Sequencing Apple's DNA

Introduction

Even for whoever may not appreciate Apple products (at least, not as much as the authors, which seems possible), Apple Inc. is a fascinating company from a purely business standpoint.

When a company becomes so successful, over such a significant period of time, (which excludes happy coincidences), it is worth analyzing so to draw conclusions which are as general as possible.

Of course, there is no such thing as a silver bullet: success requires effort, risk taking and some people appear as programmed for success, even though they make wrong decisions from time to time, or good decisions based on incorrect reasoning, which defies logic – but probably not business.

Apple, which came so close to disappearing from planet Earth in 1996, has produced ever since such an incredible success that few people may realize that it is the logical sustained endeavor of inner guidance.

Now, on a rocketing track of an approximate $200B annual turnover, $40B profit after taxes and market capitalization on its way to $1 trillion in the near future. On an average stock exchange day, 1% of Apple stock is traded, which is equivalent to the total of exchanges for most European financial places, on the same day. In the past, IBM only achieved a comparable success. IBM market dominance in the 1970s is now something difficult to figure out.

At that time, so-called “IBM watchers” pretended ...