That’s a real possibility, and a potential milestone for a three-month period during which the consumer electronics company has declined more than 28% from its 52-week high of $705. Apple‘s down about 1% in early trading today to $506, the lowest it’s been since February. Investors fear that iPhone 5 sales are short of expectations following reports, including several last week, that Apple has cut orders from its suppliers. That’s one reason Citi just downgraded Apple to “neutral” from “buy,” and cut the price target to $575 from $675. Although the reports from suppliers are “inconclusive,” analyst Glen Yeung says that they “bring into question the strength of iPhone 5 and refocus investors onto risks in the Apple story.” The company tried to reassure the market today, disclosing that it has sold more than 2M iPhone 5s in China in the three days after its December 14 launch there. “iPhone 5 will be available in more than 100 countries by the end of December, making it the fastest iPhone rollout ever,” it says. CEO Tim Cook adds that “China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products.” Analysts also are watching to see whether the new iPad Mini cannibalizes sales of the larger iPad 4, and whether Apple tablets will lose a lot of market share to low-priced competitors including the Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus 7 and 10. The less expensive rivals are “driving the majority of incremental demand as compared to six months ago,” Yeung says.

The iPhone 5 has proven to be a disappointment. Apple need to get with the program and realize most people will opt for cheaper alternatives without all the bells and whistles.
It’s cause their product sucks. The iPhone 5 sucks. The new iPad sucks. Apple is the new Microsoft making faulty products that work in a very limited way for the masses just to sell on a large basis… not to actually make a decent product.
The secondary problem is advertising. Apple used to be on every TV show because they worked with the studios. For the last four weeks, the most important four weeks of the shopping year, every TV show from CW to NBC has been showcasing the Surface. I’m not sure if Apple remembers but it became popular to the masses when it became popular in Hollywood.
Another current Apple problem is the latest update to iTunes, which was a major overhaul of the interface. They took away some classic features, plus the software seems to be more of a memory hog than before, and there have been tons of complaints at the Apple community boards.