Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has seen a lot of changes this past year, many of which have been especially significant for the company. For example this was the first full year co-founder Steve Jobs wasn’t around to guide it into success. Of course Jobs still probably helped design most of the products that came out this year, but Tim Cook has now shown us that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can still thrive even without Jobs at the helm.
This year Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) set a new record high for valuation, faced allegations about worker abuse and saw a number of its executives leave after the Apple Maps fiasco. It’s been a busy year for the tech giant, so looking back at 2012 will give us some indication of what to expect from the company in 2013.
Apple started 2012 off with a bang in January with great results from its first fiscal quarter, including a $13.06 billion profit for its December quarter. In January 2011 the company only reported profits of $6 billion. January was also the month in which allegations about worker abuse in Apple’s Foxconn factories in China first appeared in The New York Times.
In February shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) first crossed the $500 threshold, and it was only up from there—until later in the year, that is. By March the company launched its third generation iPad, selling three million units in the first weekend it was available. Apple went on to sell more than five million units of the iPhone 5 when it came out in September. However not long after the iPhone 5 came out, the allegations of worker neglect and abuse as the Foxconn factories resurfaced amidst claims that the new phone’s design worsened working conditions there even further.
Also in September shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hit their record high of around $705 per share, a number the stock hasn’t seen since then. As of today it’s trading just a little above $505 per share.
September was truly a busy month for the tech giant as it also released some major updates to its Mac line of computers, including the addition of a retina display to its MacBook Pro and the development of a new Mac OS version.
Patent wars were a major theme for the tech giant this year as various companies faced off with the tech giant, including Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (NYSE:MMI), HTC Corp (TPE:2498) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930). Apple took the lion’s share of the patent disputes in the U.S., although it lost its case in the U.K. and even had to issue a public apology. We’ll likely continue to see patent wars involving Apple in 2013, especially if a proposed $500 million deal to buy Kodak’s patents works out for the tech giant.
Also Apple attempted to sever some of its ties with longtime competitor Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). With the release of iOS6, Apple dumped Google Maps and replaced it with its own app. However iPhone users clamored for a better app after serious problems with Apple Maps, including wrong directions, misplaced cities and missing or nonexistent landmarks.
So where does Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) go from here? Only time will tell.
