In a press release on April 23, 2014 the Board of Directors of Apple, Inc. announced a Seven-for-One Stock Split. Each Apple shareholder of record at the close of business on June 2, 2014 received six additional shares for every share held, and trading began on a split-adjusted basis on June 9, 2014. The effect of the stock split on Apples share price was as follows:

Stock Price before Split (June 6, 2014): $649.90 Stock Price after Split (June 9, 2014): $92.70

Discuss why the Board might have approved the stock split? Is the announcement of a stock split positive news to the market? If so, why (Note: Apple Stock price on October 6, 2017: $155.33)?