<p>Tim Cook is clearly no Steve Jobs. I think that Tim Cook is good at
milking profits out of products but there’s been more innovation in
Android and even Windows Phone products than in Apple products. Apple
does have that huge Apps library as an advantage and a fairly loyal
customer base with spending cash. But at some point, they have to have
new products for growth.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>That’s always the case. The thing is do they have improvements to
existing products or radical new products in the pipeline. Apple is
really good at keeping secrets.</p>
<p>He talked about it last night and expressed his concerns including the fact it doesn’t seem to have that “cool” factor for his daughter and other people that it once had. He has actually been expressing his concerns for a while now but is basically saying stay away from it. Its competitors have equal or better products than the iphone. People have delayed buying iphones. It desperately needs a “wow” product. Joe Terranova on CNBC at lunch said that he bought it when it was at 525 and at the time said it was a generational buy. He’s now saying that was an emotional response and clearly was wrong.</p>
<p>Intel earnings AH today. They’ve had a good run off the bottom from CES but dismal PC sales have been known about for a month. I got out of Intel (stopped) around $25 quite some time ago. Qualcomm, Samsung, Apple have been giving Intel a good run for the money lately. Intel always seems a year out when they will have their great mobile chip to ship. Actually their current chip is very, very good. They are selling it in other markets but not in the US because they don’t have LTE - I don’t know what the holdup is there.</p>
<p>They’re still killing AMD on PC chips. Ultrabooks and Touch-Screen convertibles seem to not be doing well. That could be due to the poor reception of Windows 8 or maybe folks really don’t want to spend between $600-$1,000 on touch-screen laptops/tablets.</p>
<p>“That’s always the case. The thing is do they have improvements to
existing products or radical new products in the pipeline. Apple is
really good at keeping secrets.”</p>
<p>It’s key though. What I see doesn’t excite me, but what I don’t see MIGHT BE HUGE.</p>
<p>So how high can apple rise on earnings? Another unknown. What is the most apple has risen after earnings over the last year? Percentage wise.</p>
<p>One problem with trading aapl right now is that everybody and his mother is trying to game this stock - there is too much of a frenzy surrounding it.</p>
<p>Well, my idea of buying calls is as a lottery ticket. If I lose the money, I lose it. No big deal. So limited downside and big upside. I agree on the gaming aspect but it looks like most of the sentiment is on the downside so the risk/return may be better on the upside.</p>
<p>If you don’t have AAPL in your portfolio right now bought at much lower entry points, probably a better time to step into AAPL is when Whitney Tilson shorts AAPL. :)</p>
<p>I was waiting for Apple to dip below 500 this year to start a long position…stores are always crowded, international demand, etc. And unlike Cramer’s D, my D was absolutely thrilled with Apple’s service, especially when she got her phone completely replaced. Then again, she only has the 4…just not in the league of the Cramer girls! But now I will hold off…it’s too crazy out there.</p>