Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has made one of the business world's most triumphant returns ever in the last 10 years. Company founder Steve Jobs has put the company into its most profitable and envious position ever, and it seems very little can go wrong for Apple in any sense. We'll count the company as being named to Fortune's "The World's 50 Most Admired Companies" list for 2009 among its huge list of accomplishments in the last half decade.Either Apple is the best marketing company in the world, makes the best products for the markets where it competes, or has an unduplicatable formula for both. Yes, Steve Jobs' health continues to be in question (he's on leave until June), but the rate at which iPods, iPhones, and Mac computers are streaming out to customers is amazing.
Apple's products, in almost every case, are premium priced. Customers, responding to this, will pay that price for an incredibly well-designed product, complementary ecosystem (the entire consumer environment around its products), and exceptional product design.
The rest of the list? Try these heavyweights on for size: Berkshire Hathaway, Toyota Motor, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, FedEx and Southwest Airlines (tie), General Electric and Microsoft. There's your Fortune top 10. Apple first, Microsoft last -- whodothunkit?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-03-2009 @ 6:48PM
Mark Anderson said...
"Either Apple is the best marketing company in the world, makes the best products for the markets where it competes, or has an unduplicatable formula for both."
I'll have an A, Bob.