Microsoft: Ready To Take On Apple And Wall Street Critics

By Cameron Kaine:Warren Buffett once said,

By Cameron Kaine:With all of the fanfare that technology giant Apple (AAPL) has received over the past couple of days for (what I call) its "shot heard around the world" earnings report, it now seems that this euphoric event has had some side effects.

Apple's stock is now down about 30% from its high. This plunge has led to a feisty argument between the Apple perma-fans, who dismiss the fall as "stock manipulation," and other investors, who think that several fundamental trends that have made Apple the most valuable company in the world have started to change.

Tech titan Apple reported a 24% increase in quarterly profit Thursday, but that figure failed to meet the sky-high expectations of Wall Street analysts. Sales of the company’s iPad tablet device fell short of analyst forecasts, as many consumers held off buying in anticipation of the new iPad Mini, which was released earlier this week. But now that the product has arrived to the market, along with the iPhone 5, which was introduced on Sept. 21, the holiday quarter is shaping up to be a monster for Apple.

By Cameron Kaine:It is virtually impossible to be both the market leader in an ever growing industry and yet be grossly irrelevant at the same time. But then there is phone giant Nokia (NOK) which has proven that there is no such thing as impossible. It still comes as a surprise to many to learn that Nokia is still the world's largest mobile phone maker.

Apple Inc's shareholders have been hit by one of the bloodiest weeks in the history of the stock, but wider fallout from such weakness might be more important to the long-term value of their investments.

It has been a little over a year since I wrote that Apple Stock Can Easily Reach $450 last January, which at the time was more than $100 above where the shares were trading. Thanks to an absolutely stunning fourth quarter earnings report, Apple pierced that level late last month and closed yesterday at a new high of $464 per share. So, where to from here?

About a week and a half ago I posted "The Evidence Of Android Dominance Continues To Roll In - iOS Looks To Have Stopped Growing Market Share".