Apple has iPhone to thank for $1T feat

But Amazon is primed to steal its spot at top

Apple crossed the magic line on Wall Street on Thursday to become the first U.S. company worth $1 trillion.

That’s an interesting milestone for a company thought to be coasting on ideas left over by the late Steve Jobs.

But one great idea, the iPhone, is the gift that just keeps on giving, selling more than 200 million units yearly. And even with a price hike in 2017 to $1,000 and up, people were still willing to fork it over.

So, innovator or not, you’ve got to hand it to Jobs’ successor, Tim Cook. Without his marketing and manufacturing brilliance, Apple never would have crossed the $1 trillion threshold.

Sales of Macintosh computers are declining, the best days for the iPad are behind it, and the iPhone just continues selling millions of units every week, a remarkable feat for a product that’s now 11 years old.

Beyond the iPhone, the hidden cash cow in the Apple universe is the Services division, which includes iCloud backup storage, iTunes movie rentals and the Apple Music subscription service. Services is now No. 2 to iPhone sales and growing steadily. The company generated $9.5 billion in Services sales in the most recent quarter that ended in June.

All of those nagging messages that you’re out of storage space and need more iCloud room are a pain in the rear – and a huge revenue-generator for Apple. And if you want to see a movie, odds are it won’t be available on Netflix or Amazon, but iTunes will rent you most movies for $3.99.

Now the question for Apple is, post$1 trillion, can it get to $2 trillion?

The thinking on Wall Street is no. There’s another company that actually innovates and is smarter, faster and more nimble – Amazon.

Think about the last time you were willing to stand in a line to pay for something vs. clicking a button.

I believe we’ll have phones for at least 20 years, if not longer. But if I were Tim Cook, I wouldn’t get too complacent. Not with Amazon breathing down his neck.