I doubt that anyone ever thought you could make much money trading an Apple.

However, with Techcrunch reporting that $4bb of value was knocked off of Apple and then subsequently reinstated, you have to imagine that there were some very happy traders today. And some that are likely ready to drive off the cliff.

Here’s what Engadget wrote:

This one doesn’t bode well for Mac fans and the iPhone-hopeful: we have it on authority that as of today, the iPhone launch is being pushed back from June to… October (!), and Leopard is again seeing a delay, this time being pushed all the way back to January. Of 2008. The latest WWDC Leopard beta will still be handed out, but it looks like Apple-quality takes time, and we’re sure Jobs would remind everyone that it’s not always about “writing a check”, but just how much time are these two products really going to take?

… and here’s the retraction:

Here’s the story. A trustworthy source supplied us with an actual internal Apple email that went out to thousands of Apple employees earlier today (published after the break). The fact that this was an email sent within Apple’s internal email system to its employees is not in question. Let us reiterate: this was an ACTUAL email distributed within Apple’s internal email system to Apple employees.

As it turns out, the internal memo Apple employees received was actually retracted by Apple shortly after it was sent out. (Also published after the break.) We received confirmation from Apple PR that this initial email sent out to Apple employees was incorrect, and they let us know that the iPhone and Leopard are both still on track, and should meet their expected launch timeframes.

Presumably Apple is now on the hunt for whomever was able to spoof its internal email system.

This just comes to show you: Don’t take a bite out of a bad apple (I couldn’t help myself).

Though in actuality, this goes back to the top-down approach that I’ve been discussing in prior posts. Don’t unnecessarily follow the crowd AND always know what you’re doing from a holistic view.

Otherwise, you just may get burned… at the bottom of the V!