I’m curious what the community thinks –

Earlier in the week, I reported on the news that iPhone component orders were cut in half.  As it turns out, the news had apparently been out there for a while and was back in the news cycle because the Wall St. Journal was reporting on it.  I’m seeing a number of reports refuting that this really adds up to anything significant.  In my opinion however, the points in that article still stand out and many questions remain.

still the implications of a failed iPhone 5 could be the beginning of a slip from that status, as pressures mount up from all angles of their business.  In fact if we take a peek at the 6-month Apple Insider trade activity, it is very curious that there were 0 shares of stock buys by Apple insiders.  There were 164,559 shares sold during the same 6 month reporting period.  At the very least it indicates that Apple’s value at this time is very public investor-centric, which is very fickle and reactive.  The big money investors, the players play for the long term, the big picture – Is this a sign?  It could easily be read into this that this is a company  on edge.

There is a significance to zero shares bought by Apple insiders while reporting over 164,000 sales of shares.  So there is clearly not a freeze or something I’m not aware of.

I’m sticking to my guns on this one.  If there is a new announcement of a phone revision, it would have to be a mild revision, not one that would warrant a new screen.  The explanation that the order numbers for parts being cut in half was due to suppliers suddenly making them better, it just doesn’t wash.  Not when you look at the percentage of 50% – would that mean that Apple is paying these suppliers double?  Where’s the impetus to make it better if orders would be cut in half?

I believe there are iPhone 5 growth challenges in obviously saturated domestic markets, and worldwide smartphone competition.  Add to that what may ultimately be called a mild reception for their flagship device and the indicators easily point to the narrative of a miss on expectations.  We can expect that an all-new iPhone development is rapidly on the way. Time will tell if these various predictions of doom are off by much, but it is certain that Apple is stepping up the pace and possibly scrambling to perform.