[New CEO Takes Office: What Has Cook Left for Apple?] Today marks the first day that Tenus has officially succeeded Cook as Apple's CEO. Apple's current market capitalization is close to $4.8 trillion, just slightly below the peak reached at the end of July. This figure equates to a valuation more than 30 times its expected profits for next year, far exceeding the S&P 500's price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 20. From Jobs' launch of the iPhone in 2007 to Cook's first year at the helm, the company's revenue increased from $24 billion to $157 billion, and has continued to climb since. In Cook's first year as CEO, Apple sold 125 million iPhones, and is expected to sell approximately 260 million this year. According to Visible Alpha estimates, the average selling price of an iPhone this year will reach approximately $970, while it was $630 in Cook's first year, representing a 53% price increase, exceeding the 47% inflation rate during the same period. One of Cook's greatest successes for shareholders may be the significant expansion of the services business. Apple's hardware gross margin is approximately 40%, while the services business has a gross margin exceeding 75%. One of Apple's most profitable businesses is probably the more than $20 billion it receives annually from Google to make Google Search the default search engine for Safari, and that revenue is almost entirely profit.
