Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'we don't believe in the law of big numbers'
iPhone maker Apple has made business history as the first US company to close out its trading day with a market capitalisaton of over US$700bn.
At the close of trading on Wall Street last night Apple shares were US$122.02 per share, an all-time high for the company, valuing it at US$710bn.
The achievement comes after Apple recently posted the highest quarterly profit by any US company when it posted first quarter revenues of US$74.6bn and profits of US$18bn after selling 74.5m iPhones, some 21.4m iPads and 5.52m Mac computers.
The world’s next biggest company after Apple is fuel giant Exxon Mobil Corp, which is valued at US$385bn.
Among the tech giants Microsoft has a market cap of US$346bn, Google has a market cap of US$358bn and Amazon has a market cap of US$172bn.
Apple’s extraordinary growth path continues unabated and analysts believe its share price could travel to US$145 per share.
Apple sold more iPhone devices in the first quarter than it did during the entire year of 2011 and revenues are being boosted in particular from Apple’s success in China where revenues are up 70pc and a massive 4G rollout is underway.
The only way is up for Apple which will be launching its new Apple Watch in April and will be extending its Apple Pay mobile wallet technology into Europe and Asia.
‘We don’t believe in the law of large numbers’
A focused and humble Apple CEO Tim Cook told yesterday’s gathering of tech elite at the annual Goldman Sachs conference that he is not going to allow himself to be distracted by big numbers.
“We don’t believe in the Law of Large Numbers. We’re not focused on the numbers, we’re focused on the products that produce the numbers. We’re a product company.
“We feel great about last year. iOS 8, Yosemite, biggest advancement ever for iPhone, hit the ball out of the park on that iPhone ramp, Touch ID on iPad, Mac kept humming despite industry being ‘really awful’. So on the product front, lots of things to feel great about.
“Also things setting up for the long-term. Developed Swift, our own language. Makes our ecosystem even stronger…powerful and fast. HealthKit is going to be profound…take info from all kinds of apps and if you want can share it with a physician. HomeKit enables you to essentially control your home with Siri…lights, doors, etc. Also CarPlay. So we’ve extended iOS into your car, your home, and your health.
“We’ve also furthered our global footprint, China in particular. We opened 27 new retail stores, larger footprint for online stores, etc. Partnered with China Mobile. IBM partnership for enterprise and we’ll see the fruits of that as apps roll out. We’re here to make great products and enrich people’s lives.
“So our greatest contributions will always be our products. But also things like ConnectED to bring technology to underserved schools. Global Fund partnership to focus on AIDS, over US$100 million commitment there.”
