I'm inclined to believe that AAPLstock value crashed two years ago because its growth was too fast in too little time. Nearly doubled in 10 months. I haven't got knowledge or skills to establish 700$ as a correct value. But it was clear enough that such a repentine growth was not sustainable in a short period
This "rumor" has now been picked up by major press and is linked on AAPL stock aggregates like its msn website.
http://investorplace.com/2014/07/aapl-apple-12/?cc=msnfeed&cp=feed
Same thing happened two years ago when "rumors" of apple's untimely demise exacerbated its sell off. You are correct that it was due a correction from $700 a share but it fell down to the 400's because of stupid rumors like this one that were repeated ad noisome and eroded which created a snow ball effect that panicked investors.
This "rumor" and the assumptions made in this article also imply that Tim Cook and CFO of apple misled investors and analysts during the conference call last week. I hope macrumors has notified the SEC, they have a "watergate" level story on their hands.
No I don't think that they cause apple to drop over 2$ today as the whole market is down, but did they contribute, surely they did. And for what? Posting a rumor based on flimsy evidence that does not even support the assumptions they make in this article. I hope they got the clicks they wanted from this.
Anyone who works or has worked at apple want to comment on "retail meetings" getting access to product launch dates? A friend of mine who used to work for them never got info about what exactly was launching until public unveilings were made. Inside trading laws and all that.......