From Barrons.com. Click to enlarge.
FORTUNE -- Kudos to Asymco's Horace Dediu for spotting the similarity between the two Barrons' headlines at right, one from Dec. 20, 2012, the other from Nov. 11, 2011 -- 13 months earlier.
Both are based on notes by Susquehanna semiconductor analyst Christopher Caso. Both warn clients that signals from his supply chain sources tell him that Apple's (AAPL) iPhone sales are going to come up short of the Street's expectations.
Last year's prediction turned out to be spectacularly wrong, as Apple reported blow-out fiscal Q1 earnings on the strength of iPhone sales that grew 128% year over year.
That hasn't stopped Caso from trying again this year. Or, apparently, some traders from taking his second warning seriously. With the Dow trading higher and Apple's shares already down 25% from this year's highs, the stock was stuck in negative territory nearly all day Thursday.
In a quiet room, the latest version understood 91% of questions, correctly answered 77%
FORTUNE -- Siri is a little like the weather. Everybody complains about it, but only Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster seems to do anything.
In June he put the iOS 5 version of Apple's (AAPL) voice-activated personal assistant to the test -- asking her 1,600 questions, 800 in the streets of Minneapolis and 800 in a quiet room.
The results MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 20, 2012 9:05 AM ETThe Leahy-Smith America Invents Act opened the door to more post-grant reviews
FORTUNE -- On Wednesday, Samsung informed a federal court -- and the Wall Street Journal dutifully reported -- that the U.S. Patent Office had "rejected" all claims of an Apple (AAPL) patent (the so-called "pinch to zoom" patent, or '915) that the Journal described as "a cornerstone of its case against Samsung."
In October, the Patent and Trademark Office tentatively concluded MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 20, 2012 7:13 AM ETThe final choice was a no-brainer. The inclusion of Apple's CEO was a surprise.
FORTUNE -- Having participated as a Time Magazine editor in my share of Person of the Year selections (I edited the David Ho cover and wrote at least one Steve Jobs "also ran" item), I knew how hard it was going to be for the magazine not to make Barack Obama -- winner of the Presidential election MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 19, 2012 10:12 AM ET
Big chains are selling the hot phone at steep discounts. Good luck trying to find one.
FORTUNE -- If you follow Apple (AAPL) news half as obsessively as I do, you've no doubt heard that Walmart (WMT) and now Fry's Electronics are selling the iPhone 5 at steep discounts -- $127 and $126, respectively. I've seen a lot of headlines, and even some commentary to the effect that the discounting shows that MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 19, 2012 8:03 AM ET
The pot may be calling the kettle black, but in this case it's richly deserved
FORTUNE -- I'd been wondering what to say about Citigroup's (C) coverage of Apple (AAPL), which took a sharp turn for the worse with the departure of its 16-year veteran analyst Richard Gardner last spring.
Not only did Citi miss Apple's run from $560 to $705 -- a six-month stretch when the bank provided no coverage at MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 19, 2012 6:52 AM ET
In the past week, at least eight Apple analysts have lowered their targets
FORTUNE -- Some did it based on what they perceived as signs of weak iPhone 5 sales. Others took the opportunity to bring theirs closer to the company's ravaged stock price. At least one believes Apple's (AAPL) best days are over, and that investors are best advised to borrow shares and sell them short.
Whatever the reason, at least eight MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 18, 2012 11:56 AM ET
Behind the reports that triggered a flurry of Apple analysts' revisions
FORTUNE -- At least five top Apple (AAPL) analysts lowered their price targets last weekend based on reports that the company had reduced some parts orders for the iPhone 5 in its Asian supply chain.
In a note to clients issued early Tuesday, Topeka's Brian White took a closer look at those order changes. His conclusion: "we believe the doomsday scenarios MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 18, 2012 8:28 AM ET
"Causal nexus" is key. Meanwhile, Samsung's jury misconduct claim is a nonstarter
FORTUNE -- Apple (AAPL) lost an important ruling Monday night when a U.S. federal judge denied its request for a permanent ban on a collection of Samsung products that Apple charged -- and a jury ruled -- had willfully infringed Apple's patents.
Samsung, for its part, lost what most court watchers believed was a long-shot bid for a retrial based MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 18, 2012 6:58 AM ET
A new Morgan Stanley survey suggests there is still room to grow
FORTUNE -- "Despite concerns to the contrary," writes Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty reporting the results of a proprietary survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, "iPhone and iPad demand remain strong. C4Q US iPhone purchase intentions beat our forecast. Stable 50% iPad share also surprised us, despite our modeled drop next year."
Among the key findings:
Strong iPhone 5 demand. Survey suggested 33% MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 17, 2012 12:15 PM ET
