For a lot of students that are in college presently, much of their life has been lived with one constant: a flourishing Apple Inc. stock. Times are changing.
Over the last six months, the paths of Apple and Google, the other market giant in public computer technology stock, have been almost perfectly polar opposites. Apple has been on a downward spiral, closing at $432.50 on Thursday, March 14. Google, on the other hand, closed at $821.54 on the same day, and has increased an approximately $288 in the latest 52 week range, according to Yahoo! Finance.
The reasons for Apple’s decline have been discussed at length, with various answers. Ben Challis, a junior supply chain major, thinks that the stock may have taken a hit from the iPad Mini’s release, which was released to mixed reviews, with some analysts saying the product was successful, others saying that although it expanded the tablet market, the overall sales of Apple tablets were down.
A more concrete answer Challis discussed was the negative publicity surrounding Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, in the recent months. A variety of reports have emerged about the working conditions in the Asian sectors of Foxconn’s organization. National media drew off allegations that workers were not happy with the conditions in the factories. In January of last year, 150 workers from a Chinese factory threatened a mass suicide if conditions did not improve. There have also been several high-profile suicides committed from workers of Foxconn factories, following rumors that the workers lost iPhones or iPads, and then killed themselves.
This negative media image has definitely played some role in Apple’s decline, but there are others as well. Paul Swift, a junior finance and operations major, said, “I think you also need to factor in time…Apple has been on top of the computing world for a while, and it has given other companies the opportunity to learn and develop better software and hardware.”
When Apple introduced the iPad, they created a new market, one for tablets, and there were no competitors. Now, the Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy, along with the Amazon Kindle, are all viable products in the growing market, and Apple is struggling to stay ahead.
While the answers are varied and the experts divided, one thing is certain: Apple’s time as unrivaled leader in the technology world is coming to an end.