The recent mini-revival in the shares of US technology giant Apple (NSQ:AAPL) has faded as another quarter is about to pass without a landmark product launch to revitalise its fortunes, and further legal woes threaten to hold back group sales.
Apple's management made no promise of new products this quarter, but the many devotees of Apple had expected to hear something with regards to new products. It is almost eight months since the release of the iPad Mini, and with rival Samsung having since released its Galaxy S4 smartphone, the sense of stasis at Apple has intensified. Management has hinted at new product launches this autumn, which could rekindle the buzz around Apple, but the fact that Apple's shares failed to join in the wider equity market rally of the first five months of this year shows that investor patience is wearing thin.
Meanwhile, the next quarterly results are likely to show continued huge sales of existing iPhone and iPad models, albeit at more pedestrian rates of growth. And this will not be helped by Apple's latest setback in its long-running legal dispute with Samsung, which will see the import of iPhone4s and iPad2s into the US banned after they were found by the US International Trade Commission to infringe certain Samsung patents. At the time of its last earnings report, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reported that the iPhone4 had generated $3.4bn in sales, compared with $14.9bn for the iPhone5.
