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Tech Check
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What a couple of weeks this has been for Apple. So much euphoria, and a stock finally over $100 again, that you almost don't want to call attention to it for fear of jinxing it, but Apple's due its good news so here goes:
Apple [AAPL
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] shares scampered 17 percent last week, at least in part on news that it would be holding an iPhone event to showcase its new 3.0 operating system. Which it did. The show went off without a hitch. Many of the 1,000 changes and additions are impressive. The sales numbers, including the 30 million iPod Touches and iPhones that run this kind of OS, are impressive. The 800 million downloads from the Apple App Store are impressive. The 25,000 apps are impressive. iPhone as a platform is impressive. Corporate/enterprise adoption of what was supposed to be a consumer product is impressive. iPhone as the mobile gaming platform of choice is impressive.
That's just iPhone. There's Mac and the better than 2 million expected to sell in the current quarter. And those 10 million iPods. That $30 billion in cash. Those 260 crowded Apple stores. And that innovation curve. And the deep bench of top notch creative and operational talent. All of that had constantly been eclipsed by one rumor or another about Steve Jobs. He's been out of the mix since January, and it apparently took these last two months for those clouds to dissipate, for the Steve Jobs risk factor, the Steve Jobs liability finally to fade.
With Apple closing over $100 yesterday for the first time in more than a month — did you notice? — and only the second time since December, the time might finally be here that Apple's business fundamentals trump the other crap torpedoing these shares. Each day, with each announcement — whether it’s the new Macs, that new Shuffle, or more importantly the new iPhone software, Apple is proving that the company can operate just fine in this new Steve-less realm. And it's doing so in spades.
Apple at $100 isn't a panacea. It's a start. A sign post. A symbol. An important psychological level. Yesterday's close was key. But holding this level is far more important as Apple tries to establish higher lows and higher highs. The fundamentals are there; that big liability is gone.
I'm not saying Apple's off to the races, but these might just be the first big steps as the company strives to come back up to speed.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes