Apple - High Expectations?

It was interesting to see with Apple's results that they had a share drop once the results were announced. It seems for the first time in ten years, Apple did not meet the analyst estimates.

This is a sign of how successful a money making machine Apple has become. Their advance in innovation over the past years with the iPod / iPhone / iPad has created huge expectation around them. It seems clear that iPhone sales were hit because of customers waiting for the new iPhone 4s. Usually, Apple announces a new iPhone in June - this was delayed and the customers waited. Now that the phone has been released - Apple should be able to sell as many as they can make!

With a great roadmap of potential releases - the iPhone 4s, an iPad 3 next year (!), and I believe over $80bn in cash reserves on their books (!!) - Apple is surely well placed to continue to deliver success.

Perhaps analysts should be careful not to read too much into a few missed sales estimates?