[fjtorres]

ZDNet:
http://www.zdnet.com/does-apple-real...e539&ttag=e539

Apple's earnings season has quickly devolved into absurdity season as handwringing over everything from CEO Tim Cook's tenure to iPhone sales to whether the company is more hardware than software is in play.

Why? It's amazing what happens when Wall Street's hottest stock tumbles and drags mutual fund managers, retirement accounts, Apple fan boys, individual investors and a few others along with it. Oh the agony! Let's get real: Everyone owns Apple shares. Even if you hate the company, some index or mutual fund owns Apple so you do indirectly. The bell at Apple's peak was rung with all that $1 trillion market cap talk and then the company and its lack of product launches took over from there.

The scary part is that a lot of folks probably think today's dynamic with Apple shares is new. Cisco in the dot-com bubble had a similar issue. Financial history is littered with super star tech stocks that go pop — as Research in Motion/BlackBerry. From time to time, the market revalues a company's prospects and sometimes you're on the wrong side of the trade.

What has changed about Apple amid this revaluation of shares? Nothing. Apple is a bit slow with its product launches, but has time. Apple also knows it has high expectations to hit so can't enter the market with crap (see Apple Maps). Apple is doing the rational thing: milking its existing products as it plots out its product roadmap. Keep in mind that the iPod launched in 2001, iTunes in 2003, iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010. In other words, Apple is due for a new product line, but not way overdue.

In the end, it's worth asking who really has the identity crisis and patience problem. Here's a hint: It ain't Apple.