Cloud Computing Lessons From Apple

A few years ago, I bought $AAPL near its zenith. True to form, my small purchase singlehandedly sent the stock into an amazing downward spiral, at one point hitting $375. Although the stock has rebounded as of late to $630 before splitting in June at 7:1, it's still a relatively cheap stock by conventional measures (read: P/E ratio).

Investor sentiment shifted at some point, perhaps fueled by concerns over whether CEO Tim Cook could sustain the success of his iconic predecessor. Innovation (or perceived lack thereof) is of particular concern to many would-be Gordon Gekkos. After all, what significant new product has Apple introduced after the iPad? Tweaks to iPhones don't count. (Fair point.) What's more, some wonder if Apple really gets cloud computing. It hasn't launched a competitor to Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google's cloud.