Google Again Surpasses Apple as Most Valuable Company in the World

The smartphone and computer market have settled. I see no reason to panic. Apple still innovates but as noted many times, at this point improvements will be incremental. Android and iOS both innovate and hit/miss. Apple remains a very profitable company.

A few ways Apple could improve (in my opinion):

a: iPhone price points should be based largely on features rather than storage.
b: iCloud should be more generous with storage. It is ridiculous that a customer only gets 5GB shared across all devices. iCloud will remain a niche product rather than a strong selling point when every other major player offers considerably more complimentary storage. Apple should offer 16GB storage for EACH registered iCloud capable device. In other words, make it useful enough for people to see the potential value of "the iCloud".
c: Good god Apple, update your computers more regularly.
d: Clean up product lines and have features that fit the line. It makes no sense to sacrifice performance and connectivity on a pro-line of devices for the sake of "thinner!!!". Likewise, get serious about user serviceability again. The MacPro is a neat design but deserves a rethink. It is already too hard for Apple to regularly update products without proprietary components. Much the same for all other computer lines.
e: Slow down on major OS releases. Release when ready and NOT before.
f: Make AppleTV more full-featured. Addition of the App Store was long overdue. Re-think the blinding white-background (iOS in general is too bright). Allow use of removable storage... not everyone wants to run their media through iTunes on a computer that has to be running all the time.
g: Pick a freakin standard already. There are waaaay too many adapters needed now.
h: UPDATE THOSE COMPUTERS NOW!!!
 
bbeagle said:
Not at all.

When people pick on Apple (overpriced, not innovative, bad hardware, etc. etc.), one fallback has always been, 'Well, they're #1 in sales/profit'. It's something that can be measured.

There is no end to the Apple haters.

Patent system is broken either way - when it's working for Apple or against. People steal ideas from Apple all the time, and won't stop until Apple takes them to court. Apple occasionally takes ideas too, they pay for them, or when they accidentally don't and are find out (like the Swiss Clock), they back away without a lawsuit. When patent trolls attack Apple, Apple attacks back. If you're anti-Apple, you really have no foot to stand on. Apple has been a very good company in this regard compared to others, most of all Samsung.
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Tee hee. You effort to refute Hobbs only adds validity to what he said. Look at how you frame the context. Others steal from Apple all the time. Apple occasionally takes ideas (not steal), but they either pay for them or it's an accident. Ericsson might not agree with you. When patent trolls attack... they tend to look a lot like Rockstar Consortium. Revising history doesn't make it true, it makes it fiction.

Basically all you said was other companies do stuff. Apple does too, but it's okay because... reasons. That's exactly what Hobbs said.

Apple is no better or worse than any other company out there. They are going to do what they think is in the best interest of the company. One doesn't have to be an Apple hater to realize a large corporation is going to do what large corporations do. That's not an indictment of Apple, or any other company for that matter. It just is what it is.
 
Amazing Iceman said:
Title is misleading because it's about Alphabet, Google's parent company, which is a conglomerate of companies covering multiple industries.

As a brand, Apple still remains on top of Google, according to Forbes and this recent post:
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/12/apple-most-valuable-brand-2016-forbes/
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Your point is valid, but you are mixing Apples and Oranges (sorry for the pun). Yes, the comparison is between Alphabet and Apple's STOCK price, in which it is fair to say that Alphabet has a higher MARKET CAPITALIZATION than Apple.

That says nothing about how PROFITABLE the companies in Alphabet's portfolio are compared to Apple.

However, the Forbes number is an estimate of how VALUABLE THE BRAND of Apple is separate from its physical assets. None of those three can effectively be directly compared to the other as each is a measure of very different things.
 
Apple Corps said:
You must be kidding. If an outdated Mac Pro is your only criticism of Apple you must have exceedingly low expectations.
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Hm, I've more then just one critical note towards Apple on which I think the company could do better. But general speaking, the company does a decent job in building good computers and very solid high end smartphones. Apple only lacks in keep their high-end MacPro's up to date.

But before you might react in a hysterical fashion, don't forget that this is just my point of view. That I don't jump on the "Apple is doomed" wagon is because I find such kind of statements a bit to silly after the company has made record earnings in 13 straight years and have way more then anough cash to come up with new ideas, products and services. I don't see any reason why the prospects for Apple should be considered troubling...
 
Apple will be left behind. Google is doing awesome things, Youtube too. Google has the Google Drive and I run my company with it, that is Innovation. Apple has safari which is a cheap toy, it has the iWorks that is a toy... I mean, Apple had the pieces in front and never put them together... instead is inventing "building cars".

Apple has the editing softwares, iMovie but never created a platform like Youtube... do you see how mediocre Apple actually is? there is no innovation, there are excuses. Apple will fail in the automobile business. It will release a car that will be more expensive and easy superable by Ford, Toyota, BMW, Kia, Fiat, Porsche, Audi...

Thanks Tim...
 
As others mentioned - Apple has become mediocre after Steve Jobs left. There's a huge problem with Apple structurally - it is a 'rockstar' company. You saw this with Steve Jobs, and now you see this with the players at the top. The problem with companies like Apple is that they don't tend to survive very well if the Rockstars "check out" (like evidently Ive has), or die (like Steve has).

