When a company achieves this level of domination, as shown by how we can speak of it in almost ethereal ways, and as it builds a new mega-building, and as it loses its founder/decider/symbol you've got to think it's approaching its high water mark.
Consider just as skyscrapers correlate with recessions (http://www.businessinsider.com/skyscraper-index-skyscrapers-...), Apple is almost certainly going to begin to unravel.
Every company is almost certainly going to begin to unravel. Business has cycles; success precedes failure. The skyscraper index is laugh.
That may be, but I think you want to think about specifics, not "seems like it's already pretty big!"
Apple had 8.7% of the phone market last quarter. It's as low as that because the majority of phones sold today are not smartphones. Do you think that will remain true for the next 10 years?
Well the people who actually have money in the game disagree. They are very well positioned for future growth. Shorting Apple is suicide.
The same people were convinced in 2008 that housing prices would still go up. Not that they're necessarily wrong this time, but I would maintain skepticism.
That is what Enron was saying look how that turned out. Having a huge share price P/E only supported by the next must have object is in the long run not sustainable.
This was discussed in the blog of Ken Segall, who previously worked with Apple (and with Jobs) on Apple's copy, including the "Think Different" campaign.
Here's the post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3548981
Increasingly, Apple is relying solely on imagery. The example billboard has no text on it other than the product name.
Apple is showing, rather than telling, and it is transcendent in its ability to do so-- it has established enough credibility with consumers that "easy to use", is no longer a message it has to communicate.
Further, this also globalizes the brand as images do not have to be translated to the local language, allowing a single voice to be present worldwide.