1 Sign Apple Is in Serious Trouble

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 5:50 PM, dreucla23 wrote:

  A comparison of Q4-2011 vs. Q3-2012 is not fair considering Apple's iPhone release cycle. Wait for the Q4-2012 numbers and things should be quite different.

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 6:03 PM, Thompr97 wrote:

  All rumors aside, which reference a supposed cut from a mind-boggling "initial plan" to build 65 million iPhones in a March quarter (an expectation that was nowhere near to baked in to begin with) I am having a hard time reconciling the proposed conclusion that iPhone 5 demand is weak with ANY of the actual data that has emerged. Good reports from AT&T and Verizon. Platform research that shows Apple reached all time high US market share in December. Wonderful launch weekend results in China. A record 2 Billion app downloads in December alone. pre-Christmas surveys that showed record high intent to purchase not only for iPhones but iPads as well. Foxconn demanding that workers continue working through the upcoming Chinese New Year. The list goes on and on.

  In light of this information, I find it easier to believe that 65 million iPhones were never the plan to begin with and extra LCD displays had been preordered to reserve them for Apple because the yields sucked at first. Perhaps yields improved. Perhaps Apple is finally ready to move to the IGZO panels and back away from LCD. Yes I know that this is also speculation. But at least my speculation makes sense (as in not beginning from an expectation of 65 million units) and is consistent with all other data that suggests strong demand.

  I'll let the rest of you headline readers continue to draw conclusions from the most shallow of perspectives. And I'll come back here in about ten days when Apple reports just how strong the demand has been.

  Thompson

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 6:04 PM, Steeleja wrote:

  Another example of poor "journalism" or investment "advice." The report from the WSJ did not claim that component orders have been cut 50% compared to the same quarter last year as stated in this video. Such false and unsupported statements are irresponsible and financially dangerous. This video should be pulled, a correction issued, and an apology issued for its inaccuracies.

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 6:18 PM, EquityBull wrote:

  apple's board and executives interests are NOT aligned with shareholders interests. Go look at the insider transactions and holdings. Executives have blown out of their vested options as soon as they could. 10's and 100's of millions worth. The top execs hold between zero, a few have several hundred and very few just a couple thousand. Cook leads the pack with a paltry 13k shares. Why would any of them want a bigger dividend? They don't own any shares to make money off of that.

  Until they start owning shares and not just options that they sell the moment they are vested they are not aligned. This was also clear when they did not do a special dividend or even move up the Q1 dividend before 2012 taxes were going to be increased. Why should they? They don't own any shares.

  Their goal is to keep the money for salary and bonus (cash). Use buybacks to offset the billions in option dilution for their grants to hide that compensation as best as they can.

  Until apple executives own 10's of thousands or 100's of thousands of shares their interests are simply not aligned and their actions have proven that. The token $10.60 dividend was really an insult. Company making 50/share in EPS and has 130B net cash. C'mon

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 7:08 PM, Thompr97 wrote:

  EquityBull,

  Cook has a tremendous number of shares that vest over the next 4-9 years. So while this doesn't prove that Cook cares, it certainly nullifies the argument that YOU gave, at least where Cook is concerned. This makes me wonder whether you are missing similar relevant facts for other Apple execs too.

  Thompson

• Report this Comment On January 14, 2013, at 7:30 PM, dwilh51183 wrote:

  BOB IGER, ON THE AAPL BOARD , BOUGHT 1 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF AAPL STOCK 2 MONTHS AGO. I THINK EQUITY BULL HAS BEEN SMOKING CRACK.ALSO , REPORTS OUT TODAY STATED MUTUAL FUNDS HAVE WENT FROM 24% OWNERSHIP OF AAPL SHARES TO LIKE 43% OF VALUE FUNDS ARE BUYING A LOT SINCE AAPL IS SO CHEAP I ALSO THINK AAPL'S QTR WILL BE REALLY GOOD

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