I'll begin with my usual Apple-exclusive caveats………I worked there for years……… I bought my first Mac in early 1984……… I bought the iPhone on its release date……… as well as the iPad…….. Steve Jobs is my lifelong hero, long before most of you ding-dongs even knew who he was…….and so on.
Having said all that, take a moment to look at this chart:
I have been quite vocal with a target of $735 (plus or minus a few bucks — unless it falters, in which case I will be jumping with joy), which for a permabear like me, shows how strong I feel about this company's momentum.
However……..
One day – – maybe in a month, a year, a few years – God knows – – – Apple is going to make the first in a series of stumbles. I cannot conjure what kind of epic screw-up Apple would have to make in order to surrender its firm grasp over Earth, but there is no such thing as a company that thrives and dominates until the end of time.
If you had told anyone in 1997 that Apple would be the largest and most respected (and feared) company on the entire planet, you would have been prosecuted for murder since people would have died laughing.
Likewise, today, if anyone were to suggest that there will come a day that Apple will be seen as long past its prime – – perhaps even a fallen great – – you would like equally mocked. It seems completely ridiculous.
I say again, I have no earthly idea what kind of series of mistakes Apple could possibly make to lose its way. At this point, only if every iPhone manufactured were found to explode unexpectedly and fatally, there's no way Apple is going to lose its place on the pedestal.
But it'll happen. Someday. It'll be interesting to see when and why.
