UPDATED 14:21 EST / FEBRUARY 28 2013

Apple’s High Earnings a Mere Afterglow of Old Tech, Investors Lose Faith

Apple’s earnings have increased substantially in the past few quarters, yet shareholders are jumping ship.  The company’s stock plummeted more than 35 percent from a high of over $705 a few months ago, to about $445 at the time of writing.

Scott Lowe, the founder of 1610 Group, showed up on NewsDesk this morning to explain why investors are losing faith in the company (full video below).

The analyst says that Apple’s positive financial performance in recent months reflects the success of the previous product line-up, not the current one. Wall Street and consumers alike are starting to question the electronics giant’s ability to reinvent itself and disrupt entire markets on an annual basis.

Lowe blames this decline on the disappearance of the “Steve-Jobsian reality distortion field” – the deceased CEO’s ability to put on a show and reach out to audiences.  He stresses that Tim Cook is a very competent chief executive, but he does not possess the unique pizzazz of his predecessor.

Lowe also blames the poor reception of the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini on a lack of creativity. Neither product features anything particularly innovative that sets it apart from the previous iteration.

“The biggest misstep was not making the iPad Mini a better device. I realize they wanted to bring down costs and they needed to be able to do so in a way to maintain a reasonable margin…[but] they could have done a lot more with the Mini. They could have redefined the small tablet space, but I think this was an answer to a competitive problem rather than a product release. And I think there is a big difference in how companies approach those two different kinds of challenges.”

Lowe adds that Apple needs to refresh its desktop line-up, and focus more on addressing the needs of professional Mac users – graphic designers, executives, etc.

For the full analysis, check out the video below, and Lowe’s full report on Wikibon.


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