* Under the visionary Steve Jobs, Apple has reinvented or transformed at least four industries -- music (iTunes and iPod), computers (Apple II, Mac, PowerBook), telecommunications (iPhone and iPad) and retailing (especially online music retailing)
* With only 3% world market share in cell phones, the iPhone is more profitable than Nokia, with 10 times the global market share
* With only 8% world market share in computers, Apple is the most profitable company in the Silicon Valley and one of the most profitable in the world, with 20% of every dollar of revenue going direct to the bottom line
* Apple's New York City retail store is the most profitable store in the world on a per square foot basis, far more profitable than Tiffany's
* Apple now has a larger market capitalization than Microsoft and on the S&P 500 is second only to Exxon Mobil
* Three men started Apple in 1976 in a bedroom, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne, and Ron Wayne sold his 10% share of the company eight months later for $800 -- if he had kept it he would have been worth at least $25 billion
* Uniquely among international technology companies, Apple's product ethos combines the "heart of an engineer and the soul of an artist"
* Fortune Magazine has named Apple the most admired company in the U.S. three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2010
* Apple in 1983 was the first company to introduce commercially a computer with a Graphical User Interface (GUI), the Apple Lisa, but priced at almost $20,000 (in today's dollars), it was a failure
* Apple bounced back with the Mac in 1984, and the Mac remains perhaps the only major product introduced with a single TV commercial, Ridley Scott's famous "1984" ad that ran only one time in Super Bowl XVIII
* Apple has reinvented itself several times since its founding, overcoming serious management, technological and product failures
* Apple has led the way beyond the manufacturing economy and the information economy to the creative economy -- it designs and markets its products at its huge campuses in Silicon Valley, while jobbing out manufacturing and assembly operations to more efficient lower-wage countries in Asia, with some engineering operations in Paris and Tokyo
* Apple is considered one of the premier marketing companies in the world, with its focus on stylish, highly designed and even beautiful products that also offer differential operating advantages over existing competition
* Apple's most successful products include the Apple IIe (the longest running computer in computer history), the Mac, the Mac PowerBook, iMac, iPod, iPad and iTunes, but it also has had a number of failures including Lisa, Apple III, Newton, digital cameras, TV appliances
* Apple's computer products are highly successful and highly profitable despite having only an 8% operating system market share
* Apple has successfully expanded from being a computer company to being a consumer electronics company
* In the worst recession since the Great Depression, Apple grew revenues to over $40 billion, increased profits by 39%, built a huge new campus in Silicon Valley and went on a hiring binge, adding over 2,300 employees to its 34,000-employee base


Possible lessons for Belize businesses (and businesses everywhere)?

* You don't to be huge to be successful
* You don't have to be huge to be highly profitable
* A leader with vision can make all the difference
* Strong, even breakthrough marketing is vital
* Creativity and design make a huge difference
* You can't be "just as good as" the competition -- you have to offer a real differential advantage
* If you fail, reinvent yourself
* Constantly innovate and introduce new products and services
* Don't limit yourself to just one field or industry
* New ideas can transform companies and entire industries
* Don't give up -- success may just around the corner

--Lan Sluder