Steve Jobs Scheduled to Brief Apple Shareholders

February 25, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

February 25, 2010 – Today, Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, is scheduled to brief company shareholders. Its common knowledge that Apple is traditionally very reluctant to release information outside of its Cupertino, CA headquarters. Once a year, though, the company’s shareholders are invited into the Apple kingdom for an update. In this year’s event, shareholders are certain to have plenty of questions regarding the technology giant’s plans for the present…and the future.

What would we want to know if we were Apple investors?

• What’s going on with the iPad? Consumer anticipation is fairly high, despite an initially mixed response. Can Apple sustain the iPhone’s current growth and, at the same time, capture a significant market share in the tablet market?
• What about rumors of the iPhone 4G? Should consumers expect to see something this year?
• With the introduction of new smartphones, with touch-screen capabilities, from companies such as Microsoft, Google, Motorola, and Samsung, is the iPhone’s era of dominance destined to come to an end, in the near future?
• Share prices for the company have hovered around $200, for nearly five months. Can Apple leverage the buzz around the iPad, to push the price even higher? If so, how do they plan to do it?
• How much growth can be expected? Is there a ceiling on growth potential for technology stocks? Will growth at an excessive rate result in the inflation of stock values and potentially set up investors for a fall if and when growth cannot be sustained at the expected pace?

What’s really going to happen at the meeting?

If past years are any indicator, we’ll likely see a moderate number of investors in attendance. Don’t expect any big names, since bigger shareholders normally have much more diversified profiles and plenty of people to manage their investments for them. Another order of business will be the re-election of the company’s directors. Currently, only one vacancy, left by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, exists. The re-election of the remaining six will more than likely be a mere formality.

Is the average Joe (or Jane) going to miss anything exciting?

Obviously, it will not be as exciting of an event as the iPad Gala. More than likely, most people would be bored to tears with the discussion of stock prices, quarterly earnings reports, and floating balances. Without a cool gadget to play with, even a Cupertino event can end up not being fun. Up to now, there have been no Tweets, Facebook updates, Buzz posts, or email forwards listing a streaming video feed for the meeting. That is because there will not be one.

So, if you really want to know what happened, check out Reuters Technology news tomorrow afternoon. Well, on second thought, if something really exciting happens, Geek Shui Living will write about it first, so check back here first. Otherwise, go with Reuters, they’ll be certain to have an interesting article to fill you in on the details.