Apple: Thief

Round numbers have no inherent meaning — they’re a consequence of 10 fingers. But they provide a benchmark, a way to focus our observations. The last few years in tech, we’ve witnessed several firms breach $1 trillion market capitalizations, a few hit $2 trillion, and one touch $3 trillion.

Let’s set a more audacious goal: $1 trillion in revenue. We’re still a few years away — the largest company by revenue today, Walmart, brought in $559 billion last fiscal year. And while market cap can fluctuate 20%+ in several minutes, revenue is closer to the epicenter of stakeholder value, because it benchmarks actual commerce. The English call revenue “turnover,” which conveys someone doing actual work.

The Great Heist

Revenue of $1 trillion won’t be found in a single category. Few categories even offer a $1 trillion market, and market dominance in any category comes with problems. It’s better to have a 20% share of five markets than 100% of one. Diversity offers security, and monopolies attract legal attention: Facebook and Google’s shared dominance of digital advertising makes it easier to fit them into the antitrust legal framework.

A trillion in revenue will require stealing markets from incumbents. It’s already happening in Big Tech: Amazon flew head-on into the cloud, Microsoft is eating gaming, and in the next decade we will see The Great Heist: $1 Trillion Edition. One company is best poised to ascend to the Iron Throne of theft.

Six-Shooter

Apple’s sidearm is a thermonuclear device. Each bullet, an unmatched asset.

Familiar operating system. For the wealthiest billion people on earth, iOS is the operating system of their life. When presented with a “smart” television, home, car, or retail store, they don’t want to learn a second language.

Epicenter…

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