Oh, Apple. You've mastered the art of hype, the science of incremental innovation and the business of the replacement cycle. Can you do it again?
On Wednesday, Apple will hold one of the media-marketing-customer-shareholder events only it can pull off.
Presumably, the world's most valuable publicly traded company will unveil new versions of its iPhone and Apple Watch. Faster, bigger and more are the expectations by Apple devotees.
And that's what shareholders want, too, a slow global economy be damned.
Apple stock has lagged the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index so far this year, but there is no argument that long-term Apple shareholders have seen the value of their stock exponentially increase. It's up almost 1,000 percent over the past decade, turning $100 into $1,000.
You may be an Android device user, but if you own a stock mutual fund in an individual retirement account or 401(k), or have a pension fund that owns stock, you likely can count yourself an Apple shareholder. Hundreds of mutual funds representing billions of dollars from millions of Americans own Apple stock.
The Americas represents the biggest slice of Apple's sales, but the region's not as dominate as it used to be. China is now responsible for a quarter of the company's revenues. Combined with Japan and the rest of Asia, Apple sells almost as much stuff on that continent as it does in this hemisphere.
And that brings us back to the event in San Francisco in the week ahead.
The company may be battling a $14.6 billion tax bill in Ireland, a slowing Chinese economy and incredibly high consumer expectations, but in that auditorium on Wednesday, Apple hopes to be selling the most American of products _ opportunity.
