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At 40, There's Never Been a Tech Company Quite Like Apple (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the hate-it-or-love-it-but-can't-ignore-it dept.

Mike Murphy, reporting for Quartz: Forty years ago today, two college dropouts decided to start selling cobbled-together computers out of a garage in California because they couldn't afford the ones on the market. They had an intricate wood-cut logo, not much money or manpower, and their first computer only sold about 175 units. But in the years between then and now, Apple has become one of the most valuable companies in the world, spurring revolutions in how we communicate, use computers, listen to music, and to a lesser extent, tell the time. [...] Some critics think that Apple is boring now, setting itself up to iterate on its successes and lock customers into their services with products that are very good, but nothing they haven't really seen before. This is a solid business strategy that will provide strong returns for years to come, but not those eye-popping leaps we've seen before. Here's a video Apple published recently showcasing 40 of its most remarkable products.

9 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Apple is boring? by Noah+Haders · · Score: 4, Funny

    Boring? Just wait for the apple car. It will blow you away.

  2. college dropouts? by OffTheLip · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That term has always been meaningless when it comes to entrepreneurs. What could they possibly learn from academia? They have the idea, they have the motivation.

    1. Re:college dropouts? by netsavior · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is mostly something that people say to fool themselves into thinking it can happen to them. Ever notice these famous "college drop-outs" had the luxury of dropping out of prestigious and expensive universities? Someone drops out of Reed, Harvard, or Yale has a better chance of making it than someone who graduates from a state university.

      If you are already on third base, you don't have to hit the ball in order to score.

    2. Re:college dropouts? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wonder what the stats are about percentage of college dropouts (or never even attended college) who successfully started their own company vs percentage of college dropouts who tried to start their own company and failed vs percentage of college graduates who did the same. You hear all these stories of "So-And-So dropped out of college and started a multi-million-dollar company" but you don't hear the "So-And-So dropped out of college, tried to start his own business, failed miserably six months in amassing a ton in personal debt, and went to live in his parents' basement for the next three years while he tried to dig himself out of debt" stories.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  3. Will apple change a 30% any toll usages will ther by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will apple change a 30% fee for any toll usages will there cars on top of the tolls?

  4. Re:Hewlett Packard by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    HP was also started by two guys in a garage selling simple oscillators. HP was ruined by some crusty ratbag.

    IBM started selling meat scales and grinders. It's currently being ruined . . . by some crusty ratbag.

    And Yahoo . . . oh, never mind.

    The moral of the story? Keep your resume up to date. When the crusty ratbag is appointed as the CEO . . . bail . . . as fast as you can . . . it's turtles, all the way down.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  5. Apples hold their value by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They had an intricate wood-cut logo, not much money or manpower, and their first computer only sold about 175 units"

    And if you can find one of these units, they are still the most expensive product that Apple has ever sold

    1. Re:Apples hold their value by macs4all · · Score: 3, Informative

      "They had an intricate wood-cut logo, not much money or manpower, and their first computer only sold about 175 units"

      And if you can find one of these units, they are still the most expensive product that Apple has ever sold

      I have one (No fooling). "Serial No." written on the back of the PCB reads "0064". Fully decked-out with 8 kB RAM and that wonderful cassette interface board. Also has a case, Datatronics (IIRC) keyboard, and video RF modulator. With manuals, Woz's Integer BASIC on cassette (unfortunately a "dub" on a "Poly88"-labeled tape!), and a bunch of other Apple 1 software that I've scraped-up on a CD.

      Traded some computer work for it in 1977.

      Had it, one-owner, since then.

      I also have an original "Woz Pak", sent to me by Woz himself in 1978 (IIRC). And a couple of vintage Kilobaud and Byte magazines with articles like "Sweet 16: The 6502 Dream Machine", authored by Woz.

      Anyone interested?

  6. Re:Subtitle by Ixokai · · Score: 5, Informative

    The 30-50% thing is a myth. Apple's most recent gross margin is something on the order of 25%. The iPhone has at times peaked in mid-30's. That's not 30% over 'market rates' (whatever that means), that's 30% over cost.

    Having a margin in the 25% range is not at all unusual or excessive. Intel, Qualcomm and Cisco all have similar margins, and I found those with ten seconds of googling.