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General Motors once had over 50% of the domestic auto market. During this "golden age" if anyone had suggested that GM would go bankrupt, becoming a ward of the State, you would have been laughed out of the room.

But guess what? GM "failed". All institutions run by people are eventually subject to people's failings, weaknesses and whimsy. Just as 50 years ago there was no Apple Computers, 50 years hence there might not be again.

That being said, it is pretty clear that Apple is on top of its game in business right now. It is also historically accurate to say that it is hard to stay at the top over the long haul. If part of Apple iPhone's appeal is exclusivity, then there is a natural limit on how many can be sold before they are perceived as "common". It is like that time when the "new kid on the block" suddenly becomes "just another kid on the block".

I don't happen to own an iPhone, but my wife has both an iPad as well as a Surface, and uses them both as an educator. Here are her exact words comparing the two: "The Surface is what the iPad wants to be when it grows up."

Kids at her school break down like this: Young ones that want to "point and shoot" simple educational apps grab the iPads at the school. Older kids that actually want to do something for homework grab the Surfaces, because they can jam a USB drive in it, a simple, and some would say fundamental shortcoming on an iPad.

Will Apple fall? Sure, Rome did. What will do it? I don't know, probably no single thing, but a death of a hundred cuts, so to speak. This year? Naw. Next? Probably not. 50 Years? Pretty much 100% certain.

You said ... “Just as 50 years ago there was no Apple Computers, 50 years hence there might not be again.”

As long as they keep it up until I’m dead, which will be before the next fifty years ... :-) ...

BESIDES ... companies are looked at from quarter to quarter, and on that basis Apple is WILDLY SUCCESSFUL!

That being said, it is pretty clear that Apple is on top of its game in business right now. It is also historically accurate to say that it is hard to stay at the top over the long haul. If part of Apple iPhone's appeal is exclusivity, then there is a natural limit on how many can be sold before they are perceived as "common". It is like that time when the "new kid on the block" suddenly becomes "just another kid on the block".

With over ONE BILLION iOS devices sold, of which approximately 700 MILLION of those are iPhones, exclusivity is hardly a word I would tend to use in reference to the iPhone line. Desirability, yes, Usability, yes, Utility, yes. But certainly not "Exclusivity." You can buy either of the iPhone 6 models right now for ZERO dollars down at Walmart right now. That is hardly exclusive.