Apple will go in a tailspin once the iPhone has lost its luster. I don't think that the current team at Apple is able to pull off a "moon-shot" with the Apple Car. I really don't think they have it in them (what have they produced post Steve Jobs that shows that they could? All new products have been mediocre).

Yes, Apple changed the phone market. But there is a young player in cars: Tesla, that has a very Apple like halo about them. In fact, going up against Apple - Tesla will be seen as the underdog, scrappy company against the "man" Apple. Sort of the reverse image that Apple had with the iPhone, and the Mac.

Tesla is not Creative Labs (MP3 players), Motorola, or Blackberry (phones) - who were the players Apple was against when Steve Jobs led them to revolutionize those markets.

Over the past few years I have come to the conclusion that the spirit of Apple that I loved is dead. They are Microsoft and IBM and everything I loathed about entrenched tech companies in the past.

It was a nice run while it lasted.
 
DesterWallaboo said:
I continue to buy Apple products for numerous reasons. But one of the big ones is Apple's commitment to protecting user privacy and not selling their personally identifiable information. A policy stance that Google will likely never take.
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That you know... Since Apple is a closed box, we don't really know what they do in the backroom with our data.
 
1 iPhone = 2 models...consumer and pro, more storage
1 Laptop = 2 models...consumer and pro, more storage, faster
1 Desktop = 2 models...consumer and pro, more storage, both faster than the laptops
1 iPad = 1 model...big screen and faster than the iPhone
1 Watch = 1 model...with a killer must have function
1 iCar = 1 model...safe, cool, fast, and lots of storage!!

1 iTunes = for Music, thats it, no iRadio, no Streaming, just your library, and store to purchase more
1 iMovie = for Movies, thats it, no music, no podcasts, with rental or purchase options
1 iPhone Cloud Sync = back up your iPhone / Apps / Pictures to any Apple computer, stored securely in the FREE cloud.
1 Spotify = just acquire them already, and fire Jimmy Iovine / Beats, they are dead weight
 
DesterWallaboo said:
I continue to buy Apple products for numerous reasons. But one of the big ones is Apple's commitment to protecting user privacy and not selling their personally identifiable information. A policy stance that Google will likely never take.
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Where did you get your information that Google sell identifiable information?

Please refer to the following web pages:
https://privacy.google.ca/about-ads.html
https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Information We Share:
We may sharenon-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners – like publishers, advertisers or connected sites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.

* With your consent
We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google when we have your consent to do so. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.


That "personal information" does not include identifiable information...
 
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Its a business,, no one has friends in a business. It's every buck well spent.... at a cost of anything.. That's always been my game...
 
Jakexb said:
You really should be an analyst.
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How do you know I'm not, or an insider trader?

Popeye206 said:
Sell???? I'll double down and buy more at that price! I really do believe this is temporary. Apple has lots of things to fix and places to innovate, but they do a ton of things better than anyone else.
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The innovation (lack of) is the reason for the down turn. Stock market is all based on the future, not the past.
 
s15119 said:
Yeah, they only sold $50.56 billion in the last quarter. The sky is falling.


sigh
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Sigh indeed. You don't really understand business do you? A company's revenue isn't judged relative to your personal revenue but rather compared to metics based on the respective companies revenue from other reporting periods. $50b in revenue is meaningless in a vacuum; just a number. Next to the fact it missed its own projects by $1.6b it's not so hot. Next to the fact it had $58b in Q2 FY15 it's a bit sobering.

Apple's Revenue decline may or may not be serious, but it's nothing to waive off either.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Why would anybody care about who is number 1?
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Haven't you heard? It's the new thing now in brand marketing to get people who have no connection to you other than being customers to root for you like you're a sports team. They intimately follow corporate head-changing in area that have no impact on product design and wish ill on competitors even when they are the main force that keeps innovation and improvements happening at "your" platform.

Just being a major player isn't enough. You have to WIN.
Because only by being the top dog and eating all the marketshare like Microsoft did once upon a time is the true route to a innovative future that benefits consumers, as Microsoft showed. /smirk
 
Chupa Chupa said:
... While the two have competing products in many categories, Apple makes its $ off selling the hardware. Google makes its money from the data its hardware reports back to it.
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In 2014, Apple got paid $1billion from Google. Apple didn't sell any hardware to Google. Want to guess what Apple sold? Access to iOS user info, or more specifically so that Google search would be the default search engine in Safari.

Same year, Apple also got paid by the music group U2. Again, Apple didn't sell any hardware to them. Apple sold advertising services to them or more specifically Apple added a U2 albulm to all iTunes users account. If someone clicked shuffle music, they were going to hear advertising (u2 music).
 
I've been all aboard the Apple doom train for a year now, but I don't understand why Google is so valuable either.
 
dragje said:
You forget that Apple generated in there fiscal year of 2015 $233 billion in revenue (up 116% in four years), with 40% gross margins (essentially flat over four years), and the company had over $53 billion in net income (up 106%), and EPS increasing 133%, with over $70 billion in free cash flow (up 110%) before dividends and share buybacks and Apple has still almost $144 billion in net cash.

"Apple is doomed!!" .....

You where saying?
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May be you should read the history of BB and Nokia????
 
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