ions Issue 78 / November 2021
ding . You too early enter at the
Trendsetter or fashion victim ?
Apple is regularly cited in these types of stories , for obvious reasons . If at the launch of the first iPod on 23 October 2001 you invested the $ 399 (£ 295 ) cost of the device in Apple shares instead , this would now be worth
$ 265,760 .
One feature that pops up time and time again in financial publications is the story of how much you would have made if , instead of buying an exciting new gadget or fashion accessory , you invested that money in the company that made it . The problem with these articles is that they only focus on the winners , when you would have been equally likely to have bought into one of their competitors that fell by the wayside .
Yet while the iPod was regarded as the must-have gadget back then , so too was the Nokia 8110 after its appearance in “ The
Matrix ”, released on 11 June 1999 . Yet unlike Apple , Nokia failed to grasp the smartphone boom which , combined with unfortunate timing – the film was released in the run-up to the dotcom bubble – meant anyone who invested the $ 900 cost of Keanu Reeves ’ phone into Nokia ’ s shares would still be in the red 22 years later . There has been a similar divergence in fortunes between makers of table-top models Games Workshop ( up more than 4,000 % over 10 years ) and Hornby ( down 69 %), and luxury goods companies LVMH ( up more than 700 % over 10 years ) and Mulberry ( down 80 %).
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