in May , go away ), I think high IV’s will be harder to maintain.

I will look to put on positions starting about the 22nd, and closing out about 10 days later. When IV hopefully drops. I am not betting on the stock price here, I am trying to play IV. I think a lot of people will bid up the price on the options, hoping for a move around the release of the iphone. They may get it, but whatever happens, IV will probably fall.