Apple shares have held their own (see inset) against a spate of negative press, including most recently mounting concerns that iPhones, addictive as crack cocaine, are harming our children. Would Apple become less profitable if its social consciousness extended to the well-being of kids who are spending half their lives texting, browsing and streaming?  The inescapable fact is that such a change would dampen profits for the entire business world, since so much of it is tied to digital devices, social media and the virtual world of the Internet.  Television stoked similar fears about addiction in the 1960s (and thereafter), but those fears never seemed to impinge on the medium or its profitability. The Internet did, however — ironically because it has proven far more addictive than the TV medium itself, commanding an even greater share of viewers’ time than TV ever did, even in its heyday.

As for the stock, from a technical standpoint AAPL still looks to be consolidating for a shot at a 184.10 target we’ve held in mind for months. The fact that the stock has maintained altitude and will undoubtedly continue to do so until the negative press blows out to sea suggests that its institutional sponsors are blithely unconcerned about the effects of social pressures on Apple, Inc. A downturn in iPhone sales is all they care about — and even then, it has always been assumed that such weakness would at worst prove temporary.  It is only recession that DaBoyz should fear, since it would take a heavy toll on sales of Apple’s ridiculously overpriced hardware, most particularly iPhone models snapped up by Apple-cult buyers for $1000 or more.