Wed April 23, 2014
Apple is being criticized for not having another miracle product in its pipeline. After
iTunes
iPod
iPhone
iPad
what's enxt, well probably nothing, perhaps another version of iTV. One comment I read about Jobs miracle success was that he was fortunate. He was out of Apple while others failed at products for which the technology was just not ready. Many tried a tablet including Apple, remember the Newton, no, neither does anyone else.
Lots of inventors tried to create a heavier than air flying maching for centuries, it never worked until there was an internal combustion engine that could power the plane. So the Wrights got the credit while they were standing on the shoulders of inventors for many years.
Apple
Yesterday Imentioned the Product Life Cycle in Class. A product goes through discovery, usually by an unknown firm, like iTunes as Apple was struggling for its very existence. Then a huge growth period follows. Then competition emerges, prices fall, margins shrink, the market gets crowded. Most customers that want one of whatever it is, now have one. The originator struggles to have diversified versions of the same ie, think i Mini Pad. And finally lower margins and competition lead to a fall in sales.
One can literally see that in the graph of Apple above. At $650, the talking heads on CNBC were certain Apple was headed to $1,000, it was just a matter of when. Instead Apple plunged below $500. Now it is tracing out a distribution pattern, those late to the party are buying in. Notice the lower voume in the chart. The hot money is now playing Tesla and such.
LULU
Students are aware that I have used LULU as an example in class. Now one can see the same thing happening to the uscale maker of Yoga togs. Price has dropped below all three moving averages. The market is saturated. Remember the rhyme about how all the King's horses and Men could not put
Professor Elam 
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