New FASB rules for sales of products like the iPhone & Palm Pre

This seems to make sense & simplify the accounting as the "product" that is a bundle of software & hardware obviously has to work together or either part is essentially worthless.

From WSJ:

Currently when a company sells devices like these, it gets the cash up front, but can only book the revenue and profits from the sale over time, typically over the length of a product's life.

Under the new rules, companies will be able to book much more of the revenue when the product is sold. A company that has strong sales in a quarter would likely record higher profits under the new rules than the old. The old standard helped smooth out the differences between good and bad quarters.

And:

A person familiar with the thinking of a FASB task force that approved the accounting switch earlier this month said it was "trying to align the accounting better with what the economics of the transaction were.

The new rule is expected to pass Wednesday. I'm calling this now - watch as people see a spike in sales/earnings, once the accounting has been implemented, & they don't do the appropriate due diligence on the value of the underlying stock & the stock will explode up for a period of time.