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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Stock Market Game - Week in Review

Dear Teachers and Stock Market Game Participants:

Jeff Macke from Yahoo! Finance’s Breakout, made an interesting comment about this week’s Apple Event in San Francisco on Tuesday. He said:
“I think Apple is becoming Sony, it’s becoming Motorola, it’s becoming all these different little companies, where they come out with tiny variations – different cords, different products – nuances rather than anything new as a platform. I was entirely uninspired and it seemed a little odd focusing on enemies instead of just on themselves.”
Just a month after its last event, where the affordable iPhone 5c, the fingerprint technology of the iPhone 5s, and iOS 7 (the iPhone’s new operating system) were introduced, Apple CEO, Tim Cook took the stage this past Tuesday to debut Apple’s new line of iPads and computers. He presented the new iPad mini with Retina display, the thinner and faster iPad Air, updated Mac computers and MacBook Pro laptops, and the new and free Mavericks operating system.

According to Macke, in addition to the new products, Cook also used the stage to questionably target “enemies” (Apple’s competitors). When Aaron Pressman, Technology reporter for Yahoo! Finance, provides a possible rationale for Cook’s presentation (citing increased competition from Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia), Macke responds: “Since when does Apple care about competitors? They took off when they stopped caring… Now, all of the sudden they’re caring about their competitors instead of paving their own way.”

This last spring when the ongoing drop in Apple’s stock price made headlines, IT Pro Portal published an article, “Apple vs. Samsung: Does Apple Stand a Chance?” In it, Blackberry CEO, Thorsten Heins, cites Apple’s lack of innovation with its iPhone (then five years old) among the challenges the company must overcome. The author of the article, Raswiya Kameir, points out that on the eve of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 launch, Apple did what Macke faults it for at this most recent meeting: It attacked its competitor instead of highlighting the benefits of their own products.

The Time Magazine website has a helpful timeline of 10 important Apple company events (including the firing and rehiring of Steve Jobs, the introduction of the iMac, and the release of the iPod): http://ti.me/1eNBIQ8. There is also an issue of In the News in the Publications section of the Teacher Support Center called, “Jobs and Apple Pie,” that ties the innovations of Apple to economic growth and opportunity. It was written in 2011 (prior to the Galaxy S4, when the iPhone was just four years old).

Despite the competition, the Top Holdings table in your teams’ portfolios this week still shows Apple as the most widely held stock in the SIFMA Foundation’s Stock Market Game. It was also the most widely held stock during the Spring 2013 semester. Poll your students: How many of your teams are invested or want to invest in Apple? Why? What do they think of Jeff Macke’s criticism of Apple?

If your teams are interested in investing in Apple but cannot because their local SMG Coordinator has a Maximum Equity Rule in place, ask them to consider a mutual fund that is holding shares of Apple stock. For many investors, a mutual fund is an affordable way to diversify their investments and invest in companies they cannot afford on their own.

Vincent YoungAssistant Vice President, Curriculum Initiatives
SIFMA Foundation

vyoung@sifma.org

1 comment:

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