At Spaceship we’re long-term investors. But we still keep an eye on what’s happening in the market day-to-day.
Apple announced its latest iPhone last week, so this week we’re taking a closer look at the company in our Spaceship Voyager Flight Notes.
1. Would you wear The Apple Collection?
10/10 we would.
In 1986 Apple released a line of… stuff… that was emblazoned with its logo.
“If you’re one of those people who like our computers, we think you’ll like the products in our collection,” the company wrote in its launch catalogue, which showcased leather Macbook covers and cotton athleisurewear.
It was sold through mail order. Coincidentally, they launched it one year after founder Steve Jobs had left the company.
Apple got back on track when he came back.
2. The iPhone’s one of the most profitable products in history
Apple reportedly spent $150 million developing the iPhone, which Steve Jobs first introduced in 2007 as being a “widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device.”
Apple's released new versions of the iPhone each year and in 2024 the iPhone accounted for $201 billion in revenue. Not a bad return on investment.
3. It’s helped Apple become the first company to reach $1 trillion
In August 2018 Apple became the first publicly traded US company to reach $1 trillion, beating out its nearest contender, Amazon.
4. Apple has a bigger market cap than most countries
At time of writing, Apple’s market cap is just over $3 trillion.
If Apple were a country, this would make it the eighth richest country in the world, between France and Italy, as at 2025 GDP figures.
5. The time is always set to 9.41am in Apple product ads
Most official photos of Apple products show the same time: 9:41.
That’s because Apple wanted to match the time displayed with the exact time the iPhone was launched.
Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone on stage at 9:41.
6. Apple gave its customers a free U2 album in 2014
In 2014, Apple gifted everyone with an iTunes account (half a billion people at the time) a free copy of U2’s album Songs of Innocence.
Reactions were mixed: many saw it as a privacy intrusion. Wired magazine described it as ‘worse than spam’.
Apple announced Apple Music in 2015 and behaviour largely shifted from buying to streaming music.
7. People were warned against investing in Apple when it listed
When Apple listed on the stock exchange in 1980, regulators labeled it ‘too risky’ for individuals to invest in.
They had rules about ‘weeding out highfliers that didn’t have solid earnings foundations,’ according to Market Watch.
So why is Apple the world’s most valuable brand?
“We make it our mission to find companies with strong economic moats. That is, companies with a durable competitive advantage at the core of their business,” said our Spaceship Voyager Investment Team.
“Warren Buffett tells us that “The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.”
“Apple is the poster child of having an invincible brand moat, and for another fun fact, is Berkshire Hathaway’s largest holding.
Every year, leading marketing data and analytics company Kantar ranks every major brand in the world, combining the most recent financial performance data and consumer research from over 4 million consumers across 51 markets.
This year, the world’s most valuable global brand was Apple. However, we don’t necessarily need a survey to tell us this.
The late Steve Jobs, the visionary behind Apple said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
This holds true if we look at the decades of product innovation that led to a level of brand loyalty that is unmatched. When a customer buys an Apple product, whether it is the slick hardware (iPhone, Watch, Mac, Airpods, iPad etc.) or the proprietary software and services (Apple TV+, Apple Music, iCloud etc.) or even steps foot in a uniquely designed Apple store, the customer generally knows exactly what to expect, each time elevating the life time value of that customer. This reputation of quality and innovation enables Apple to compete and continue to thrive across their diversified portfolio of products.”
The Spaceship Universe, Spaceship Galaxy, and Spaceship Origin portfolios invest in Apple at the time of writing.
Important! We’re sharing with you our thoughts on the companies in which Spaceship Voyager invests for your informational purposes only. We think it’s important (and interesting!) to let you know what’s happening with Spaceship Voyager’s investments. However, we are not making recommendations to buy or sell holdings in a specific company. Past performance isn’t a reliable indicator or guarantee of future performance.
