"Optics." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I've read the article twice, and am still puzzled. Does anyone else get this? Is it marketspeak?
It's from David Carr's NYT op-ed: "... and regardless of how the law shakes out, the optics are horrible for Apple."
So I think in that context it means "how it appears" vs. "how it is".