A Fool Looks Back

Rick Aristotle Munarriz, The Motley Fool
Updated

Who will tell me what I want to buy now?

That was my first reaction to Steve Jobs' passing away on Wednesday.

I wasn't the only one who didn't think I needed a tablet last year. Then Jobs told us how magical the iPad would be.

I wasn't the only one who didn't think a phone without buttons could be a practical device when the iPhone rolled out in 2007. Now it's hard to find a smartphone that isn't navigated by touch.

Apple (NAS: AAPL) is going to miss Jobs in so many ways, but will he ever be replaced as a master marketer? The market generally wasn't pleased with Tuesday's conference introducing the iPhone 4S. Folks wanted the evolutionary iPhone 5 -- and not just an upgraded iPhone 4.

Maybe Jobs wouldn't have been able to sell the iPhone 4S any better, but now we'll never know.

I guess I'll have to decide what I want to buy next on my own.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • It was a good week for beaten-down stocks to shine as buyout candidates, as Akamai (NAS: AKAM) , Research In Motion (NAS: RIMM) , and Yahoo! (NAS: YHOO) all received plenty of press playing them up as acquisition bait.

  • Zumiez (NAS: ZUMZ) was one of the week's biggest retail winners. The edgy mall chain delivered same-store sales growth of 10.1% for September, more than triple the comps the market was expecting.

  • OmniVision (NAS: OVTI) shareholders cracked a smile after analysts generally agreed that it's the company behind the camera chips in Apple's new iPhone 4S.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

At the time thisarticle was published The Motley Fool owns shares of Yahoo!, Apple, and Research In Motion.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Yahoo!, Zumiez, and Apple and creating a bull call spread position in Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors.Longtime Fool contributorRick Munarrizcalls them as he sees them. He owns no shares in any of the stocks in this story and is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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