5 ms·

Apple Now Worth More Than Google

29 points by sant0sk1 18y ago

martythemaniak 18y ago
That's rather meaningless, but its interesting to compare the competitors there: Apple, RIM and Nokia. Apple and RIM seem to be on par - Apple is valued at ~2x compared to RIM, but then its also much bigger company (in terms of revenues, employees, products, operations etc). Nokia seems a bit weak in this light - they're a behemoth in the cell phone market and yet they operate on much thinner margins and aren't valued that high. Anyway, I am still kicking myself for not buying RIM stock when I was beta testing the original Pearl. Back then I had a hunch they were undervalued and a septupling of the stock price would have done me well ;)
- ajross 18y ago
  Company valuations are growth bets. Nokia is already holds a huge share of an almost-saturated industry. There isn't much room for growth in their core business area, and they don't have a history of growing into new areas of revenue like some of the other companies on the list (Google and Apple especially). FWIW, Apple and Google are both overvalued. :) [edit: I should say technology company valuations are growth bets. Corporations in stable industries are more often valued by earnings, unless something weird is going on (acquisition talk, etc...).]
  - netcan 18y ago
    FWIW, Apple and Google are both overvalued. :) Well as you said: 'growth bets'. Google are a long bet, I reckon. So far they're proven for putting out good products. But to be worth the money they need to monetise at least some of these. Up to now we have one success in that department: Adwords, which is extremely well thought out. But it's still just one point. They may not get another multi-$b cow. Adwords even if they manage to fix content ads, would be pressed to find that much growth (but 100%-200% is not out of the question) Apple may be justified. There is the old mantra of 'be very good at 2 things' instead of 'be the best at 1 thing.' Apple can do: 1- Software 2- Hardware 3- Marketing / Product Launches 4- Creating Markets & doing deals that put a nice chunk of it in their pockets (Itunes, App store) Take any 2 and you have a potential player in a lot of markets theat may grow very big. - TVish markets (some future apple TV?) - bookish markets (Kindle?) - thin clients (If the free with internet accesss PCs happen, who better then apple to make them? Nokia?) - gaming (could happen?) - GPSish markets (you never know where this might go) - In-Vehicle stuff (Ipod type thing for music & aircon & stuff in your new BMW?) You almost expect apple to grab a piece of any consumer electronics that come up. Problem is they seem to be running on momentum. Not sure that'll last forever.
    - netcan 18y ago
      To add to that: How many of http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html could be cracked by Apple? I think 1, 2, 17, 27, they do, probably will do or are uniquely positioned to do. They could have as good a crack as any another half dozen. Come to think of it: "17. New payment methods" might be one for Google. I mean, the key(s) seem like they might be around millions of users with accounts & easy, frictionless interface. Google checkout's not really changing the word though.
      - aneesh 18y ago
        It'll take a lot to beat eBay (who owns PayPal) in this space. > "key(s) seem like they might be around millions of users with accounts & easy, frictionless interface" Fwiw, Yahoo & Microsoft both have way more users than Google. But Google probably has most of the early-adopter crowd.
        netcan 18y ago
        Users was probably the wrong term. I meant 'accounts'.
        aneesh 18y ago
        That's what I meant. There are actually more Yahoo! accounts and Live accounts than GMail accounts.
  - alexfarran 18y ago
    >and they don't have a history of growing into new areas of revenue Depends how far back you look. Nokia used to make rubber boots.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  RIM still might be a good buy. As consumers awaken to smartphones, they're probably going to be a top 3 player, possibly even #1. While Apple is clearly the hype winner, RIM is making phones that a lot more people love.
  - cypress-hill 18y ago
    absolutely everyone i know with the new rim curve wants to dump it for an iphone. i know no one who wants to dump the 3g iphone for the curve
cypress-hill 18y ago
steve jobs is our mussolini. he makes the trains run on time and in fashion. he has settled the issue once and for all of consensus-driven management vs the product czar style. you get something shiny and brilliant, but you pay more and have no freedom. jobs is obsessed with control. that is the only thing that can possibly derail these pricks

