Apple: A Heavenly Stock, but a Devil of a Company

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I took a severe beating by readers last week for having described technology giant Apple (AAPL) as a company that is shrewd and offers no apologies. What these readers failed to realize is that it was said with a great deal of respect and admiration.

Name me a company that is neither shrewd nor unapologetic and I will show you either its bankruptcy papers or those that are pending. The fact of the matter is, Apple remembers being taken out to the woodshed several times by several of its rivals, including Microsoft (MSFT), during some of the companies darkest periods.

However, this time the company is reveling in the moment as it offers merciless punishment of its own to the likes of Research in Motion (RIMM), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and even its new chief rival, Google (GOOG), if it gets in its way.

The fact of the matter is, when it comes to business competition, there is no "right way to win." Although Apple often projects a somewhat angelic image, it knows that it has to have venom in its veins in order to withstand the onslaught from rivals who want nothing more than to put it out of business. It operates in a cut-throat environment.

Apple understands that the only guarantee on Wall Street for market leaders is that they don't remain market leaders forever -- only the length of reign varies. Both Research in Motion and Microsoft are prime examples.

However, Apple continues to show that it is far from ready to give up the driver's seat on innovation in exchange for its market leader position. The company continues to push in its endeavor to provide consumers what they haven't realized that they need.

In the process, it either creates new markets or, like a Roman army, it collapses those that previously existed -- currently by having its sights set on the dashboard. This area is now dominated by Sirius XM (SIRI), Pandora (P) and whatever "standard control feature" provided by the car manufacturer helps you manage your air conditioning. However, Apple along with its Siri voice control technology plans to take this a step further.

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