Nothing there that constitutes definitive evidence that a dividend would increase AAPL's share price. It's mostly opinion with a couple of examples of companies that increased their dividends. No cause and effect.
That's closer, but look at their 'evidence':
They focused on corporate earnings growth over ten-year periods between 1871 and 2001 and found that earnings grew the fastest following years in which companies dividend-payout ratios were the highest.
They've confused cause and effect. Companies that are doing well pay more in dividends. And companies that are doing well tend to do well the next year, as well. Essentially, all their 'evidence' shows is that companies give more dividends during good economic times and tend not to give dividends when there are clouds on the horizon. There's nothing there that indicates that the dividends cause (or even contribute to) growth.
First, someone asked for an example of a company that went from not giving dividends to giving dividends and I presented MS as an example.
Second, it doesn't matter. There are plenty of other examples. Simple Investing 101 tells you that reducing the number of shares in circulations will increase the average share price if everything else remains constant. There is absolutely no such relationship for issuing dividends.
Furthermore, you're completely misrepresenting my position - as you've done all through the entire dividends debate. I fully expect that at some point Apple will have to distribute cash to shareholders. I just can't see how they can effectively use the cash that they're generating.
HOWEVER, my argument is (and has always been) that it's up to the Board and Management to decide when that time is right. No one on this forum or any of the idiot analysts who keep chiming in on the subject is in a position to dictate when Apple should do so. You buy AAPL if you're confident in the management's ability to make decisions like that. If you're not confident in their ability to make that decision, don't buy the stock.