Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs, Apple Co founder. He continues to be the guru most worshiped by followers, both in technology and in business.
In the past year the company led by Steve's appointed successor, Tim Cook, has moved the company to being the largest company in the world, by market cap metrics. The stock continues to be rated as undervalued by market experts, meaning it's price per share is at bargain basement prices based on the return on investment, and earnings per share. Investors who bought into Apple on the day of Steve's death and would sell today would realize an 80% gain in this past year, almost doubling your money. Had you invested $100,000 a year ago and cashed out today it would be worth $180,000. Simply trading 20 % of your original investment at strategic times when product announcements were made, that gain could easily be escalated to well over $300,000. Apple continued to release Steve's legacies during the past year and the public following continued to grow, as each updated design out sold by multiples the previous versions. The iphone 5 has become the most desired single smart phone product today. And, ipad continues to maintain product class dominance world wide. These are the products of Steve's legacy. They grow under the business management of Tim Cook.
Today there are many articles that question and raise doubt as to Apple's future. The key concern is the ability for Apple to further innovate new technological directions. This is what the Steve Jobs worshipers want to see. But as with most idols, especially those of human legend, people forget how Steve really worked. In most all cases he was not the visionary people credit him with. Instead, he would meet with his people and demand to see, " What do you have for me today?" They would tell him and he would usually insult them, telling them in his favorite response, " That is just sh*t! Get out of here and come back when you have something worthy." Then 2 weeks later, Steve would call a meeting and announce to the staff, he has come up with a wonderful new idea. Then proceed to describe the very thing his innovator told him about 2 weeks before but make it out to be his own. This became known as the Steve Jobs reality distortion field. Regardless of who is credited with the Apple Magic, the guy at the top, in charge gets the credit as it was Steve's ultimate decision to make the idea a product in the Apple lineup. What Steve really did was make damn sure these products would be "magic" in the eyes of the public. He was indeed a genius in knowing what the public really wanted before they knew themselves. This was his real magic. The question becomes then, not who can come up with great products but whether Tim Cook can inspire his people to be creative and then pick the idea to become reality, another hit product. That remains to be seen. Currently Tim Cook is still in business management mode of directing the build out of Steve's products.
As an investment, I am not concerned over the future. For the next 2-4 years Apple has enough momentum to carry it's dominance. The reason why is in each of the leading product sectors, Apple has plenty of room to grow. They are not even close to reaching the end of the road. But they do need to stay ahead of the competition with price and performance. Contrary to popular belief, Apple has not created anything new, ever. Instead most of their core products simply take an existing technology and make it easier to use. This most important SJ concept is what drove the company to become the world's largest, under the business management of Tim Cook.
In the past year the company led by Steve's appointed successor, Tim Cook, has moved the company to being the largest company in the world, by market cap metrics. The stock continues to be rated as undervalued by market experts, meaning it's price per share is at bargain basement prices based on the return on investment, and earnings per share. Investors who bought into Apple on the day of Steve's death and would sell today would realize an 80% gain in this past year, almost doubling your money. Had you invested $100,000 a year ago and cashed out today it would be worth $180,000. Simply trading 20 % of your original investment at strategic times when product announcements were made, that gain could easily be escalated to well over $300,000. Apple continued to release Steve's legacies during the past year and the public following continued to grow, as each updated design out sold by multiples the previous versions. The iphone 5 has become the most desired single smart phone product today. And, ipad continues to maintain product class dominance world wide. These are the products of Steve's legacy. They grow under the business management of Tim Cook.
Today there are many articles that question and raise doubt as to Apple's future. The key concern is the ability for Apple to further innovate new technological directions. This is what the Steve Jobs worshipers want to see. But as with most idols, especially those of human legend, people forget how Steve really worked. In most all cases he was not the visionary people credit him with. Instead, he would meet with his people and demand to see, " What do you have for me today?" They would tell him and he would usually insult them, telling them in his favorite response, " That is just sh*t! Get out of here and come back when you have something worthy." Then 2 weeks later, Steve would call a meeting and announce to the staff, he has come up with a wonderful new idea. Then proceed to describe the very thing his innovator told him about 2 weeks before but make it out to be his own. This became known as the Steve Jobs reality distortion field. Regardless of who is credited with the Apple Magic, the guy at the top, in charge gets the credit as it was Steve's ultimate decision to make the idea a product in the Apple lineup. What Steve really did was make damn sure these products would be "magic" in the eyes of the public. He was indeed a genius in knowing what the public really wanted before they knew themselves. This was his real magic. The question becomes then, not who can come up with great products but whether Tim Cook can inspire his people to be creative and then pick the idea to become reality, another hit product. That remains to be seen. Currently Tim Cook is still in business management mode of directing the build out of Steve's products.
As an investment, I am not concerned over the future. For the next 2-4 years Apple has enough momentum to carry it's dominance. The reason why is in each of the leading product sectors, Apple has plenty of room to grow. They are not even close to reaching the end of the road. But they do need to stay ahead of the competition with price and performance. Contrary to popular belief, Apple has not created anything new, ever. Instead most of their core products simply take an existing technology and make it easier to use. This most important SJ concept is what drove the company to become the world's largest, under the business management of Tim Cook.
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