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The Future Of Apple Without Steve Jobs

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Apple Stock Prices from 1984 - 2011
The Rise Of Apple Stock Prices

What does the future of Apple look like without Steve Jobs? Analysts are predicting a very bright future.

Today, Apple is worth $377.83 billion dollars. Share prices are fluctuating between $401 – $409.  It is the largest company in the world and new products are in development.  The iTV, which is currently in the prototype stage, could revolutionize the television industry and it could add billions of dollars to the worth of Apple.

Gene Munster, analyst for Piper Jaffray, a $400 million dollar investment company, says “We believe that of the estimated 220 million flat panel TVs sold in 2012, 48% or 106 million units will be internet-connected, of which Apple could sell 1.4 million units,” Munster wrote. “We believe an Apple Television could add $2.5 billion or 2% to revenue in 2012, $4.0 billion or 3% in 2013 and $6.0 billion in 2014.”

Will that make investing in Apple now a good investment? David Zeiler writes an interesting article: Why Apple Stock Is Headed for $500 – And Beyond. The momentum behind Apple seems to be growing past the loss of it’s founder, Steve Jobs.

A recent book called “Steve Jobs,” by Walter Isaacson, clearly reveals the thinking that has been driving the success of the company for years. Steve’s out of the box, creative thinking has gotten the masses to use computers in a new way. From the launch of the MacIntosh in 1984, to the recent launch of the Ipad2, his products provided us with the next generation of technology.

Designing products with ease of use has been Steve Job’s philosophy. Thank goodness, because the masses are not tech geeks. His artistic sense of design, minimalistic lifestyle and obsessive attention to detail are the fuel behind the products we have come to love and use daily.

From his high school part-time job working at Hewlett-Packard, Steve Jobs found one mentor after the next to teach him about technology, product creating, business structure and relationships. Although not always the best at relationships, his demand for perfection and his drive for great product creation triumphed.

There is a future for Apple because of Steve Jobs. His vision and creative thinking will truly be missed, but his contributions to the world will benefit generation after generation.

 

Related Company Valuations – October 31, 2011

 

Apple Inc. 377.68B
Microsoft Corporation 225.50B
IBM 218.78B
Google Inc. 193.01B
Oracle Corporation 166.52B
Intel Corporation 129.99B
Verizon Communications… 105.09B
Amazon.com, Inc. 97.32B
Hewlett-Packard Company 53.35B
Dell Inc. 29.15B

 

1984 Launch of the Macintosh

 
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Quickbooks Merchant Services Developer Earns Reward

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Quickbooks Merchant Services Inventor
Hugh Molotsi of Intuit, receives an award of $1 million dollars.

On August 31, 2011, Hugh Molotsi received the “Founders Innovation Award,” for his role in the development of Quickbooks Merchant Services. An employee of Intuit for many years, Hugh discovered a business problem by talking to business owners about why they weren’t use credit card processing and the most frequent response he got was that they didn’t know how to do it.

Quickbooks Merchant Services Impact

Providing a solution to that problem was the beginning of the creation of Quickbooks Merchant Services which Hugh was instrumental in developing. It was released in 1999. Within two months, the business was profitable. Within the first year, they had 3,000 customers. The next year, business tripled to 10,000 customers and revenue tripled as well. Intuit’s future businesses were built on the fundamentals that the Quickbooks Merchant Services had. Now most of their customers, revenues and profits are from Quickbooks Merchant Services customers. Most of the Intuit businesses today and most of them for tomorrow are because of Quickbooks Merchant Services.

Through Hugh’s leadership he has earned two leadership in excellence awards and four of Intuit’s Innovation Awards. According to Intuit founder, Scott Cook, he is a classic leader and teacher. He is a continuous learner and focuses on self-improvement. He received Intuit’s special recognition, special access to Intuit events, and a financial reward of $1,000,000.00.

Intuit Company Development

Intuit has produced the popular accounting software, Quicken for personal finance, Quickbooks, and Turbo Tax. Intuit is a financial services company founded in 1983 by Scott Cook, former employee of Proctor & Gamble and Tom Proulx, a computer programmer studying at Stanford University. These two brilliant people worked together to help make people’s lives easier by creating the first software accounting program for families and businesses.

Intuit now has a revenue of $3.9 billion dollars, was ranked #44 by CNN as one of the top companies to work for and was ranked in Forbes magazine as one of the top 100 most inventive companies. Their mission statement is to remain “driven by our passion for inventing solutions to solve important problems, perfecting those solutions and delighting our customers.” Intuit makes a practice of rewarding their innovative employees by giving them special recognition and handsomely rewarding them financially. Intuit has become a success story inspiring people from all walks of life.

