How a $140 Horse Became a Mule

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - In 2007, "Mad Money," TheStreet founder Jim Cramer announced with authority the arrival of a new breed of technology companies that would lead the markets in the 21st century. He called them the "Four Horsemen."

Not only would these companies take over as the dominant leaders of Wall Street, but they were declared the replacements to Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and Intel (INTC).

Although many were quick to laugh at the time, it seems Cramer knew what he was talking about. These "horsemen" were none other than Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG) and Research in Motion (RIMM).

Well, if you are thinking Cramer was perhaps only 75% right because of RIM, you need to have a bit of perspective. Although RIM is down today, more than a year after his declaration the stock hit $140.

The question is, how did a $140 horse become a mule that now trades at less than $10?

That question is not that hard to answer when one considers the status of the other three horses. RIM's current situation affirms my belief the only guarantee of a market leader on Wall Street is that it does not remain a market leader forever -- and that there is no such thing as infinite wealth. Some people understand this. Those who don't are still suffering from the delusion that RIM is somehow still capable of making a comeback.

But I've got news for you, not only has that ship sailed, it has sunk.

The reality is, in order for Apple, Google and Amazon to rise to prominence, one or more of the horsemen had to fall. Unfortunately for RIM, it drew the short stick. However, I tend to think it goes beyond just fate. RIM was also short on intelligence as it allowed Apple to steal away its business even though both companies had two separate and distinctive focuses.

The genius of Apple was that it chose to focus primarily on giving consumers what they wanted, even showing consumers things they didn't realize they needed yet. RIM, on the other hand, opted to focus its attention solely on the enterprise environment, except it forgot to factor in that one day the enterprise and consumer segments at some point were going to merge.

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