Dear Pro Trader Today Investor,

Last month I wrote about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), its newest iPhone iteration, the highly controversial 7, and how its stock is worth a bet with the impending news.

That prediction, safe as it was, did come true.

For those who listened, a $5–$7 per share gain is now a reality, especially on the heels of an even more recent court victory over Samsung on the issue of patents. 

So what now?

Well, the obvious decision for many will be to hold. Apple has, after all, been on an uptrend for just about the entire 21st century, and with each new product launch, regardless of how progressively underwhelming these launches are, the rule of launch-and-gain seems to be holding true.

The problem is that fundamentally, one cannot base future performance on past performance.

Anyone telling you that, or pointing to past charts as evidence of future trends, would do as well telling you that it will rain tomorrow because it rained this time last week.

It simply does not work — especially now that Apple’s only remaining edge in the field of smartphones appears to be its ability to effectively litigate.

It’s now common knowledge that the technology is beyond stale, outclassed by the rest of the field.

Apple’s size and historic dominance of this niche will continue to carry weight, but not forever. Without serious improvements — and I mean paradigm-shifting, not just incremental things like “water resistance” — Apple will (I feel like a broken record saying this over and over again) start to mirror the Apple of the early 1990s.

Given its business model of “maintain the status quo,” few things today appear to stand in the way of this eventual fate.

And that makes Apple a long-term loser. When public opinion finally catches up to reality, you will see the giant fall, and fall hard.

Now, however, we see another major player appearing to tag itself to Apple’s coattails, just as Apple slips on the concrete boots.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), or Alphabet, as it insists on being called, has now introduced its own smartphone, the Pixel.

Based on early analysis, the Pixel is, inside and out, little more than an Apple clone — with a few minor software-based differences.

Below is an actual image of the new smartphone.

Is this smart, coming from the world’s most aggressive technological incubator?

From the looks of things, it appears about as smart as copying Ford’s iconic Model T… in 1940.

It even comes in two sizes, to match the industry leader tit for tat.

Frankly, I’d be shocked if Apple doesn’t go after Google in court for creating confusion among prospective buyers.

Some analysts are claiming that “Google is going after the iPhone 7″… Maybe so, but in doing so, it’s doing little more than initiating a race for last place.

Why would Google participate in such folly? The only answer is that it’s trying to jump on a well-trafficked and proven revenue stream with minimal effort.

Minimal effort, it appears, includes zero spending on exterior design as well, as I could have personally come up with a more original look for the $530 billion search giant’s new product while writing this article.

This type of broad-spectrum laziness on the part of both tech giants — in arenas where both should be working overtime to not just match the competition but beat it — is not a good symptom.

Last month, I predicted short-term gains for Apple… This month, I’m predicting long-term losses for both.

Until next time,

John Peterson
Pro Trader Today