Aaron Levenstein, a business professor, compared statistics to bikinis: what they show is important but what they hide is essential. The same applies to the usual reactions of panic at Wall Street whenever growth slows. Apple hit a plateau, indeed: in its earnings report, the company acknowledged that iPhone sales had their slowest growth ever in the last quarter. But, as Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times reminds us, the $18.4 billion profit that Apple reported “is the most ever earned by any company in a single quarter.” So if you have invested in Apple or are worried that the company is on its last throes and you will not see all these marvels being churned off every year, relax, and maybe spend a day on the beach.
