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“I was lucky — I
found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my
parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had
grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company
with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation
— the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just
turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company
you started?
That was Steve Jobs at the Stanford Commencement address way back in
2005.
From the turbulent 1990s to the iPhones and iPads to personal health
problems-Steve Jobs has always surprised time and again with his
ability to bounce back. This time around his company pulled another
surprise: Apple became the world’s biggest technology company
in terms of market value on May 26, 2010 overtaking Redmond giant
Microsoft. Apple’s shares leapt as much as 2.8% in Nasdaq
that upped its market value to about $229 billion as against
Microsoft’s 219 billion. This could be a brief swell, but
shows how these two fights over a thin line that separates them now.
The last time Apple overtook Microsoft in terms of market share was in
1989, so after two decades Apple saw Microsoft in its rear view mirror.
Battle
heats up
While market share goes up and down, but it clearly points out at the
growing clout Apple is having on the market-thanks to its very consumer
focused devices like iPads that’s making Apple’s
revenues soar. While from a sales perspective Microsoft calls the shots
and going by the latest numbers for the latest quarter Microsoft made
about $14.5 billion while Apple did $13.5 billion.
While this development might be a ‘day’s
glory’ for Apple it’s an achievement and
a dividend for the hard work it did in the last two years in
terms of very innovative products that has captured the masses. Take
the case of iPads, which Apple has sold close to one million plus units
since its official launch in early April -one month, one million units-
a record of sorts. The speed at which Apple launched its products also
stunned the market and its rivals. For instance Apple began the second
stage of a two-part roll-out of the iPad and recently started selling
the pricier, high-speed wireless model in the US following the launch
of the short-range Wi-Fi tablet earlier in April. The company, which
has already delayed the international iPad launch by a month, said it
continues to have difficulty meeting demand. "Demand continues to
exceed supply and we are working hard to get this magical product into
the hands of even more customers," Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a
statement.
With iPads Apple became much closer to the masses, traditionally Apple
products are pricier and it had a dedicated fan following, but with
iPad Apple took a different strategy of a low cost model and attempted
a new device category-it’s a tablet, eReader and a netbook
all rolled into one ultra-small form factor. And it is this compact yet
functional device that connected with consumers in such a big way. It
also drives how innovation drives Apple and its shift form a just a PC
company to a larger player in the technology space.
While iPads are not yet making a big mark in emerging geographies like
India, is a market yet untapped by Apple for its computing products.
Analysts expect that Apple would aggressively tap into the big
potential emerging markets like India-just like Nokia did with it
mobile phones-and that would ensure much bigger market and some
innovative country specific products made to suit unique requirements.
The road ahead for Apple looks bullish and in the on-going year it will
lock horns with Microsoft and this battle would only ensure much more
innovative products for the consumers. That’s good news!