Founder of Intuit

Scott Cook co-founded Intuit Inc. in 1983 and now serves as the chairman of the Executive Committee. He earned an MBA from Harvard University and received a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Southern California. Cook is a member of the board of directors of eBay; Procter & Gamble; the Asia Foundation; the Harvard Business School Dean’s Advisory Board; the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin; and the Intuit Scholarship Foundation.
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Bringing Bright Minds Together

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Collaboration—with a capital C. In today’s business environment, what’s not to like about the concept of sharing information, asking questions, bouncing around bits of nascent, not-quite-formed ideas? Whether it’s formal, sit-down-at-a-table collaboration or the casual networking that goes on in the natural course of things, it has to be good.

It also can be tricky. Bill Gates, in a graduation address to students at his almost-alma mater, Harvard (he was introduced as the school’s most famous drop-out) defined the nature of interaction: “Being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence can be exhilarating, intimidating and sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging.”

John Abele

John Abele, co-founder and now director emeritus of Boston Scientific, a company that develops primarily medical products, expounded on the subject in a July 2011 article for Harvard Business Review. Like Gates, he recognizes the difficulties in bringing bright minds together. In fact, he says, the term “academic collaboration” is somewhat an oxymoron. Impediments include “the long-standing rituals of institutional seniority and the professional and financial incentives to build higher silos with thicker walls.”

But the effort is worth it, Abele emphasizes. “On the bright side, there’s an extraordinary opportunity for those of us non-academics who, unconstrained by those customs, see value in getting silos to collide.”

The Process of Collaborating

The process, he says, is “convincing people who don’t need to work together that they should.” That happens, he says, by inspiring the potential collaborators with a vision of change that is beyond their individual powers to bring about, convincing each that the others are not only vital to the process but that they are equal to the challenge. Then each member of the collaboration must be assured that that no one party to the collaboration is going to benefit to the total exclusion of others.

Leaders who are successful collaboration-builders, Abele said, are “passionately curious.” They have new insights and acknowledge that others may have them as well. They have the ability to bounce ideas off collaborators without being overly competitive. They care more about the success of the collective mission that they do about how success might benefit their personal fortunes.

Staying Focused

Dealing with egos when highly successful individuals come to the table can be a challenge. In an interview subsequent to his Review article, Abele described one gathering of the top thirty vascular surgeons in the world to discuss a proposed medical product. After a frustrating start, the thirty participants were each given a squirt gun. When anyone began to pontificate, Abele said, the others were advised to “use the weapon at hand.” A few doctors got completely soaked. That tactic “changed the dynamic of the meeting and it became very productive,” he said.

Five Tips For Collaboration

Those who function on the lower slopes of Mount Olympus may not have to resort to squirt guns to keep collaborators on track. But there are some rules that can lend themselves to a successful interaction. Among those advised by Abele and by commentators who responded to his article.

  1. Focus on the mission.
  2. Design a process beforehand.
  3. Don’t allow participants in a gathering to sell their products or services or to make attacks on competitors.
  4. Criticize ideas, not the people who advance them.
  5. Keep conversations energetic, constructive, free-wheeling and provocative.

Collaboration doesn’t always have to be among different companies. There is ample opportunity within a single organization for idea-sharing. Coordination and the free exchange of information among the various elements of an organization are essential to success. The same rules apply.

Making Positive Contributions

In his Review article, Abele quotes Margaret Mead, noted sociologist who conducted groundbreaking research in her field. “ Never underestimate the power of a small dedicated group of people to change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

That’s the nub of Collaboration—with a capital C.

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Learning How To Think Like A Millionaire

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There are three things that you can do with your money. You can save it. You can spend it or you can invest it. How well you do these things may determine whether you will be in the group of 7% of Americans that are millionaires.

learn how to think like a millionaire
Think Like A Millionaire

Many years ago, people would have considered that being a millionaire would be the ultimate in luxury and wealth. Now, for some people, being a millionaire is not even considered enough to do much. Warren Buffet made his first million dollars when he was just 31 years-old. That amount of money is .002% of his current wealth. With rising billionaires like 26 year-old Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, there seems to be more money to be made than at any other time in recent history.

When you study what unique strategies millionaires use, you may get some ideas to improve your own circumstances. Whether you make $30,000 a year or $1,000,000 a year, improving your skills can help you on the road to becoming more financially secure. Maybe you’ll never be a millionaire or don’t even want to be. You still will need to make strategic financial decisions that will affect how much you enjoy your future life. If you could see your distant future life as well as you can see your life next week, you may decide to live life differently.

Let’s take a look at what millionaires say they do and how they got there.

Paul Lim, a writer for Money magazine, reported some interesting facts from a poll of millionaires. In his article, Millionaires in the Making, he shares with us the answers.

How did you get to be a millionaire?
95% said hard work, 83% investing wisely, 81% by being frugal and 41% by luck.

Do you feel wealthy?
42% said no.

What preparation did they have?
90% are college graduates, 5% have law degrees, 3% went to medical school.

