One of my son’s favourite books is James and the Giant Peach. I was just as enthralled when it was read to me as a child. I recall images of a fruit so big it had tunnels you could bite into of cool, refreshing peach flesh. As unrealistic and fantastical as it seemed, who doesn’t want to fly in a giant peach borne by seagulls?
In real life that peach is, well, Apple.
It was a coincidence that we were reading this Roald Dahl classic when Apple hit $3-trillion market value — the first company to do so.
Just over two weeks later, there was another Apple moment, when a first-generation iPhone was sold for $190,000, more than 300 times its original price of $499. The owner had kept it sealed in its box since its 2007 launch.
According to The Collectibles Guru (@ericwhiteback) on Twitter, the 4GB iPhone “outperformed Apple stock by over 7x” because, over the same time, “$499 of Apple stock would have returned $26,136.81”. That is commitment to ensuring a collectible item retains its value.
It’s worth pointing out that this is part of why unboxings on YouTube are so popular — those videos get millions of views. Psychologically it must be like unwrapping a present (in this case a new gadget) and the dopamine hit that it releases.
The sealed phone shows not just what joy can be (and cost) when unwrapped, but how Apple has made technology sexy. Steve Jobs was good at many things, and the way he simplified tech and how we use it is part of his legacy.
The iPhone has … catapulted Apple into the stock market stratosphere
The iPhone was launched in June 2007, with just one button and a larger touchscreen. This was a far cry from the 2G feature phones many had become addicted to. It was a design and technology breakthrough that gave the world the mobile internet.
Now smartphones don’t have buttons. The iPhone has become Apple’s mainstay — a profit-generating product that has catapulted Apple into the stock market stratosphere. It was first to the $1-trillion and $2-trillion marks.
Similarly, the iPad has been a constant source of revenue, though on a much slower upgrade cycle. The new mixed-reality Vision Pro goggles are expected to follow this trend, but won’t be a cash cow for many years, particularly with its $3,500 price. If nothing else, it’s the cheapest way to buy a virtual-reality home cinema (for an audience of one) where you can watch Apple TV+ shows and movies in 3D.
For now, entertainment and gaming appear to be the best-use cases for Vision Pro. Apple’s services business, which houses the streaming service, is also doing very nicely, as is Apple Music.
When Jobs announced the iPhone at an event in San Francisco in January 2007, he proclaimed: “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” He wasn’t wrong.
*Shapshak is editor-in-chief of Stuff.co.za and executive director of Scrolla.Africa
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