Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Climbs to #35 in Fortune 500 Rankings

Market cap, revenue, profits are all great of course but what I hope for is that Apple continues to produce great products of high quality and value. It's the reason I chose the Apple II over the TRS80, the Commodore 64, and all the other startups those many years ago. They're all gone now but Apple is still around, still making insanely great gizmos.
 
DTphonehome said:
Love the point about hiring. Apple haters should at least be proud that in a brutal global economy, there's at least one company adding jobs at a fast clip right here in the USA!
Click to expand...

McDonald's hired 62,000 people... 50,000 more than Apple. And I think Mickey-D's even pays more. :eek:
 
DTphonehome said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Love the point about hiring. Apple haters should at least be proud that in a brutal global economy, there's at least one company adding jobs at a fast clip right here in the USA!
Click to expand...
yeah, way to go apple!
 
Tones2 said:
I'm not. I'm just saying that:

1) "Quality" is a subjective thing

AND

2) Size does not mean quality - Proof by looking at the Top 10 list.

So for the fanboys that are going to EQUATE increasing size with quality, you can't. That doesn't mean that Apple does or does not make quality products relative to the market. It just means that size has little to do with that. Size is about either about base need or conversely about marketing, resources, and time.

And "Profitability" is about how high a price a company can set and get away with it because of supply being greater than demand or because they have sufficiently created a fanatical fanboy base that will accept a higher than rest of the market price for similar items. So if Apple is more profitable as a percent of revenues compared to similar companies, then they are charging us too much but are able to get away with it. Just like the oil companies and banks on the list.

Tony
Click to expand...

Having fun poking a stick at all the fanbois and listening to the hissing, are you?

Fact is, you're right. Size in revenue does not necessarily equate to quality. But your assertion that a lot of those companies in the top ten don't make quality products is a little absurd.

Wal-Mart: Say what you want, Wal-Mart nails their intended market segment better than any company out there. Do they necessarily provide a luxurious experience? Absolutely not. But they do offer, better than anyone else what they intend to offer. That is value for your dollar, and a huge selection of durable and non-durable consumer products. There is no argument that can be made against that.

Exxon: They sell petroleum products. High quality petroleum products. Nuff said.

Ford: They actually get high quality marks these days.

Berkshire: Justin and Acme boot companies both make very fine products. Netjets not a quality product? You high? GEICO? Great insurance company that sells a great product (Hint: Service is what they sell).

General Electric: If they don't make quality products you better stop flying on airliners. They make most commercial jet engines.

I think I made my point about the top ten, and your assertion that they don't produce quality.

Now, on to Apple. While again you are correct that being big isn't synonymous with quality, there's a difference between being big because you have a lot of chips, and can bully everyone else at the table, and getting bigger because everyone keeps buying your products. They wouldn't be GROWING as fast as they are if they didn't produce quality that people are willing to pay a premium price to get. That's what they can brag about.

Your arguments seem a little troll-like to me.
 
gkarris said:
Wow - who's Big Brother now?
Click to expand...

Big Brother has to do with spying the population, knowing everything about it and make it at your mercy. You’re way off the track when you relate this to being rich ;)
 
Tones2 said:
Nice.... Like quality isn't a subjective thing. :rolleyes:

But whatever you think about Apple's quality, size and growth is NOT about quality, as evidenced by many in the top 50. And that was my point.

Here are the Top Ten:

1 Wal-Mart Stores
2 Exxon Mobil
3 Chevron
4 ConocoPhillips
5 Fannie Mae
6 General Electric
7 Berkshire Hathaway
8 General Motors
9 Bank of America Corp.
10 Ford Motor

Not something really to aspire to.


Tony
Click to expand...

So a company should not aspire to be around for 119 years like GE and still take in massive revenue?
 
cvaldes said:
No, the key to Apple's success is no secret and it's not the iPad.

It's the iPhone.

It generates over half the company's revenue and has the fattest gross margins of all their product lines.
Click to expand...

100% correct! It's all about the iphone!

cheers to the longs
johnG
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Good. Apple is one step closer to taking over the world. I can't wait!! Won't it be exciting when everyone uses Apple products! Soon we will all be the same.
Click to expand...

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships.
We will add your biological and ethnolocial distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The funny thing is that I remember a time when people used this quote to sneer at Microsoft. And there was a time when Apple was the underdog and created the 1984 commercial. Now with that tight iTunes/iOS control freak software, I doubt that they would make such a commercial again.
 
Winni said:
"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships.
We will add your biological and ethnolocial distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The funny thing is that I remember a time when people used this quote to sneer at Microsoft. And there was a time when Apple was the underdog and created the 1984 commercial. Now with that tight iTunes/iOS control freak software, I doubt that they would make such a commercial again.
Click to expand...

Mostly because people would cringe at the Star Trek reference.

At least Apple pretends to have personality, so that's already better than Microsoft
Click to expand...
 
There we have it! Undeniable proof!

As Full of ...... always says:

Apple going down fast. Embarassing and a total disgrace to not be #1 !

LOL
 
You can argue this way or that, but the bottom line is quite simple here no matter how you want to slice it: Apple is moving up the list, and is thus on a roll. All the columnists who talk about how Apple is in trouble are missing this big picture.

Now if next year Apple drops to #257, then the columnists can talk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back