Back in the early 2000s, John Gruber at The Daring Fireball had an Apple Death Knell Watch, a chronicle of all the tech pundits who were predicting that Apple was going away soon. Predicting Apple’s demise is an old game in the tech world. Every time the company misstepped, e.g. the Cube, some quarters can’t help jumping up and down and saying, “See? Apple is dead!” Michael Dell famously said that if he were in charge, he’d sell the company and give the money back to the investors. Ten years later, last I checked, Dell’s market value was about a tenth of Apple’s.
When the company started scoring its hits with the iPod and iTunes music store, and redesigned the iMac, and every quarter they beat analysts’ earnings expectations, the mantra became, “They won’t be able to do that next quarter,” and the stock would fall. This went on for a few years, until they finally gave up on it and just stood in awe every time Apple beat expectations.
So forgive me if I read Mr Malone’s hit piece with a rather jaundiced eye. Been there, done that. Seen it all before. Apple will not last forever, but they sure have outlasted some rather harsh criticism and critics, and if I were a betting woman, I’d put my money on them any time.
