Wall Street’s Gonna Wait For The iPhone 8

So there was a really important announcement about Apple today.

The European Commission ruling on Apple's Irish tax payments is damaging to Ireland and could not be allowed to stand, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said….

The government would appeal the ruling before the European courts with every expectation of success, added Mr Kenny.

If in spite of those expectations Ireland is forced to accept Tim Cook’s $14.5 billion, however, Apple may have found a way to pay for it.

Apple Inc. unveiled its latest iPhones as the company seeks to reignite sales of the smartphone that has propelled much of its extraordinary growth over the past decade.

Should you doubt that people are ready to shell out $650 to get rid of that pesky headphone jack in their current iPhones, to make way for their new wireless AirPod headphones ($159), well, you’re notalone.

With few major changes to the iPhone’s exterior, most analysts expect sales growth will be muted. Sales in the all-important holiday quarter even could come in below last year’s 75 million phones sold….

With the somewhat dull iPhone 7 upgrade so close, some analysts are looking ahead to next year when Apple is rumored to have a much more significant upgrade on deck, particularly with a new higher-definition OLED screen.

Wall Street seemed to greet Wednesday’s introduction of the iPhone 7with a collective yawn….

Shortly before the trade of closing, Apple’s stock was up only 65 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $108.35 -- not exactly the kind of bump that signals investor excitement.

On the bright side, Apple’s announcement that the new iPhone would come with a Super Mario Bros. app—and that the waterproof iWatch would include the now quite-passé Pokémon Go—did get one stock back on the rollercoaster.

Shares of Nintendo's U.S. listed shares jumped 29% to $36.32 apiece Wednesday after the gaming pioneer said during the Apple conference it would bring several titles to Apple's various mobile platforms. Nintendo plans to release a version of its co-owned Pokemon Go augmented reality game to the Apple Watch and an "endless runner" style game using Mario Bros. characters to the iPhone called "Super Mario Run."

Apple tax ruling ‘must not stand’ says Enda Kenny [BBC]
Apple Unveils Latest iPhone [WSJ]
Investors not wowed by Apple’s iPhone 7 launch [CBS MoneyWatch]
Here’s Why Wall Street Isn’t Excited About a New iPhone [Fortune]
The real winner from Apple’s talk isn’t Apple. Nintendo came out on top. [USA Today]