[NewsPoster]

On Friday, AAPL closed the week by dropping nearly $11 to $430.87, its lowest point since January 2012. The stock has now lost nearly 40 percent from its all-time high of $705 a share, and despite healthy sales forecasts and a string of better news for the company, including the dropping of David Einhorn's "silly sideshow" lawsuit over the issuing of preferred stock. The falling price comes in the face of Wall Street managing to eek out a tiny gain for the day, in spite of news that congressional leaders are unable to avoid the so-called "sequestration" crisis.

Much of the malaise that has struck AAPL appears to be rooted in concerns by professional investors that Apple has not done enough to fend off increased competition from rivals such as Samsung. In particular, the upcoming flagship Samsung phone, the Galaxy S IV, is seen as likely to do very well against the iPhone 5 -- Apple's single biggest-selling product. Concern also lingers about the Mac product line, which has seen severe production constraints that have hindered sales. However, the iPhone has in fact seen gains against its Android rivals in the US market of late, and rumors have it being supplanted with an "iPhone 5S" type model sometime during the summer. Nonetheless, concerns are that Samsung will continue to do better than Apple overseas and in emerging markets such as China, where Apple still does not have a deal with China Mobile -- an enormous opportunity for the other smartphone companies. There is not, however, much evidence as yet that more sales for Android models hurts the iPhone much: at present, Android sales appear to mostly cannibalize former BlackBerry, Nokia and other Windows Phone customers. Pundits also express concern that the iPad could lose its dominance in the corporate and enterprise sectors as more business-oriented models come to market, such as Microsoft's Surface Pro (which has thus far not made much of an impression, though future revisions could improve its chances). Apple has already seen some erosion in the business market on the very low-end of tablets, with some Android models being deemed fit for more basic business uses. Presently, however, the iPad is still the overwhelming favorite among enterprise and "bring your own device" (BYOD) workers.

[bobolicious]

...a friend proudly displayed his BB10 to me the other night, and I just kept saying - it's like Apple invented the wheel and nobody will recognize or prevent others from copying/stealing it...?

At what point does a culture value 'competition' above innovation? I might suggest when it is in decline...

[apostle]

Society in decline

Technology it seems has both liberated and isolated society. It has given us access to vast amounts of knowledge but removed us from the "real world experience". A couple of articles that some may find interesting. 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/03/tech/smartphone-zombie-apocalypse-comments

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/08/are-raising-generation-deluded-narcissists/

[Brad Bradley]

Maybe Apple should start making computers that operate faster than their old computer (and the competition's) instead of computers that are skinny. Maybe they should make a real pro machine with thunderbolt in it. Maybe they should figure out a way to make a computer that they can assemble and ship without a 30 to 60 day waiting period. Or maybe they should get out of the computer business and just make crippled toy electronic devices.

[blahblahbber]

crApple has rotted to the core.... nothing you can do about it, for now. Talk about hype hitting the trash. That is were crApple is, don't feel sorry.... it was coming. I told you all.

[besson3c]

These sorts of threads have become painfully predictable, and it sucks that nobody other than the painfully predictable blahblahbber sticks around to actually have a conversation.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Brad Bradley 

Maybe Apple should start making computers that operate faster than their old computer (and the competition's) instead of computers that are skinny.

Look at whom they can sell it to: almost nobody cares about computers that are WAY faster than most anybody needs. Once we hit the i7 quad-core MacBooks, the number of people who actually need a Mac Pro dwindled to virtual insignificance.

Apple is at work (by their own account) to build something for that small handful of customers, but honestly, can anybody fault them for taking their time between updates for products hardly anybody will buy?

Originally Posted by Brad Bradley 

Maybe they should make a real pro machine with thunderbolt in it.

They certainly should add it in the next generation. But really, Thunderbolt is close to irrelevant for the Mac Pro target market at this point. What does the Thunderbolt market currently offer that internal expansion cards and internal storage doesn't?

maybe they should get out of the computer business and just make crippled toy electronic devices.

…as was their original intent with Macintosh, a.k.a. "The Computer for the Rest of Us".

[question4]

sequestration doesnt seem to have done much to the economy (aside from some heavy gov contractors) the stocks were all up friday. Granted is has been 3 years since apple released a "new" product - which is the crack for the analysts. If they dont get their drug from apple - then where? I'd be curious as to what OS XI brings.

[iphonerulez]

seems to be the company most vulnerable to everything around it. Everything in the world seems to affect only Apple and leave other companies, for the most part, unscathed. I often wonder why only Apple is weak and all other companies are stronger despite Apple having record profits and more cash than any other company around. I would honestly think that Apple would be in the best position to weather any economic storm than companies without much cash. If there was an economic downturn for a year, Apple could operate solely on its cash and not have to shut anything down or fire any employees which I would think be a good thing. It's even claimed Apple is making solid inroads into the enterprise and that should bring some sales stability.

[cgc]

A 52 week low is a good time to buy...Apple stock is on sale.

[gprovida]

With the near miss asteroid, the Russian Meteor, the Sink hole in Florida [just kidding on that one], and the arrival of the new Comet there is strong reason to believe this drove Apple Stock down. I claim my reasons are at least a good [and think better] as the silly noise from analysts on Apple's stock drop. I bet I could even build a graph showing the correlation.

[Brad Bradley]

Apple doesn't get it... and neither does most of the general public that thinks the pro market no longer matters. Without their "Pro" market. Apple has nothing I need. If I don't have a machine that makes my work life complete, i.e. makes me money, then when I go to buy my next phone or pad... What does it matter to me. I just buy the latest whiz bang thing that make my life enjoyable during the morning bus ride or sitting on the back row in church. If I have a device that complements my workstation I am more likely to buy it... Apple no longer has a workstation. So why buy iPhone over android? The new Ubuntu has some really kool stuff that works with android. I can have the same relationship with a powerful computer with Ubuntu and android that I used to have with Apple and iPhone. The market sees this... and the fact that Apple can't get product to the consumer anymore. I would have sold too.