Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2013. The all-time high of $705 per share, the 23% fall and the “current” price of $475 are pre-split figures from then; Apple has since split its stock 7-for-1 in 2014 and 4-for-1 in 2020. The iWatch and iCar were rumours in 2013; Apple launched the Apple Watch in 2015.
Ever since Apple hit an all-time high of $705 per share, the sales and forecasts for its star products (iPhone, iPad…) have raised doubts in the market. They are seen as highly cyclical products facing more and more competitors. On top of that, the death of the company’s innovative genius, Steve Jobs, suggests that Apple may have lost some of its competitive edge. As a result, its shares have fallen 23% over the last six months.
Today we’re opening the Pandora’s box of Apple rumours, because other products and business models that Steve Jobs was very interested in before he died could still go ahead. Steve Jobs wanted to build a car (the iCar), drawing on the technology the company already has. Many would dismiss the idea of Apple making cars, but others would fit together a few pieces that make this crazy idea hard to rule out, because Apple has the strategic people to pull it off.
Eddy Cue, who is in charge of software and internet services at Apple, sits on Ferrari’s board. Phil Schiller, another of Apple’s “musketeers”, is passionate about cars and motor sport. Building cars may seem crazy for both Apple and Google, but Google is already working on the smart car, so Apple might not want to be left behind.
Apple could also start reinventing itself across a whole range of products. In the same way that Google has diversified into renewable energy, cars and smart glasses, Apple will bring out the iWatch as an appetiser: a smartwatch able to connect to all kinds of devices. In time, it wouldn’t be surprising if the watch itself became the phone, and if we could even make mobile payments straight from the iWatch.
Experts say that current technology could be running at less than 15% of its capacity for the next 10 years. The companies with the right people, the resources and the ability to bring the unthinkable to market are clearly Google and Apple, although Facebook shouldn’t be ruled out either. So far we only see Facebook as a social network, but we shouldn’t forget that Apple, Google and Facebook all carry hardly any debt and have the best professionals on the planet to bring just about anything to market.
As for Apple, it isn’t a company I would personally buy at $700 a share, but at $475 (its current price) I might consider it, as it would be a great opportunity to add it to my portfolio. Steve Jobs is gone, but Apple may still be very much alive and could still surprise us in the medium to long term.
Featured image: Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
