World's New #2 Corporation
Discussion
At death's door in 1997, Apple has now moved into the #2 spot of the world's most valuable corporations behind Exxon-Mobile. That's a hell of a lot of "i" items.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110429/ap_on_hi_te/us...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110429/ap_on_hi_te/us...
Surely has to be a case study for Brand Marketing. Incredible turn around, but whilst their products are good, they're not THAT good. Will be interesting to see what the future holds for Apple, their share price seems to be very closely linked to the position of Steve Jobs despite efforts to move him into a more background role.
johnnywb said:
Surely has to be a case study for Brand Marketing. Incredible turn around, but whilst their products are good, they're not THAT good. Will be interesting to see what the future holds for Apple, their share price seems to be very closely linked to the position of Steve Jobs despite efforts to move him into a more background role.
Job's health is a critical issue at the moment as well.RDMcG said:
Its more than brand marketing..its brilliant product innovation. The iPhone with the app store, ITunes and a bunch of other stuff redefined the entire value change in telecommunications. Very well deserved.
Marketing + convenience.They've moved iDevices out of the realm of computer nerds and into normal peoples lives.
There were better computers back in the day, better mp3 players etc. You could go and find mp3's online, rip your own etc.
Apple just made it all really easy and thoughtless with slick UI and integrated closed shop store fronts. Jobs knows that if its not simple and effortless the masses wont buy it.
The shift from computer company to consumer device/media sales worked well for them (only about 23% of their income is from computers now)
I always find it intriguing how people slate apple products due to battery/reception/ability to modify etc where for the vast majority it's absolutely fine and actually a rather enjoyable little device - better to please most of the people most of the time than some of the people some of the time. You don't get the success they have with bad products.
I've got a Blackberry (work) and an IPhone (personal), and being slightly different devices aside, I'd drop the Blackberry in a heartbeat and just use the IPhone if I could.
I've got a Blackberry (work) and an IPhone (personal), and being slightly different devices aside, I'd drop the Blackberry in a heartbeat and just use the IPhone if I could.
Jimbeaux said:
johnnywb said:
Surely has to be a case study for Brand Marketing. Incredible turn around, but whilst their products are good, they're not THAT good. Will be interesting to see what the future holds for Apple, their share price seems to be very closely linked to the position of Steve Jobs despite efforts to move him into a more background role.
Job's health is a critical issue at the moment as well.I've heard rumours of the English guy who's designed most of the products being lined up to take the company over.
I've always thought their biggest problem is, that even though it's got designed in california on the box, it's also got made in china on the box. And I'm not slating the chinese, but I don't think their quality control is as strict as it could be, considering all the faults with iphone4 and whatnot.
The Chinese don't do quality control 
It's why they're so competitive, because they cut corners on everything and are not held to the same standards as the West 
As for the i-products, I think that marketing the product to youngsters has created a generation of i-Slaves who cannot imagine life without the products on offer (it's almost a fashion statement), plus with the product having an easy to use design, it has appealed to those who were perhaps once afraid of technology. They've done very well to be fair to them
It's why they're so competitive, because they cut corners on everything and are not held to the same standards as the West As for the i-products, I think that marketing the product to youngsters has created a generation of i-Slaves who cannot imagine life without the products on offer (it's almost a fashion statement), plus with the product having an easy to use design, it has appealed to those who were perhaps once afraid of technology. They've done very well to be fair to them
Jimbeaux said:
At death's door in 1997, Apple has now moved into the #2 spot of the world's most valuable corporations behind Exxon-Mobile. That's a hell of a lot of "i" items.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110429/ap_on_hi_te/us...
Nothing gets past you! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110429/ap_on_hi_te/us...
Apple went into #2 spot in 2010Q3 iirc. That's certainly when their market cap was greater than MSFT, which iirc was in second place. Unless there is a European company I've missed with a bigger market cap.
What happened in the last week was that Apple not only turned over more than Microsoft, but made more than Microsoft as well in the quarter just gone.
A great comment about Apple beating Microsoft that I read was that although Apple sell hardware, which makes a large part of turnover, Microsoft are merely selling a piece of software. Therefore, you can assume that Microsoft are investing a huge amount on R&D and getting very little in return, when compared to Apple who are investing a much smaller amount in R&D and getting much better returns from it.
A measure of the outperformance is that if you'd put $10,000 into Microsoft in 2003, you'd now have $10,000.
If you'd put $10,000 into Apple, it'd now be worth something like $500,000.
It's a few weeks since I checked, so the values may have shifted a bit, but that's a massive outperformance.
If you'd put $10,000 into Apple, it'd now be worth something like $500,000.
It's a few weeks since I checked, so the values may have shifted a bit, but that's a massive outperformance.
NorthernBoy said:
A measure of the outperformance is that if you'd put $10,000 into Microsoft in 2003, you'd now have $10,000.
If you'd put $10,000 into Apple, it'd now be worth something like $500,000.
It's a few weeks since I checked, so the values may have shifted a bit, but that's a massive outperformance.
It's quite a story of 2 halves. Between 1986 and 2003 Microsoft would have turned your $10K to around $500,000. In Apple it would have only doubled to around $20K.If you'd put $10,000 into Apple, it'd now be worth something like $500,000.
It's a few weeks since I checked, so the values may have shifted a bit, but that's a massive outperformance.
So a shift from msft to aapl in 2003 would have been a very smart move
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