Tim Cook

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It’s been a long time coming, it seems, but today Apple announced that they became the first publicly listed US company valued at $1 trillion.  That’s a lot of zeros and it’s certainly hard to wrap your head around that kind of money.  Or maybe it’s just me.  That said, Apple saw its stock surge nearly 6% yesterday, after reporting better than expected earnings over the last quarter.  Gains continued into Thursday, which is when Apple’s stock officially broke the $207.04 share price.  That was the magic number to get them to this point.  Many analysts thought that Amazon was going to get there first.  In fact, this is something that we reported on a few weeks ago.  The numbers were clear.  Even though Apple was ahead, analysts were predicting Amazon to get there first.

That’s not to say that the analysts had it wrong.  But there were a lot of people who thought Apple wasn’t going to get there first.  What might be helping them is actually the Trump administration.  Which makes a lot of sense.  Apple is a business, and Trump loves business, which is why this might be happening.  In fact, Trump’s legislation has allowed Apple to reclaim tens of billions in international funds that have been held outside the United States.  It’s partially because of this that pushed the stock up to the $207 mark.  It’s also this reason that many analysts thought that Amazon would hit that number first.  But why did we discount Apple, to begin with?

When it comes to Apple, though, nothing should ever surprise us.  Especially when it comes to making large-scale moves that put them at the head of the pack.  Don’t get me wrong, Apple has had some missteps, but overall, they have a really sound business model, and some great products to boast.  But it hasn’t always been that way.  Years ago, Apple was seen as a bit of an underdog.  Not to say that it was Steve Jobs’ fault, but it certainly occurred when he was at the helm.  I think it was more about society’s perception of what would work.  No one really believed in Apple products until the iPod came along.  The iPhone followed shortly after, but the iPod seems like it was the pivotal piece of technology.

What we have now is a whole new way of thinking, working, communicating, creating and interacting with others.  We have an entire ecosystem built to support these very same products.  You can say whatever you want about Apple.  Love them or hate them, they’re doing something right. Without Apple, we wouldn’t have a lot of things that we have today.  Sure, that sounds pretty simplistic, but what I’m trying to say is that Apple has put the ideas into heads of developers and creators.  From there, they have been able to create something new or different.  That’s not to say that it has to be an Apple product, but its the way that our society works. I think that this valuation demonstrates how Apple has changed and shaped technology over the last 20 years.