Apple has posted the details of their record-breaking Q1 2013, but as John Gruber has noted, the financial and tech press can’t help but be disappointed in it.
This reminds me how much of the financial world is nothing more than one, big horse track with lots and lots of windows to place bets at. Investors put money down on companies they think will do well based on hearsay, rumors, speculations, ideas they pull out of their asses and unverified articles in Chinese newspapers.
The problem is, everyone not working at Apple, Inc—which includes those investors I just mentioned—know little to nothing of what Apple is doing, going to do, or thinking about doing, so they’re wrong a lot because, well, they’re fucking guessing on shit.
There’s good and bad eggs in every industry, and like a good company invested in the long-term growth of their employees, there exist investors with long-term plans with their investments that aren’t distracted by short-sighted noise. This noise we’re inundated with in the tech and financial news is produced by fickle and destructive people.
Analogies always help make things relatable, so here’s a shot:
Imagine your salary, bonus and job security wasn’t in direct correlation to your performance or agreed-to goals with your management, but by outsider researchers scrutinizing your every move on the job (I’m picturing the ‘Bobs’ from Office Space). Not only are these researchers scrutinizing you, but they’re betting your salary and bonus on whether you hit certain goals in the future. I forgot to mention they wouldn’t tell you these goals or how they came up with them. I should also mention these people are easily convinced by rumors spread by your co-workers. And by tweets by random people. And cloud formations.
Once the researchers are armed with their “research”—which might or might not contain facts—they talk to your upper management to share their findings. Based on what they hear, upper management then adjusts your salary and bonus accordingly and tells you once it’s done.
Yeah, that’s unfair. Just like a lot of the financial analysis in the news.
As Dan Pallotta says over at Harvard Business Review points out, Apple could unveil a time machine and the market would still be disappointed.