What is the average amount annually invested?
$39,300.

What seems to be the number one thing that millionaires did to get where they are is a lot of hard work. All of us are capable of doing that. We can all become more frugal about what we spend our money on and although we are not all lucky, we can learn to invest wisely.

Did you notice that quite a few people said that even though they were millionaires, they did not feel wealthy? Feeling wealthy is probably one of the things we do have control of. Since your perspective on life can run the gamut of outright depressing thoughts to unrealistic elation, you choose where in that range you want to be. Of course, when the joys of seeing more money coming in and how nice it makes your life, it is easier to think about bigger income numbers than you have thought of before. If you can’t imagine the larger numbers in your income, will you ever improve your standard of living?

Another thing that millionaires do is to habitually save money to invest. The average amount per year that they invest is $39K. If your income level is not even that high, you can work on saving in percentages. Make it a goal to save a certain percentage of money every month. Financial experts advise you to have enough cash to pay your bills for at least six months. Whatever percentage you decide on the important thing is to follow through with your plan each month. Automate that savings if possible.

Some millionaires have also made a practice of living below their means. This falls into the category of budgeting and anyone can follow a budget. You just need to include your savings plan in your budget. It is one thing to have a million dollars sitting in your bank account, but it’s another thing to learn how to best use it.

Millionaires did not become millionaires by working for someone else. Many have started their own businesses. Anyone can start their own business for very little money and if you have a low overhead in your business plan, you can actually accomplish this while working for someone else. Did you know that only 12% of American households own their own business? Paul Lim, reported that the median income for business owners was $497,000 compared to $42,000 for non business owners. Would it be worth your time and effort to start your own business? When you can harness the power of entrepreneurial thoughts and put into action a good business plan, you are on your way to a brighter future.

Realistically speaking there are few people that reach the status of being a millionaire. Learning key money management skills and business building skills can only help you increase your productivity and increase your income. Start today to create a better outlook on life. Do what you can to take your first steps to a new life.

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Organizing Your New Business Start Up

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Protect Your New Business
Are you thinking about starting a new business? Then you will need to decide what type of legal structure your new business will have. The legal structure you choose will determine how your business will be taxed and the rules your business must follow.

The Five Most Commonly Used Business Organizations

There are five common types of business organizations. Outlined below you will find the definitions of each type of business and why you might want to choose that type of structure.

Sole Proprietorship

The sole proprietorship is for someone who owns a company and is not planning to incorporate or become a limited liability company. This is mainly for a business that will be owned by one individual. That individual may or may not have employees. When you have this type of business structure, you report your business income on your individual tax return. Some of the risks of the sole proprietorship are that your business debts and obligations could be attached to your personal assets, even if they are not directly related to your business.

Partnerships

The second type of structure is a partnership. Usually a partnership will consists of two or more people who want to do business together. Each partner has a fiduciary duty of loyalty and trust to the other partners and put his own interests below the interests of the partnership. Partners have unlimited liability to the business. Creditors can require that liabilities be paid from personal assets. Partnerships report profits or losses on individual income tax returns. Partners are not allowed to sue each other. Usually partnerships require a written partnership agreement.

Limited Partnerships

The third type of structure is a limited partnership. This is made up of at least one or more general partners and at least one or more limited partners. General partners act as the fiduciaries of the business and assume all the monetary risk. All parties can profit from the company. Limited partners assume risk of their contributions and that is all. Limited partners often assume the role of raising capital and do not participate in the day-to-day business operations. Members file their own individual tax returns. The partnership files an information return with the Internal Revenue Service, notifying the IRS of each partner’s share of the year’s profit or loss.

Corporations

The fourth type of business structure is a corporation. This is the type of organization that is most often used with the term business. Most large businesses are corporations. People can invest in corporations without assuming liability or management responsibilities. Corporations are creations of the state. Corporations have a board of directors and can issue stock. Shareholders are owners of the corporation and have limited liability and are not involved in the day to day operations of the business. A corporation is a legal person and a legal entity separate from its shareholders and managers. A corporation pays state and federal income taxes on its income.

Limited Liability Company

The fifth business structure is a limited liability company or LLC. LLCs are created by filing Articles of Organization with the state in which you live and have one or more “persons” conducting business. One benefit of this organization structure is that no member, manager or employee is personally liable for any debt obligations of the company. The LLC has a tax status of a general partnership with limited liability protection. No annual meetings are required. Members can participate in management more than in a limited partnership. They are responsible for disclosure, record keeping and annual reporting requirements. LLCs are only taxed once and the earnings of a partnership are treated as the earnings of its partners.

Conclusion

This information is intended to be used as a very brief overview of the main types of business structures. Consulting with a CPA or attorney can help you make the final decision about your new business. Protect yourself against unnecessary risks and get your new business off to a good start.

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