I do not like AAPL because it is the biggest stock in the world and still has a valuation that is nowhere near bubble territory. I also do not like Apple because I have always owned a Mac. In fact, I have never owned one nor have I wanted one. I do own an iPad and an iPhone, but only bought them in the last few years.
What I do like about Apple is that it was on the outside looking in with Microsoft for years, but did not stop trying to innovate. Actually, it is that continued innovation despite years of failure that took the stock from the year I started investing (1994) at around $4 a share to the current $124.43 a share it trades at now. Of course, that is split adjusted, but you can see what type of return long term investors could have had just by holding on to the stock.
If you take an Apple Product Timeline and put it by an Apple historic price chart you can get a good idea of what turned the table of fortune for the company. The iPod launched in 2002, but did not help the stock price until late 2004 to 2005. The product that apparently first started the real upward trend in the stock was the launch of the iPhone in 2007. Almost as soon as it was launched the stock started moving up. This was the product that finally got them out from under Microsoft’s lengthy shadow. The launch of the iPad in 2010 only appeared to further the stock price growth as tablets joined in the mobile revolution party.
In 1999, I wrote a series of articles proclaiming the death of the PC and prophesying that giant servers would deliver all the data to small clients. Over 15 years later and though some of it has finally happened and some has not, Apple’s true success can be tied to the fact that it went outside the bulky PC box and became the undisputed leader in mobile devices. Not only that, but it also eclipsed its old rival many times over. Not bad at all for a company that was written off for dead many times over the years.
Now that they are a mobile device giant, Apple is more at home these days innovating their best products such as the iPhone and iPad. The iPhone especially has became the top of the line and most sought after of all mobile products. On the flip side, new product innovation has slowed. The Apple Watch is not serving a great need like the iPhone, iPad, and even iPod did. Still, it would not be wise to discount anything Apple does in mobile. They have came a long way and will not be dethroned any time soon.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Apple_Inc._products
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