If You Read Blogs, You Could Have Shorted Apple Early

Apple today announced on Hot News - their stealth blog - that the Leopard operating system is going to be late because they had to pull developers off to finish the iPhone. The stock is already down 3% in after hours and it could get hit harder tomorrow.

However, if you were a trader and you were reading Apple blogs today, you would have seen the tea leaves at 1PM EST, way before the official after-market post. A report from AppleInsider posted in the early afternoon reported that there were a rash of bugs in the latest Leopard beta. Naturally, this would cast doubt on the official company word - that the product would be completed in time for the summer as originally promised.

The stock then was at $92.05. The lesson - read good blogs that break news and then make your own decisions. These sites can be wrong just as much as they are right. Still, some have averages that are rather amazing. (Disclosure: Apple competes with Microsoft, an Edelman client.)