find out the one abouttwo guys who started a computer companyin their garage ? Of of course you have : Today , one such party is estimated to be themost worthful one in the world(or jolly nigh to it , depending on the variation of the stock marketplace ) . And there ’s a good reasonableness for that , as I reveal recently on anAcelafrom New York to Boston : If you were an extraterrestrial being who just landed on our planet and somehow hop on that power train , you ’d assume that all humans constantly confab some form of oracle color with a fruit logotype .
The story of Apple has been well chronicle , and the story of the two Steves has taken on mythological proportion . But the history has only just begun as far as I ’m concern . Apple ’s value is now north of half - a - trillion dollar mark . ( To reword the lateSenator Everett Dirksen , a trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you ’re talking serious money . ) So , asJed Bartlet , might say , the question for Apple is : What ’s next ?
If you ’re screaming “ tv set ! ” , steady down . Yes , even you , Wall Street Analyst Who Shall Not Be nominate . The full television - set patronage is worth about $ 30 billion . That ’s it . Even assuming Apple takes all of that , it ’s hardly the type of receipts that Apple demand to fire the future . That ’s the sort of money the ship’s company observe under the mattress for a rainy day purchase or two .
I do n’t wish to foretell what Apple might or might not do onany give Tuesday . In fact , those that do make such predictions are almost always more wrong than right . I will jeopardize to say that Apple must attempt new opportunity in other mart . What I do know is that , in the past , Apple invented unexampled place for itself to go that we did n’t even get it on existed , which is what makes predictions so difficult and why forecaster often turn out to be incorrect .
It is tell that after subdue all of the then - acknowledge world , Alexander the Great wept , for there were no more worlds to inhibit . In a world where the Apple ecosystem has imbue the hearts , minds and wallets of people everywhere , what happens when everyone has an iPhone or iPad ? How many product revise will consumer continue to buy ? How many new merchandise categories can be created that can goad growth as iPad did ?
It was n’t that long ago that a popular mantra in job was that no one got fired for buying IBM . A ten ago , Microsoft was viewed as nearly invincible in the digital long time . Today ’s applied science manufacture is affect at a pace never seen before . company with literally no revenue and fewer than a XII employee are bought for a billion dollar or more . It is in this world that Apple must await to a futurity of continued relevancy and reach for the — ahem—“NeXT ” big thing .