If you've never watched the iPhone release, it's well worth the time. Just six short years ago (January 2007) Apple's Steve Jobs unveiled their first iPhone to a enthusiastic crowd at the Mac World Convention in San Francisco and blew away the phone industry. By June, hundreds stood in lines outside of stores across the nation to get their hands on the hot, new innovative product. Remember them camping out? *lol* People scrambled to save their pennies and begged Mom/Dad to get a piece of the "magic". Here's a quick visual of AAPL's innovation and I realize I'm missing much but bear with me:
- 1984 MacIntosh which changed and challenged the entire computer industry.
- 2001 iPod transformed the music industry. My own kids had one iPod after another. As soon as a new one was announced, I knew what to add to their birthday/Christmas list.
- 2010 The iPhone which transformed phones (in my opinion). This was the biggie which took an ipod style phone without keyboard buttons or stylus and added touch screen technology from the ipod touch and incorporated it into a phone/first-ever scrolling and tap ability/Camera/a SMS internet communicator running OS10 which synched to your desktop, music, office, video, email, etc. and switched seemlessly to Wifi, maps (and much more)............ALL rolled into one.
Fast forward to 2013. We've seen improvements (dare I mention Apple Maps?), pixels increase, retina display, etc. but industry changing? Not in my mind. iWatch or iTV coming? Meh. Yes, sales continue worldwide and in emerging markets as more users find the ability to afford such expensive devices however, show me how they're going to transform how we live, work, eat and interact each day and I'll get on board. Unfortunately we're not seeing or hearing anything to that effect. Just a new "toy" at this point (to me).
In fact in 2013, in terms of global internet usage, Samsung climbed ahead of Nokia to take second place behind Apple on a worldwide basis according to StatCounter. Another reason to wonder if AAPL's ability to innovate and draw users is waning.
Of course AAPL says they're still innovative but I truly beg to differ and I believe the stock's movement reflects the concern of investors. It's become more of a value play in my mind. What do you think? Now I'm certainly not saying AAPL isn't a great company. Of course it is. But a growth story? Anyone standing in long lines anymore? Not this chick.
Sources: Wikipedia TechFortune MacRumors StatCounter
Edited 6/16/13 to add Stat Counter data
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