Apple’s share price passed the $700 mark in late trading on the NYSE stock exchange, before closing at $699.78. Apple stock has grown 73 percent this year.
The price rise was triggered by sales of the iPhone 5, which sold 2 million units in fits first day (see separate story). The iPhone accounts for less than half of Apple’s revenues, but more than two thirds of its profits.
Apple is now the most valuable stock in history, with a market capitalisation $656 billion. To put that in perspective, it is greater than the GDP of Switzerland or Saudi Arabia or Sweden, and about half of Australia’s GDP.
The iPhone 5 has attracted criticism on many fronts, for its new docking cable, for its lack of killer new features, for its failure to incorporate NFC (Near Field Communications) for payment swiping. But the results speak for themselves. People of voting wiith their feet – or their wallets – and Apple can’t keep up with demand.
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Graeme Philipson is senior associate editor at iTWire and editor of sister publication CommsWire. He is also founder and Research Director of Connection Research, a market research and analysis firm specialising in the convergence of sustainable, digital and environmental technologies. He has been in the high tech industry for more than 30 years, most of that time as a market researcher, analyst and journalist. He was founding editor of MIS magazine, and is a former editor of Computerworld Australia. He was a research director for Gartner Asia Pacific and research manager for the Yankee Group Australia. He was a long time IT columnist in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and is a recipient of the Kester Award for lifetime achievement in IT journalism.