29 points by sant0sk1 18y ago

That's rather meaningless, but its interesting to compare the competitors there: Apple, RIM and Nokia. Apple and RIM seem to be on par - Apple is valued at ~2x compared to RIM, but then its also much bigger company (in terms of revenues, employees, products, operations etc). Nokia seems a bit weak in this light - they're a behemoth in the cell phone market and yet they operate on much thinner margins and aren't valued that high. Anyway, I am still kicking myself for not buying RIM stock when I was beta testing the original Pearl. Back then I had a hunch they were undervalued and a septupling of the stock price would have done me well ;)

ajross 18y ago
Company valuations are growth bets. Nokia is already holds a huge share of an almost-saturated industry. There isn't much room for growth in their core business area, and they don't have a history of growing into new areas of revenue like some of the other companies on the list (Google and Apple especially). FWIW, Apple and Google are both overvalued. :) [edit: I should say technology company valuations are growth bets. Corporations in stable industries are more often valued by earnings, unless something weird is going on (acquisition talk, etc...).]
- netcan 18y ago
  FWIW, Apple and Google are both overvalued. :) Well as you said: 'growth bets'. Google are a long bet, I reckon. So far they're proven for putting out good products. But to be worth the money they need to monetise at least some of these. Up to now we have one success in that department: Adwords, which is extremely well thought out. But it's still just one point. They may not get another multi-$b cow. Adwords even if they manage to fix content ads, would be pressed to find that much growth (but 100%-200% is not out of the question) Apple may be justified. There is the old mantra of 'be very good at 2 things' instead of 'be the best at 1 thing.' Apple can do: 1- Software 2- Hardware 3- Marketing / Product Launches 4- Creating Markets & doing deals that put a nice chunk of it in their pockets (Itunes, App store) Take any 2 and you have a potential player in a lot of markets theat may grow very big. - TVish markets (some future apple TV?) - bookish markets (Kindle?) - thin clients (If the free with internet accesss PCs happen, who better then apple to make them? Nokia?) - gaming (could happen?) - GPSish markets (you never know where this might go) - In-Vehicle stuff (Ipod type thing for music & aircon & stuff in your new BMW?) You almost expect apple to grab a piece of any consumer electronics that come up. Problem is they seem to be running on momentum. Not sure that'll last forever.
  - netcan 18y ago
    To add to that: How many of http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html could be cracked by Apple? I think 1, 2, 17, 27, they do, probably will do or are uniquely positioned to do. They could have as good a crack as any another half dozen. Come to think of it: "17. New payment methods" might be one for Google. I mean, the key(s) seem like they might be around millions of users with accounts & easy, frictionless interface. Google checkout's not really changing the word though.
    - aneesh 18y ago
      It'll take a lot to beat eBay (who owns PayPal) in this space. > "key(s) seem like they might be around millions of users with accounts & easy, frictionless interface" Fwiw, Yahoo & Microsoft both have way more users than Google. But Google probably has most of the early-adopter crowd.
      - netcan 18y ago
        Users was probably the wrong term. I meant 'accounts'.
        aneesh 18y ago
        That's what I meant. There are actually more Yahoo! accounts and Live accounts than GMail accounts.
- alexfarran 18y ago
  >and they don't have a history of growing into new areas of revenue Depends how far back you look. Nokia used to make rubber boots.
mattmaroon 18y ago
RIM still might be a good buy. As consumers awaken to smartphones, they're probably going to be a top 3 player, possibly even #1. While Apple is clearly the hype winner, RIM is making phones that a lot more people love.
- cypress-hill 18y ago
  absolutely everyone i know with the new rim curve wants to dump it for an iphone. i know no one who wants to dump the 3g iphone for the curve

cypress-hill 18y ago

steve jobs is our mussolini. he makes the trains run on time and in fashion. he has settled the issue once and for all of consensus-driven management vs the product czar style. you get something shiny and brilliant, but you pay more and have no freedom. jobs is obsessed with control. that is the only thing that can possibly derail these pricks