> I remember Apple's response when IBM brought out its original PC back in the early 1980s: Apple claimed that IBM's entry into the personal computing space was a good thing, because it validated the concept. Then IBM proceeded to eat Apple's lunch.
It seems to me you're stopping the story in kind of a weird place, there.
Apple's market cap is currently something like half-again as much as IBM's. Apple became a better company for the competition, and it's impossible to understate how much their current success benefits from the vast explosion in personal computer adoption that IBM's entry into the market brought about.
Competition makes products better. Increased awareness brings a lot more people and money into the market. Marco is a smart, talented guy who is well-poised to benefit, here.
Apple nearly died because during that period because they were an inflexible organization that reacted slowly to changing market conditions while operating under increasingly out-of-touch management.
Unless the argument here is that Marco is a dumb guy who for some reason isn't in a position to pivot quickly and react to change, I'm not seeing any parallel here with what happened to Apple in the early 90s.
Marco's still the market leader here. He has to fuck up before he's in the position of needing a turn-around. I'm not sure why you're taking it as fait accompli that he will be unable to react appropriately; he's a smart guy.
I agree that he is a smart guy with a good possibility of still winning here.
But as for being market leader, as soon as this ships in iOS he won't be that. Would you have wanted to be Netscape when MS started bundling Internet Explorer in their OS?
> Apple's market cap is currently something like half-again as much as IBM's.
That's been true in recent years. But who would have thought it remotely possible before The Return of Steve in mid-1997? Before then (and for some time afterwards), many people regarded Apple as a zombie company.
Agreed, but Apple had to do some insane revamp of their products before they could turn around. Although I'm not a student of business stories, I bet you a small caffeinated drink that those kinds of turnarounds are massively rare.
It seems to me you're stopping the story in kind of a weird place, there.
Apple's market cap is currently something like half-again as much as IBM's. Apple became a better company for the competition, and it's impossible to understate how much their current success benefits from the vast explosion in personal computer adoption that IBM's entry into the market brought about.
Competition makes products better. Increased awareness brings a lot more people and money into the market. Marco is a smart, talented guy who is well-poised to benefit, here.