5 Companies Getting Rich Off Apple

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Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) transformation over the past five years was borne out of a perfect storm of timing, technology, and trends. At the exact moment that high speed Internet became ubiquitous in economies with expendable income, Apple was there with the iPod, the iPhone, and most recently, the iPad to act as the face of how consumers would interact with new media.

But Apple’s success owes much to its symbiotic relationship with companies that have embraced its products and business model. Those companies, from tiny video game makers to the world’s major chip manufacturers, have grown rich as a result of Apple. Look no further than Ngmoco, which was founded in 2008 to exclusively make games for Apple’s mobile-device platform. The success of its titles led to Dena purchasing the company for $400 million in 2010.

Here are five other companies thriving thanks to Apple:

Rovio

The creators of  the omnipresent mobile-device game Angry Birds have brought its signature title to Facebook, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, and a number of other platforms, but it’s most closely associated with Apple devices. Rovio raised $42 million in March after its most recent round of funding and is planning to offer an IPO “in the next few years.” Given the value of the Angry Birds brand, a high profile acquisition of the company by someone looking to capitalize on the runaway success of the iPad would not be surprising.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

It’s less that Intel owes its overall success to Apple — Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the PC boom of the ’90s were responsible for that — but that Apple has played a significant part in Intel’s continued relevance. The announcement in 2006 that Apple would begin using Intel processors rather than PowerPC chipsets helped Intel’s stock recover from a massive decline, something that happened again in 2009 when Apple removed all remaining software support for PowerPC architecture in an operating-system update.

Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH)

Apple is just one of many businesses in which this British technology company has its fingers. The success of Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad, both of which incorporate Arm processors, has been hugely influential in raising the company’s overall value. The stock has grown 89% since the beginning of 2009.

AT&T (NYSE:T)

AT&T already controlled the largest mobile subscriber base in the U.S. when the iPhone debuted in 2007 — 62 million subscribers vs. Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) 60 million. It was Apple’s smartphone, however, that kept the telecom relevant as Verizon has grown and overtaken AT&T since then. The success of the iPhone 4 has directly led to the 19% growth in the company’s stock since last June.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS)

While Apple’s stock grew 35% between 2008 and 2010, Electronic Arts’ fell by almost 75%. The one-time biggest video game publisher in the world had been laid low by the recession and a number of retail flops. In the past 18 months, though, Electronic Arts has found renewed success on Apple’s iPhone and iPad, its games taking up most of the spots on the 2010 best-seller lists on both platforms. Though mobile games still account for only a portion of the company’s overall revenue, their success on Apple platforms has helped see EA shares rise by 25% since February.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2011/04/5-companies-getting-rich-off-apple-aapl/.

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