Analysts blamed flat profits for the steep slide in Apple's stock price last week. But what's ailing the iconic tech company is not a profitability problem. It's an innovation problem. And, perhaps, an expectations problem.
Nearly three years have passed since Apple last revolutionized the world of consumer electronics with the release of the iPad. Since then, competition has grown increasingly fierce within the markets that this and previous Apple innovations helped create. And, of course, the company's animating spirit, Steve Jobs, died in October 2011.
Under his successor, chief executive Tim Cook, the company has done many things right. The iPhone 5 is a wonder. So are the latest iPads, iPods and Macs. Apple is spreading its market footprint with a smaller iPad and, if recent news reports are to be believed, a cheaper iPhone.