As 2010 draws to a close, much of the tech world is struggling to regain its footing after a difficult recession. Then there’s Apple.
Never before has this venerable company, which at age 34 is a grizzled veteran by Silicon Valley standards, stood so firmly atop the high tech industry. Earlier this year, Apple’s market capitalization surpassed that of Microsoft, making it the most valuable property in the tech universe. And during its just-completed fiscal year, it broke four consecutive quarterly revenue and profit records. Amid the worst recession in decades, Apple hired thousands while others cut jobs.
But what most distinguishes Apple is the way it has climbed these heights. While other tech titans spent 2010 cutting costs and acquiring new technology through mergers, this $65 billion company is innovating like a startup.
“It has a different cultural mind-set,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co. “They are acting like a start-up though they are becoming a $100 billion company.”
Its iPhone revolutionized the market for smart phones, the must-have product of the decade. Its iPad is now creating consumer electronics’ most promising new market, for tablet computers.
“This past year has arguably been among Apple’s best, if not the best, year,” Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu said.
Experts point to three key factors that drive Apple’s relentless innovation: It invests heavily in R&D, is unafraid to cannibalize or kill its own products, and is able to extend its core technology across a host of different products to create a dominant ecosystem of consumer gadgets.
“Never in our history has one company done so much to drive personal technology,” said Mark Gilmore, co-founder of Wired Integrations, a San Jose technology consulting firm. “IBM developed the PC, but that was really geared to businesses. Ford developed the assembly line to help consumers have more access…