Apple celebrated its 40 years on Friday in Cupertino California. Today, the company sees itself in a different position from when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first started out in 1976 in a Silicon Valley garage.
Apple has become the world's most valuable multinational corporation with almost 100,000 of its employees. In spite of the company's remarkable financial track record, Apple has only profited last year by $53 billion on a sale of $233 billion, which suggests that the company's best years are behind it, as it has strived to bring about new products to keep up with the success it held on in recent years.
Vice president of software Bud Tribble said, "We still think we're going to change the world." Tribble was one of the original Macintosh team Jobs worked with, when he first started in the company back in 1980, he also said, "We had no idea back then that Apple would grow to the size that it is."
According to Newsweek, Apple currently boasts more than 1 billion active devices including iPods, iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple Watches that are in regular use worldwide. Two-thirds of the company's revenue comes from the iPhone.
As Apple enters 40 this year, the company could find it hard to withstand its leadership within the industry where they also could have a hard time to come up with new advance products in order to stay ahead with its competitors. Tech analyst for Forrester Research James McQuivey said, "Apple is still as good as it used to be, but everyone else has gotten better than they used to be,"
Apple's longtime rival Microsoft, was once viewed as a slow paced industry, yet now Microsoft is being acknowledged publicly by launching its new tablet computers with detachable keyboards. An area that even Apple is trying to tap into by adopting the business-oriented iPad Pro.
According to BAV Consulting, Apple still remains as one of the generally desired brands. During the company's decline in 2001 right before the iPod's unveiling, Apple has now reached in the top 1 percent of American brands, and also placed in the top 2 percent of brands "being worth paying more for," meaning the company could stay relevant by changing more of its products.
