Say It Ain't So, Tim

AAPL: a spike at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern, then excitement lapsed.

Next month will mark the 4th anniversary of Steve Jobs' death. A sign that he's missed: Apple continues to dominate its markets, but the buzz at the product announcement show has faded.

(2014's Apple Watch was the first new hardware since Steve's death, and sales failed to catch fire.)

In fact expectations had been ratcheted so low that many tech journalists fell over themselves praising this year's announcements. Example - the Mercury News (bold added):

In a two-hour extravaganza, Apple on Wednesday unveiled a veritable bounty of new and at times mind-boggling products, including two new iPhones and a new larger iPad Pro, that should keep every fanboy busy for months.

As a long-time Apple shareholder, I do think that the changes to the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV will deliver solid profits, but there's no shiny new bauble to excite the casual Apple fan.

Only the message needs sharpening

Unless you count the Apple Pencil.

It’s a $99 stylus for the tablet that allows users to draw pictures and interact with apps. When it was announced on stage the audience, who had applauded everything up to that point, laughed.