Lmao at "bendgate"!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/it...ndgate-and-buy-apple-2014-09-26?siteid=yhoof2
It’s time to chill out over ‘bendgate’ and buy Apple
Analyst: ‘bendgate’ is a media blitz.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — What a week for Apple. The Cupertino tech giant was clobbered with PR-hit after PR-hit, fueled by a viral YouTube video that appears to show the physical bending of an iPhone 6 Plus.
Social media went nuts. Twitter TWTR, +1.55% and YouTube GOOG, +0.19% users, people on Facebook FB, +1.33% and the mainstream media, all cried foul. A candy bar company even used “bendgate” to its marketing advantage.
But in retrospect, it seems the critics might have gotten a little too bent out of shape.
It’s time to chill out about this whole bending phones thing. Apple AAPL, +1.84% on Thursday said it had received only nine complaints related to the issue. That’s nine out of more than 10 million sold in the first weekend.
“Let’s get real!” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White said Friday in a note to clients, where he reiterated his buy rating on the stock and a price target of $123.
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Shares of Apple were up 1.6% to $99.44 in recent trade.
“We believe the concern around an average person bending an iPhone 6 Plus with typical everyday use is irrational,” he said. In his opinion, the last few days have been nothing but a “media blitz.”
“After taking both new iPhones for a spin at Apple’s Special Event, and again this week in Hong Kong, concerns with bending the iPhones never crossed our mind as both felt very durable,” White said.
He’s not alone in that sentiment. In fact, a number of Apple fans on Reddit have started to pick apart the YouTube video submitted by Canadian user Lewis Hilsenteger, who runs a channel called Unbox Therapy with 1.4 million subscribers. The iPhone video has grossed some 33.4 million views since Sept. 23.
One Reddit user, akrosdabay, points to discrepancies in the timing of the video, with the clock on the iPhone 6 Plus reading 2:26 p.m. at the time of the bending, but reading an earlier 1:58 p.m. at a later point in the video after the bending was already supposed to have taken place.
“A media blitz has ensued.”
Brian White, Cantor Fitzgerald
“I think you’re right about him pre-bending the phone at its weak point around the volume buttons,” said another Reddit user, tittywagon, agreeing. “The hoodie, glasses, backwards hat. The guy is a side-show idiot who blew it way out of proportion for youtube views.”
MarketWatch reached out to both Apple and Hilsenteger. Neither immediately responded.
Read more about how Apple’s PR nightmare turned into social media’s ‘joke of the day.’
If anything, this signals a buying opportunity, Cantor Fitzgerald told clients on Friday, particularly as Apple ramps up production of the phones (Tim Cook earlier this week said the company would have sold more had there been enough supply). The iPhone 6 is also expected to soon launch in China where, Cantor notes, there is “insatiable demand.”
In Madrid, there certainly wasn’t concern over the bending drama early on Friday. A line in Apple’s new flagship store in the capital was around 50 deep at 7 a.m.
Barbara Kollmeyer/MarketWatch
People in line this morning at Apple’s flagship store in Madrid
Among those waiting in line was Javier Lasso, a 21-year old musician, who told MarketWatch that he buys a new Apple phone every time a new one is released, and he wasn’t about to stop now.
“Every time there is a new Apple phone that comes out, there is some talk about ‘this or that is wrong,’” he said. Lasso says he is not deterred this time either and will buy the allegedly bendy device.
