The epic quest to become the first $1 trillion company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2015/02/27/the-epic-quest-to-become-the-first-1-trillion-company/
There are plenty of reasons why Apple could become the first $1 trillion company. First of all, there’s the iPhone, still the best business on the planet ever. Then, there’s the company’s unprecedented ability, Steve Jobs or no Steve Jobs, to bring new high-end products to market each year, and make them all part of a networked mega-ecosystem. In just the past year, Apple has introduced the Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Apple HealthKit and Apple HomeKit – four potentially big innovations with the ability to invent (or re-invent) huge industries.
But there’s one good reason why Apple won’t be the first company to $1 trillion – and that’s because it’s too easy to fall into the trap of extrapolating from the recent past to predict the future.
Think back to the end of the last tech boom in the 1990s, when Microsoft, Cisco and Intel were stock market darlings and all of them attained stock market valuations of over $500 billion. At its peak, Microsoft had a market valuation of nearly $620 billion – comparable to Apple’s valuation back in August 2012 – and everyone thought the “Wintel” PC dynasty was unstoppable. And then the dot-com tech collapse happened in March 2000, changing everything we thought we knew about the Internet.
Fifteen years ago, then, we got it all wrong but it wasn’t our fault. Back in 1999, of course, Google was only a year old, Facebook was not even a dream yet in a Harvard dorm room, and the first iPhone was still nearly a decade away from being introduced. For much of 1999, Apple sported a nifty market capitalization of under $10 billion, less than that of either Dell or Nokia. Who would have guessed that Apple’s market cap had the potential to grow 100-fold over 15 years?
Additive manufacturing will change everything and the technology is only now starting to hit its exponential curve.
Wise to be cautious. Just as anti-Apple bigots go to extremes with lies about Apple failing, you can't predict the future with any precision based on the present.
As long as Apple diversifies while preserving an ecosystem where their products seamlessly work together, Apple Inc. can continue growing. Perhaps they can branch out into sports apparel and exercise equipment, that's a big growth area for them when wedded to their software and electronics. Electric-motorized bicycles can be a growth area with their expertise (something that Ford recently became invested in, will offer them in their dealer outlets). Why not mobility equipment for seniors, what with the aging Baby Boomer group? Apple can continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
A little off-topic, but related to Apple in regards to diversifying and growing.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ford-mode-pro-e-bike/
Here is a bike that Ford is building. Works with a linked smartphone and sensors, monitoring your heart-rate etc. and kicks in the electric motor when you’re tired of pedaling. Proximity sensors to warn of cars around you, handlebar grips vibrate for turn-by-turn directions for routes. It’s great to see an American company innovating. This is an area where Apple can jump in and compete with Ford.