“Watching Apple stumble,” begins the worst-of-times piece, “is a little like witnessing a just-over- the-hill prizefighter wobbling on his feet or a once-eloquent orator stammering for the right word. But there’s no question: Apple has lost a step since the death of Steve Jobs. That this observation is as inevitable as the effects of gravity doesn’t make it any less shocking or lamentable.

“How has Apple fallen? Let us count the ways. It has been three years since the release of the iPad, the company’s last breakthrough product. The latest version of its mobile software reminds design critics more of the edgier features of Google’s (GOOG) Android or Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Phone than anything associated with Apple’s penchant for leapfrogging-the-competition boldness. Apple’s management is defensive, its people are less committed, and its competitors are resurgent. Apple’s ferocious profit growth has stalled, and investors have lost faith in its ability to restart that engine. Apple’s stock price is deflated, sure, but that’s merely a symptom, not the disease.

“Sorry, haters. Apple has a long way to go before it can be counted out. Look closely at what little Apple has revealed about its secretive plans for the future, and you’ll see a still-dominant, still-innovative company that is intelligently regrouping for fresh battles that didn’t exist when Jobs was around. In its corporate DNA, Apple is a go-for-broke company, an astounding attribute given its size. The opportunities for reinvention at Apple are many, and to underestimate the abilities or the imagination of the crew Jobs left behind would be foolish. Just because Apple hasn’t indicated its road map or offered concrete examples of of its upcoming breakthrough ideas doesn’t mean it doesn’t intend to surprise and delight its customers again, the way it has so many times before.”

And it concludes:

“The conventional wisdom in the media, on Wall Street, and by lovers of schadenfreude everywhere is that dull normality will weigh down Apple in the years to come. Some canny observers of Apple’s past and future, however, see something different altogether: renewed greatness.”