Were Apple's iPhone Sales 'Crappy'? Henry Blodget Thinks So

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tuesday on TheStreet, I chided Wall Street analysts for their role in the iPhone 5-related dive in Apple's (AAPL) stock price.

I was unfair, but only to the extent that I unintentionally exonerated the media from its share of the blame.

The hype surrounding this story showcased -- and, sadly, continues to showcase -- everything that is wrong with the smash-and-grab 24-hour news cycle.

I believe in being provocative, in bringing entertainment value alongside investment value and unique perspectives on the news. That's all good. But, above all else, I shoot straight.

For instance, my first reaction to news that Apple "missed" iPhone 5 estimates was not that they "missed," but that irresponsible Wall Street analysts who produce unscientific and unreliable projections deserve flack for bigger picture problems in the dysfunctional analyst-media-stock market relationship.

For better, but usually for worse, the media eats analyst conjecture up.

This unfortunate tradition of taking seriously the numbers analysts pull out of the air leads us to the absurd territory of being let down when Apple sells, at minimum, 5 million phones in one weekend!

And, if you're Henry Blodget at Business Insider, you can be all over the place on the issue. While you're there, you can take a well-regarded partner like Bloomberg into the mud with you.

Here's a Tuesday morning Tweet from Blodget:

Follow me here.

Blodget teases a story by referring to iPhone sales as "crappy."

Let's start with what's wrong with that.

First, they weren't crappy. If they were, I guess his characterization would have been fine. But, they weren't.

The number, including preorders, might have been more than seven million. And, by now, who knows how high it's gone? So Henry, please tell us, what the hell were you talking about when you said sales were "crappy?"

What makes things even worse is that Blodget uses the disingenuous "crappy" line to lead into a story that absolutely does not reflect the tone of his tease. When you open the link, you come to a Business Insider-hosted version of this relatively tame Bloomberg story titled, "Apple iPhone 5's Thin Display Drives Supply Shortfall."

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