By almost any measure, Apple Inc. had an awfully good start to the year.
It sold $43.6 billion worth of products, a record for this time of year, and earned $9.5 billion. It sold 7 percent more iPhones than a year ago and 65 percent more iPads, and recorded 30 percent more revenue from iTunes, software and service sales. It had $12.1 billion in cash in its accounts and $105.6 billion in liquid securities. The company said it will more than double the amount of that lucre it returns to shareholders in the form of share buybacks and dividends.
These should be the best of times in Cupertino. But while things in many ways look good for Apple, they are looking considerably less so for AAPL — the firm's Nasdaq ticket symbol. Shares of the widely held stock are off 43 percent since its September high. And the reasons why tell us something about business and innovation.