It’s funny how perceptions can vary so widely. After spending a day at San Francisco’s Moscone Center on Jan. 15 covering Steve Jobs’ keynote address and attending Macworld Expo, I was taking a break and watching CNBC. One of the CNBC commentators, Pete Najarian, called the Jobs keynote “disappointing” and went on to rip the company. Everything the chief executive revealed was expected, he said. With no surprise product, there’d been no upside possible for the stock.

I had seen how the markets initially reacted to Apple’s announcements. At one point, Apple stock had dropped by nearly 8% during the session, down nearly $10 a share, to 164.66. By the close, it had recovered somewhat to 169.04, but still lost more than 5% for the day.

Watching Najarian, I chuckled. Here was one who doesn’t get it. And there presented to be many more like him out there. More than 83 million Apple shares changed hands on

Jan. 15, not a record, but unusually high. Many clearly opted to sell on news they judged to be disappointing. For those who bought before Macworld in hopes of cashing in on a keynote bounce, I have only one word: suckers.

Real Numbers Beyond iPhone Mania

Apple’s stock has been a huge wealth-generation machine by the last few years. whether you had bought it five years ago when shares were worth about 7.50 on a split-adjusted basis, and held it until now, you’d be staring at a gain of more than 2,000% by five years. But that’s called investing. By contrast, betting on a short-term gain from a Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld has always been fraught with peril.

Yes, on the surface it might seem a good bet. Going back to 1999, Apple’s stock price has gained an average of 4.7% on the day of a Jobs…

Orginal post by Top Tech News