Although last year's giddy rise in Apple's shares suggests otherwise, investors claim they understand the challenges that the company's success has brought it. Indeed, Tony Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, pointed out earlier this year that had Apple sustained its sales growth for another five years, its annual revenue would have matched the gross domestic product of Australia. None of which does anything to relieve the scr*utiny on Cook when he faces Wall Street this week. Apple is expected to report profits of $9.5bn for the first three months of this year in what would be its first annual decline in income in a decade. The company has already said that sales will be between $41bn and $43bn, which would be the weakest annual growth since 2009.