Heh. Mmm. I mean… This is perhaps… this is a perhaps a situation that demonstrates why every market will develop bubbles which need to burst. This exchange right here shows us clearly an axiomatic flaw in modern corporate governance and the influence of capital market professionals upon industry practice: People who do not make things or do things for other people are calling the shots in the investment world. People who look at numbers all day and who speculate are the wise men in the system.

Here you have a company that makes incredibly high tech products. Most of the value this company creates is in software, and its biggest asset is spread throughout the craniums of perhaps 2000 folks.

And here is the head of that team, explaining to some half witted wonk freak that the base price of the raw material for the packaging of the value does not affect the overall economics of production.

Capital markets have possibly always been the proper place for speculators, but in the USA now, and in the wider world, questions are being asked about the efficiency of this model, and the cost when the idiocy in leadership gets too big, and bubbles burst.

After all, our big arguments against soviet communism are that it was inefficient and undemocratic. If the USA regulates capital markets to sustain the speculators culture, how will such a system be any different to soviet communism?

Thanks for the coverage…

Looks like it's actually way, WAY, above the "Street's" consensus… the street is so far off, it should be fired!

Apple clearly blew away everyones wildest expectations.

I'm glad they are "spelling out" how the subscription accounting adds in to their real numbers, as the "street" clearly has been incompetent and driving the stock artificially down.

ex ped: The Street was estimating Q4 revenue based on the usual accounting procedures, and the number Apple reported was indeed below the consensus. The Street was looking for $8.05 billion and Apple delivered $7.9 billion.

But if you're talking about the total revenue of $11.68 billion that includes deferred revenue from iPhone and Apple TV, you are right. Apple did indeed blow away expectations.

But clearly it vastly underestimated the earnings per share.

Apple is alive and well, and positioned to gain a lot more market share through this downturn.

Janet Caiside

Patterson NY