Apple (AAPL)
With razor sharp lines, the nineteen-fifties styled suits of emerging corporations, clashed with the casual, unkempt sentiment of the sixties determined to shake off the “establishment.” This atmosphere and attitude created the tectonic plates of the business world and the society collision that created the multimedia mountain of Apple (AAPL).
The history of Apple reads much like the history of many ancient civilizations. From humble beginnings, riding the crest of the wave of technology advancements, falling from grace, and finally resurrection for redemption. Apple, like the Greeks or Romans, eventually created alliances with what were once bitter competitors.
Fierce competition from Commodore, IBM, and Microsoft led founder Steve Jobs to push the company to near implosion. Internal struggles led the board of directors to remove Jobs from managerial responsibilities. The Apple stock suffered as a series of disappointing products held the stock at under three dollars a share.
Gil Amelio, the Apple CEO in 1997, purchased NeXt and gained Steve Jobs back in an advisory role, which became a visionary role, until his death in 2011. Through his second role in Apple’s existence Job’s ushered the company from $2.27 per share to the current price of $599.55 per share. Although a strong trade value, Apple has yet to pay a dividend to investors.
As many wonder with the passing of founder/visionary Steve Jobs, where the Apple will fall, and in the Q1/2012 Conference Call Timothy D. Cook (CEO), Peter Oppenheimer (CFO) as well as an army of analysts open the books that hold the $599 plus per share.
Peter Oppenheimer (CFO) outlined the increases of revenue in each product line, as well as the iTunes store and the accessories product market. The stock increase of nearly $14 per share for the first quarter of 2012 was accentuated by the roll out of iTunes in Brazil.
Apple faced harsh critics, even as most were captivated with the roll out of the iPhone 4s, and Siri, the critics complained that the new version wasn’t new enough. The new battle in the smart phone, tablet market is going to fall on power. Both the consumption of power by the device and the life of the battery is the turning point.
The innovations of Apple’s “i” family of products and the newer versions of the tablet market on the horizon Apple is poised to continue to lead the mobile media markets. The only bumps are the string of lawsuits that are being slung as other companies race to covet newly developed technology, and fight to protect proprietary technology.