Apple 2.0

Is Apple's iPhone really 'dead in the water'?

Business Insider, for reasons of its own, would have you think so.

FORTUNE -- Business Insider's Jay Yarow took some heat on Twitter Tuesday for the chart (at right) that he ran under the headline The iPhone's Market Share Is Dead In The Water.

His numbers, taken from the latest Gartner press release, were accurate enough, as far as they went.

There's no question that Android's share of the world smartphone market is MORE

The business wires' new verbal tic: Apple is 'losing steam'

First Bloomberg, now Reuters, have boiled Apple down to a two-word editorial formula.

FORTUNE -- How do you describe a company that grew like gangbusters but has entered a patch of slower growth?

Some desk editors at the business news services have hit on what they seem to think is the perfect phrase: Apple (AAPL) is "losing steam."

Last week it was Bloomberg News with this headline:

Harvard Liquidates Apple Stake After IPhone Sales MORE

Apple expected to hit 50 billion app downloads by Wednesday

But if downloads accelerate, the odometer could roll over before midnight Tuesday.

FORTUNE --Apple (AAPL) loves those big numbers with a lot of zeros, and for the past week the company has been promoting -- with prizes, cool facts and a countdown odometer -- another fast-approaching milestone: The 50 billionth app download.

Hard to believe it's been only 15 months since the last one.

1 billion: April 2009
10 billion: January 2011
25 billion: February MORE

Trailing indicators: Analysts' price targets vs. Apple's shares

Do analysts' forecasts really predict Apple's future or merely reflect the recent past?

FORTUNE -- Whenever I write about a change in a particular analyst's price target for Apple (AAPL) -- his or her forecast of what the stock is likely to be worth in 12 months -- readers invariably suggest that it would be more useful to show how that target has changed over time.

I think I know what's behind these MORE

The perils of tracking Apple's supply chain 'build plans'

Today's bullish estimates can be tomorrow's "orders slashed due to weakening demand."

FORTUNE -- In a note to clients Monday, Jefferies' Peter Misek offered some intriguing numbers.

Based on checks with his network of Apple (AAPL) suppliers, he believes that the company plans to build iPhones at the rate of

25 to 30 million by the end of June
25 to 50 million more by the end of September
60 to 65 million more by MORE

Chart of the day: Apple's shrinking diluted share count

Buying back shares will boost EPS and save Apple $1.5 billion a year in dividends.

FORTUNE -- By the time it decided in April to increase its stock buyback program five fold -- from $10 billion to $60 billion -- Apple (AAPL) already spent $1.95 billion of the original $10 billion fund and had bought and retired nearly 4.1 million shares of Apple common stock. Average share price, according to the MORE

60 Minutes Overtime: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Charlie Rose

A video glimpse into a 30-year relationship that is the definition of frenemies.

FORTUNE -- Steve Jobs was pretty sick in Nov. 2010 when CBS (CBS) debuted its 60 Minutes app on the iPad, so it's hard to know how involved he was in the negotiations that got Apple (AAPL) the exclusive. But he probably would have got a kick out of what the venerable TV newsmagazine managed to do with MORE

10 reasons to hate Apple

Is there another company that is loathed with as much passion as Apple?

FORTUNE -- After more than five years writing an Apple (AAPL) blog, I think I've heard 'em all, from fanboy and lemming to sheeple and iCrap. What is it about this company that attracts such passionate detractors?

I've started a list. Feel free to add.

Apple is arrogant. "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world..."*
Apple is closed. MORE

Bloomberg's lazy Apple bias

You can almost hear the reporter -- or maybe the editor -- saying "Gotcha!"

FORTUNE -- Student activists at Harvard University like to pore over the quarterly filings of the Harvard Management Company for investments they find politically incorrect -- like Smith & Wesson (gun manufacturer) or Vale S.A. (Brazilian mining).

But when someone at Bloomberg News opened Harvard's latest SEC 13F what jumped out at them was the first line of MORE

Merrill Lynch sees Apple building a bottom

Volume tends to lead price, and the trends suggest big money is accumulating Apple.

FORTUNE -- Since my Bullish Cross account expired [see note] I've missed my daily dose of technical Apple (AAPL) analysis. So the "Chart Talk" note issued Friday by Stephen Suttmeier, a top Merrill Lynch technical analyst, was like a visit from an old and somewhat obsessive friend.

Suttmeier was following up on a note he issued April 18, MORE