No company is an island; even the most integrated manufacturer or service provider relies upon a cooperative ecosystem of other companies. In the case of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and its multi-billion dollar successes, the iPhone and the iPad, there is a long list of companies that are involved in the process. Consider the fact that Apple logged over $16 billion in costs of goods sold for the December quarter - an amount that on an annualized basis is larger than the GDP of Ecuador. (We look at a retailer's inventory turnaround times, its receivables as well as its collection period. See Measuring Company Efficiency.)
That is a large amount of money by any measure, and a sign of the value of being tapped as a supplier to Apple. As Apple shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon, it is worth examining who else directly benefits from Apple's successes. Here is a quick rundown of the Apple ecosystem.
Readers should note, though, that Apple's ecosystem is not static - the company sources certain components from multiple suppliers and will occasionally replace suppliers when price and performance dictate a change. Once such change has taken place relatively recently, as Linear Technology (Nasdaq:LLTC) no longer supplies the DC/DC converter or USB controller for the iPad2.
Please read the full piece here:
http://financialedge.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0211/The-Apple-Ecosystem.aspx
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