any comment

Rim will never be acceptible in China and India.

Apple will succeed in selling billions of iPhones and iPods in China and India without any Buy1 Get1 Free blackberry kind of deals.

yes, the one that literally worships the iPhone "god".

I expressed many times on PED's blog that many Apple's customers relate to it as a cult. But if there is one post that confirms my sentiment, it is yours.

Man, you need to have your head checked (and I wud not be surprised to find a tatoo of something relating to Apple Inc on your forehead..)

Abramsky's $70 call still irks me as the most outrageous call I've seen from an analyst. Given his years in the business it was absolutely INCONCEIVABLE to me that he could make that call *while at the same time* being so optimistic on RIM. I've never been so up in arms convinced that the analyst game is rigged after learning of his target. I actually don't feel much better now that he's admitted his mistake, the 'not a zero sum game' statement he makes is precisely what makes his first call so insane, and it's not like he's a young pup that didn't know this. I'd have been fine with his call if he also downgraded RIM on a bigger call that smartphone growth was in trouble due to the economy. But, downgrading one while upgrading the other smells of something nobody wants to admit. The retraction, and especially the thoroughly bearish to thoroughly bullish flip-flop really make it appear he was pressured into the first call, and then found it so ridiculously indefensible that he pushed back because he could no longer stand looking in the mirror and seeing the glowing dunce cap on his head.

So, while this incident has completely shocked me, what bothers me more is the bigger issue. If this could happen to Abramsky, who's to say this doesn't happen all the time with all the other analysts we read and often hold great sway in the market? The probability is clear, it's very likely that many or most analysts are not giving us their views without being adapted by many undisclosed influences, and that should bother us all.

Did it ever make you wonder why unofficial analysts like Zaky and Miller can consistently determine earnings within a few pennies while the professional continues to miss by huge amounts? Do you really think they can't learn from the previous results and can continue to be so surprised? Sorry, this guys are intelligent people who could adjust their methods if accuracy was their goal. The conclusion is obvious and very difficult to credibly deny.