[krishna2]

There is no rule that subsequent quarter revenue should be higher than the prior quarter. [For e.g. the holiday quarter is generally the highest revenue yielding one for consumer electronics companies]. That said, Apple generally sets the expectations way low. The street knows that. They figure out a higher number (based on the past) and make that their expectation and price the stock as such. The interesting thing though is that Apple has been beating that higher expectation as well.