Shorting Apple Near-Term

Thomas H. Kee Jr., writing for the WSJ’s MarketWatch:

Not more than a couple short months ago I recommended to investors that they sell Apple. That call was early, I did not anticipate the euphoria that overwhelmed the stock for the past couple of months, but the premise for my recommendation has not changed.

This time Lucy isn’t going to yank the football away, I swear!

Underlying problems at Apple is a competitive environment that has caught up to it. Products from Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola are now direct competitors with the iPhone for example, where a few short years ago they were well behind the curve.

Samsung, Nokia, and Motorola were the leading handset makers before Apple entered the market.

In addition, mobile operating systems like Android from Google are actually dominating the mobile market.

Android is just one example of these dominating mobile operating systems.

Without a doubt, Apple led the way, and they deserve the reward of being first to market with these innovations, but technology catches up fast, and unless Apple continues to innovate at the same pace it did before, it will not stand out from the crowd on a technological basis for long.

Exactly!

★ Wednesday, 25 April 2012