You’ve got to love the juxtaposition. The Economist reckons Apple will, like IBM, last 100 years, because

it has a powerful organising idea: take the latest technology, package it in a simple, elegant form and sell it at a premium price. Apple has done this with personal computers, music players, smartphones and tablet computers, and is now moving into cloud-based services. Each time it has grabbed an existing technology and produced an easier-to-use and prettier version than anyone else. This approach can be applied to whatever technology is flavour of the month.

If we nip back over the past decade or so, you’ve got the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010—and that ignores all the various flavours of iPod released after the original one, along with Apple’s many computer innovations (such as the screen-only iMac and the new MacBook Air). It’s only natural, then, that Wall Street thinks Apple is doomed. CNN Money reports RBC’s Mike Abramsky saying Apple’s poor stock performance

reflects market uncertainty regarding what will drive the next leg of growth, how much or not Android will impact Apple, Steve [Jobs]’s health, etc

The iPad, not long out of the gate, transforming the entire PC industry, but, man, what’s next Apple? WHY HAVEN’T YOU RELEASED SOMETHING NEW IN 2011, YOU LAZY BASTARDS?

And then there’s BCG Partner’s Collin Gillis:

A year ago, the iPad was a new source of revenue for Apple. Growth over zero was tremendous. Now it’s not, and revenue growth has to slow down.

Because, clearly, Apple’s diminishing share of a rapidly growing industry will mean it’ll make no money. Or something. Man, if only Apple was reporting record earnings. (Apple Reports Second Quarter Results: Record March Quarter Drives 83 Percent Revenue Growth, 95 Percent Profit Growth—Apple.) Oh.