The Greatest Capitalist in a Generation

Steve Jobs was one of the most influential, innovative, and successful people of his generation.  He was also a rabid capitalist and a marketing genius.  He had the uncanny ability to convince the same customer to buy an iPod for $399 (the price of the original unit in October, 2001), use it for nine months, then buy a completely new model for $499 (the price of the iPod2 in July, 2002).

Consider.  Since the first iPod was sold just ten years ago, there have been:
--6 versions of the iPod Classic;
--2 versions of the iPod Mini;
--6 generations of the iPod Nano;
--4 generations of the iPod Shuffle; and
--4 versions of the iPod Touch.
That is more than 2 "new" iPod models out every year.

I do not have the time (or inclination) to list the various iterations of the iPhone, iPad or MacBook, but one can assume that new models are being routinely introduced into the marketplace.  What is astonishing to me is how many customers are buying an "upgraded" version of the Apple product that they already own. 

And that was the genius of Apple under Steve Jobs.  The company was able to grow and succeed by adopting the decades old idea of "planned obsolescence" and updating it for the computer age.  What used to work for lawn mowers and automobiles could be equally applied to electronics.

This dovetails nicely with the ongoing "Occupy America" protests.  One such object of the protestors ire is Bank of America for supposedly putting 'profits over people.'  The only problem is that in 2010, those villains at Bank of America actually did not turn a profit; they lost almost $3.6 billion.  During that same time, the heroes over at Apple were busy turning a profit of over $14 billion!  The stock prices tell the same story: while a single share of Bank of America will set you back a little less than $6, you would have to cough up nearly $370 for a single share of Apple.

Is Apple putting real profits over people?  How much is too much?  Is $14 billion profit in a single year too much?  Maybe the protestors should bring their roving protests by the nearest Apple store on their way to the local Bank of America branch to protest the new $5 debit card fee.