Smart advice from Matt Deatherage to anyone who has the chance to ask Apple honchos a question in public.
Recommend reading the whole thing; it really highlights the value of lurking in a space before speaking (and on Apple conference calls, lurking is all most people can do).
Deatherage has apparently been listening to the calls for almost 14 years...
What analysts should ask Apple: Apple holds an earnings call Monday--here are some dos and don'ts for analysts [via @timbray]
Reporters can call and listen live ... but Apple hasn't taken a question from reporters during a quarterly conference call in well over a decade. Only financial analysts are allowed to query the company's executives.
That can be a darned shame, because a few times each year, well-meaning analysts let loose with giant stink bombs of questions.
...i.e. unproductive questions which an experienced attendee knows will be swattted aside. A couple of his suggested questions instead:
On their retail stores: "Is your retail operation exposed to any of the CRE problems, including GGP's bankruptcy?"
...someone needs to ask those executives, point blank, "How long do you believe the filter-and-review model for every application on your worldwide mobile platform is sustainable?"
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