Snippet: How Apple Invites Facile Analysis ☇

Michael Hiltzik tries to find the reason for AAPL’s jumpiness for The Los Angeles Times (via The Loop):

What we can say, however, is that the sentiment and stock action related to Apple offer a perfect study in how conjecture and misunderstanding can trump actual knowledge when it comes to evaluating a company. When the company is as much the focus of worldwide attention and as uncommunicative about its own plans as Apple, the effect is even sharper…

…A key error here is the notion that a Samsung or Android user is the equivalent of an iPhone user. The latter are willing to pay more for their phones and use them far more vigorously than the former. They buy more apps and spend more time with them. Market analysts figure that the iPhone, despite being outsold, generates roughly 70% of all operating profit in the mobile device industry, Samsung’s devices almost all the rest.

Hiltzik also mentions that he’s coverage Apple since 1995, and cites the usual suspects, so he really backs up his argument with credible data.