Apple Stock Drops As Keynote Fails To Impress And Restore Confidence

To be fair, the writing was already on the wall for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its investors. We have to rewind the clock to 2007 for the previous fall in Apple stock price in the 30 days leading up to an iPhone announcement. Samsung (OTC:SSNLF) – Apple’s main competitor in the smartphone space- launched a spectacular range which has been widely acclaimed in the industry. Therefore, the pressure was on for Apple to have buyers excited about getting the iPhone 6s. Arguably, it had to be as big as the launch of the first iPhone.

Unfortunately for Apple, their investors, and customers, this simply wasn’t the case. The much talked about ‘Apple’s September 9th event’ failed to impress. Sure, force touch came to the iPhone, faster processors, and an HD camera, but there was really nothing to get excited about. 74% of Apple’s gross profit comes from the iPhone. And with Apple heavily reliant on the contract phone market, they really needed to give people something they would be willing to lock themselves into another contract for. A 12mp camera has been on competing smartphones for years. Secondly, the last two iPhones had Touch ID. And finally, ‘3D Touch’, although interesting- and undoubtedly developers will find innovative ways to utilize it- isn’t going to trigger the sales numbers Apple needs right now. Could Apple be falling behind?

Interestingly, they chose not to change the design. Concerning the heightened competition, this was a move that will hurt sales. You see, for some Apple buyers, buying the latest iPhone is a show of status. And with no visual indicator to distinguish an iPhone 6 from an iPhone 6s, this portion of Apple’s buyers may choose to hold on. This could mean lower sales. This iPhone 6s announcement is similar to that of iPhone 4s. However, back then Apple had smartphones with exceptional build quality. Today, the rest of the pack has caught up as competition has heated up. This was the wrong time to give the people a small improvement in product. The market seems to agree because as the keynote progressed Apple stock fell like a rock bouncing down a cliff. Apple stock had a high of 113.81 on September 9th and stood at 110.38 by evening time (EDT).