Why I choose to invest in Apple? (Apple shares hit $500)

In March 2010, just before the launch of the first iPad I kept some hard earned money aside and bought some shares of Apple. I always wanted to invest in Apple but the shares of Apple were too high for me to invest. Somehow I gathered some courage and finally made an investment in Apple. So far I am happy that I have made that decision as today Apple crossed the $500 a share mark and is still unstoppable. The year to date gain of Apple shares is around $95 per share. I always believed in whatever Steve Jobs had to say about Apple and its unbeatable products, but I never anticipated that my investment will grow by 135% in less than 2 years. A freakin 135%. I am pretty sure there are many other stocks that have gained much more than 135% during the last couple of years, but the question is how many of them are reliable and maintain a continuous upward trend.

Many analysts believe that the shares of Apple have huge potential in the coming few years and this is just the beginning. I cannot comment on that as I am not an expert but one thing is for sure that Apple will continue to dominate the field of consumer electronics for atleast couple of years. I am an investor of Apple so I want this party to go on forever and ever, but keeping into consideration the upcoming product line up (speculations only) it seems Apple will surely do wonders both for its consumers as well as for its investors.

Incredible management team: Apart from its strong product line up, Apple is also having an smart and solid management team. As we all know that nobody can replace Steve Jobs. Steve’s untimely death is not slowing down Apple as the shares of Apple grew by around 32% after Steve’s death. I guess Tim Cook is the best person to replace Steve Jobs as he was the one who rectified and strenghten Apple’s supply chain. Till date Apple’s supply chain is one of the primary reasons why Apple keeps on delivering punches after punches on its competitors. Sir Jonathan Ive, the brilliant design engineer of Apple who designed almost every new product of Apple is another reason why Apple products are so popular. The design team at Apple led by Ive is one hell of a team and is responsible for designing everything from the early iMacs to the latest iPads. Scott Forstall, the senior vice president of the iOS division of Apple is another master player in this incredible management camp of Apple. If you want to know more about Scott and I recommend you should, then read this excellent article “Scott Forstall, the Sorcerer's Apprentice at Apple” published by Business Week. The shares of Apple might take a solid hit if any one of these 3 people decided to move away from Apple.

Apple products, the legacy of the late Steve Jobs: I sound very confident when I mentioned above that for the next 2 years it will be hard to displace Apple from its current position and the reason are the upcoming Apple products. We all are used to seeing computers which says “Intel Inside” in the same way I guess the products which will be released by Apple in the coming few years will surely have Steve’s magic touch and vision inside them. According to me and keeping into consideration the current Apple product release pattern the following products should have Steve’s visison tied to them in one way or the other - iPhone 5 (2012), iPhone 5S/6 (2013), iPad 3 (2012), iPad 4 (2013) and ofcourse the much talked about Apple TV or iTV or whatever (late 2012 or early 2013).

I guess things will start becoming interesting for Apple post 2013. The year 2014 should be the true test for Tim Cook and his team as the world will be watching in anticipation what new or improved products Apple has to offer. Apple has always captured the market share with its awesome and amazing products. Though Apple will miss the midas touch of Steve, but still the company got the potential to make it huge beyond imagination. As Apple crossed the $500 share mark people have already started discussing about how long will Apple take to make it to $1000. Will Apple ever reach $1000 a share? Will Apple become the company with the market capitalization of $1 trillon dollars? Will Apple keep on delivering one magical product after another? What would be the business model for the new Apple TV? How will Apple change the TV viewing paradigm? With these and many new and exciting questions on our minds both the consumers and investors of Apple are celebrating its success.

After investing in Apple I always used to tell my friends, “When you spend money buying that iPhone or iPad or whatever Apple has to offer you spend money and when you spend money on Apple I make money”. This is true that the shares of Apple have more value than Apple products but what will happen to the shares of Apple if everybody started to have this same philosophy. What makes Apple shares so great are the great products Apple has to offer and till the time Apple is offering those conspicuous products and winning the trust and hearts of many the shares of Apple will keep climbing higher and higher. As I said earlier the coming few years will be very exciting and still Apple has to achieve a lot of market share. Till then, let the drums roll and let the party continue. 


BTW, the markets got closed here in the US and the Apple share closed at $502.60 (up $9.18 or 1.86%).