Just when I began to think that Apple’s stock price had begun to overcome the doldrums, they returned. The bad news, still unconfirmed, kept on coming, with one analyst even claiming, without evidence, that Apple’s sales had declined during the March quarter. If that were true, it would mean that Apple’s own guidance, which tends to be conservative, would be missed by a fair amount.
The early signs appear to point in a different direction. The NPD Group’s recent estimate had it that Mac sales in the U.S. increased by 14% year-over-year in January and February, no doubt due to the fact that the 2012 iMac had finally begun to reach customers in decent quantities. Other surveys indicated that iOS market share had improved against Android. So why assume Apple is suffering from fewer sales?
Obviously the truth won’t be known until Apple releases financials for the March quarter, and that’s due on April 23. Apple knows what really happened now, but the numbers can only be guessed at until the official announcement. Meantime, financial analysts and tech pundits will continue to look for the bad news.