Apple, Inc.
Steve Jobs, a cofounder of Apple, turned a user interface developed at Xerox PARC into a commercial success and so began Apple's ascent | by Bill Lockwood
What a success story. A recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek stated that Apple’s market value is north of $3 trillion. Yes, you read it right, trillion. This makes the company the most valuable in the entire world. The article also stated that in 2023 Apple posted close to $400 billion in revenue. This is as big as the economy of Denmark or the Philippines.
It all started with the Apple II, which was a home-hobby computer, until a piece of software called VisiCalc was introduced. This spreadsheet program turned the Apple II into a business computer. Then came the Macintosh, with the introduction of the point-and-click user interface. This user interface was developed at Xerox’s PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) and was never turned into a commercial success until Steve Jobs, a cofounder of Apple, got a look at it and decided to use it as the user interface for the Macintosh. Jobs was a creative genius. And as it turned out, this is now the standard user interface on all computers. I should add that we have been Mac users since day one.
But today, Apple is far more than the Macintosh. Digital services now account for a large chunk of its revenue. According to the article, sales from digital services came in at $24.2 billion in the third quarter of this year, more than the combined revenue of Adobe, Airbnb, Netflix, Palantir, Spotify, Zoom, and Elon Musk’s X. Also, according to the article, by the time Jobs died in 2011, the Apple App store listed more than 500,000 apps, and the company had sold 72 million iPhones and 32 million iPads and had a market value almost double that of Microsoft.
What I found interesting is that Apple has very high standards on what apps get approved for its iPhone. Those developing apps must submit them, and if approved, must submit updates as well for Apple’s review and approval. This is done by a large team of reviewers, and Apple gets a 30% fee from these apps, creating a substantial revenue stream.
These days Apple is everywhere with its technology. But due to its size, market share, and polices, it is now dealing with a Department of Justice lawsuit to rein in its power. It seems that when companies command a dominant market position, they become arrogant. And this does not bode well for a company. Whether this lawsuit goes anywhere remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, Apple’s success must be admired. PTMR
