Apple Hysteria: Apple Reports Record Results

Wall Street saw a veritable torrent of hysterical reaction to Apple's quarterly results, coupled with fevered speculation about the company's future. The globe has been hypnotized for years by Apple's metamorphosis from a small computer manufacturer into a corporate titan of Steve Jobs reinvention that on most days is the most valuable company in the world, with a bigger cash reserve than the annual GDP of Britain and Australia combined. But as with all inexorable growth curves, the question on every commentator's lips is has Apple peaked?

If you think "hysterical" is a bit harsh, then ponder this. Although Apple did not sell the 50 million iPhones that Wall Street analysts had forecasted this quarter it "only" shifted 47.8 million that were above the company's expectations. The quarterly results show that in 2012 Apple earned more revenue than any other corporation, ever. And even the quarter's disappointing earnings of $24.1 billion were the fourth largest of all time–ever recorded in the history of humankind. And the reaction to the stock market to this news? The share price dropped 10% in after-hours trading. 

What we need to remember as we wade through the current overheated commentary about Apple by analysts who could never actually get a job at Apple is that the company's actual strength is making things people are desperate to buy and on which the company makes huge margins. Sure the margins may decline as competitors catch up. However, most of the competitors have been blatantly ripping off Apple's product sheet rather than coming up with innovative solutions themselves. Hello Samsung, Hello Google and Hello Microsoft. Can you come up with original ideas?

Apple's future is golden in my opinion. The products are premium and Apple has a billion dollar brand which is resilient to cheap competitor clones. Of course, Apple's future is going to be determined by whether the company can keep creating innovative products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and retina display iMacs and not really worry about the competition nor what the analysts predict. With Jonny Ive, Tim Cook and Apple Legal in place things are going to be sweet for time to come.