On April 1, 1976, when the world was busy fooling itself, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne sowed a half bitten. By 2018, Steve Jobs was dead, Steve Wozniak has a 100 million dollars net worth, while Ronald Wayne had already sold his 10% stake with the company for $800. By August 2018 also, there was no company richer than Apple as the tree had grown to be worth over a trillion dollar, becoming the first in the world to achieve that.
Since its creation, Apple has into almost everything from computers to phones, music players, Apple iTunes, and many other things that would help it to keep growing. It got to face stiff competition from Microsoft on the way, as well as many other companies that have all tried to out-wit the other with every eye on the numbers.
Since taking over from Steve Jobs, Tim Cook has led Apple to achieving great things including the greatest thing to be done by any company in pulling it to touch a trillion dollar. There are, however, many things that have been left out in the story of Apples Journey.
Facts About the trillion-dollar Apple
1. Richer than almost all countries of the world
With its latest feat, it simply means that not more than 15 countries in the world are richer than Apple. With the GDP of the entire world placed at an estimated $79.45 trillion as at 2017, this means that Apple is worth more than a percent of the GDP of the entire world, and it is richer than all the countries of Africa since not a single country in the continent has up to a trillion dollars.
The only countries in the world that are richer than apple are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.
2. Almost went bankrupt in the 1990s
It has not always been a complete apple for the Silicon Valley icon as apart from the fact that it has also had a good number of bad products in the past, there was a time that the company that is today worth a trillion dollars almost went bankrupt. It was only in the 1990s.
Very hard to believe? The harder part to believe is that it was its own competitor, Microsoft, to which it is a nemesis today that has bailed it out by giving it a new lease of life with a $150 million investment. Based on the investment, Microsoft was able to get Apple to drop a lawsuit against it and it also got non-voting shares from the Steve Jobs company. The lawsuit dropped was one that alleged that Microsoft copied its Mac OS looks and feel for Windows.
As part of the deal, which was reached between Bill Gate’s Microsoft and Steve Job’s Apple in 1997 was also to see Microsoft releasing Microsoft Office on Mac for five years. The video below shows Jobs talking about the deal:
3. Before Apple, there was United States Steel Corporation
The news is no more news that Apple has become the first company in the world to reach the trillion-dollar spot, but before the company, there was the United States Steel Corporation, which although is nowhere to be found close to apple today, became the first company in the world to hit a billion dollar mark back in the early 1900s. At the time, Apple was still trying hard to stand, because as you know, towards the end of the 1990s, it will need help to survive.
4. The devil has had a bite of the apple
Even though we all stand on the pew clapping for apple for working hard and getting to where it is, there are others that believe it has not been all clean for Apple as it has applied massive greed, or if you prefer, the devil’s bite in its practices. Listing some of its sins, Tech Crunch points out that apart from things like coming up with chargers that are completely not sturdy, it has also been involved in a lot of other things that are not smooth. As a result of the iPhone and Mac chargers that have been so bad, the company was sued to give a free replacement program to users.
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Other things that Apple has been accused of doing on its way to a trillion dollars are hidden iTunes subscription when one wants to cancel it, shutting down its affiliate program that many sites depended on, among other such things.
Still, the company has still come to not just survive, but to grow in an enviable manner thanks to its great yet expensive products.
5. Aiming to be Richer than Apple
Even though Apple is now the first company to ever hit a trillion dollar mark, there are still many companies that are aiming to be richer than Apple or at least, since we know that may be very difficult for now, also hit the trillion dollar mark.
The company that many had thought could beat Apple in reaching the trillion dollar mark was Amazon, but then, no company was able to beat Apple. But then, there are companies that are surely also looking to form the league of the trillion dollar companies which is now made of only Apple.
See Also: Jeff Bezos Briefly Becomes World’s Richest Person: Facts to Know
Having a market capitalization of $889 billion, Amazon is the second company that is now in line to achieve the feat of Apple. Alphabet which is the owner of Google and YouTube is the next online with an $856 billion market value, followed again by Microsoft which has $830 billion market capitalization.
Even with the way they now stand, it is very hard that they would maintain the position as they compete to be the next in line after Apple. According to Forbes, Microsoft may end up hitting the 1 Trillion mark even before Alphabet as its CEO, Satya Nadella positioning Microsoft for future growth. It revealed that while Apple will wait until May 2022 before it will get to hit the mark, by May 2019, Microsoft will get there.