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from the the-tide-goes-in-and-the-tide-goes-out dept.
The New York Times published a story that states the obvious for anyone who has studied economics, that Apple's dominant position today is not permanent. They may be very clever and innovative thanks to the spirit (and curse) of Steve Jobs lingering around 1 Infinite Loop, but all fame is fleeting.
In a few short years, Apple has become the biggest company on the planet by market value—so big that it dwarfs every other one on the stock market. It dominates the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index as no other company has in 30 years.
Apple’s market capitalization—the value of all of the shares of its stock—is more than $758 billion, greater than any other company’s. Yet the Wall Street consensus is that Apple is still having a growth spurt. In fact, if Apple’s watches, phones, laptops and other gadgets and services keep generating favorable publicity—and if its quarterly earnings report on Monday is as strong as the market expects it to be—there’s a reasonable chance that Apple’s value will keep swelling. Not far down the road, it might even reach the $1 trillion level that some hedge funds predict.
Yet, IBM was once a huge computer company, the one to beat, not unlike what Microsoft became.
IBM thrived for years afterward, but just as [Steve] Jobs had predicted, it turned out to be vulnerable to disruptive change, as all big companies are. For decades now, IBM has engaged in a sometimes painful transition, and as it revealed in its quarterly earnings report last week, it is still hurting: Its revenues have declined and it has endured wrenching business shifts.
My take on this is pretty straightforward. I own IBM stock; I don't own Apple except in the form of an S&P mutual fund. While I use Apple computers and like them, I have little faith in Apple's long-term future, whereas I think IBM will be around and relevant for much longer once they get their business properly reoriented.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 27 2015, @03:16PM
Apple? On top? In WHAT market? Their usage is under 20% in any arena they compete in. Profitability? Okay, sure, they're really good at getting their cultists to overpay for stuff... I'd love to see how anyone is justifying the idea that they're on top in the first place.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Aichon on Monday April 27 2015, @03:24PM
Take what I said in context, please. I was responding to the summary, in which it was pointed out that they're currently at the top in terms of market capitalization.
Apple’s market capitalization—the value of all of the shares of its stock—is more than $758 billion, greater than any other company’s.
And in general I don't disagree with your premise, though their share is well over 20% globally for tablets, and in certain markets their share for particular products is well over 20% (e.g. iPhones are around 40-50% in the US, depending on the quarter).