Apple is a remarkable business success story; through creativity, strategic thinking and almost flawless execution it has become the dominant technology firm in the world and made many people wealthy in the process.
The key question now: can Apple keep it up?
It is certainly possible; Apple has motivated and talented employees, wonderful products, a huge pile of cash and a terrific brand.
Today’s news, however, is a bit concerning.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is publicly admitting that it made mistakes with its store network:
“’We recently implemented some changes in retail staffing,’ said Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple. ‘Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed.’”
On its own, this isn’t a big deal. But it does suggest that the era of Apple’s flawless execution is coming to an end and there are some challenging times ahead.
It’s interesting that you post this on the same day that Apple reaches it’s all time high stock price ($648.19) and goes through the $600 billion+ market cap! These markets are really difficult to judge sometimes, aren’t they?