The Genie is Out of the Box: Welcome to the Next Wave of Innovation by Apple –All of Which Fits in Your Hand

We’ve made it through the personal computer innovation that exploded in the 80’s. Then came the Internet revolution in the 90’s. Now comes the hand held computer revolution with what I feel will be the device that has the most penetration in to the consumer market –the iPhone based ultra small computer. What I call an “ultra small pc” which is here, and getting better and better every month.

What will the iPhone be able to do soon?

With the upcoming iPhone enhancements, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and industry-standard corporate security standards will allow IT professionals to seamlessly integrate iPhone into their enterprise environments. New features include: Push email, push contacts, push calendar, global address list, certificates and identities, WPA2/802.1x, enforced security policies, and VPN protocals. And this is just the base for third party software development.

What does all this mean to us users?

A whole lot of ways to access data right at the touch of an iPhone right on our palm! I look forward to reading my favorite newspaper using an iPhone or an iPod Touch. I still don’t like cell phones!

I think that’s just the beginning. Since Apple will allow developers to create their own applications and then register with Apple and sell it via an iTunes type of store –with a 70/30 revenue share, it’s just a matter of time before we’ll see thousands of software applications.

With this move, a third type of new and innovative computer will gain a foot-hold in the home and workplace –an Ultra Small PC.

There have been a lot of attempts by device makers to introduce one that can handle all the tasks that we demand. However, the iPhone, and iPod Touch with their elegant interfaces and ability to browse the ‘Net, as well as now being able to run 3rd party software, will be the first device to jump from the early adopters to the main stream user base.

What does all this mean for Apple stock, which is around $122.00 as I write this? It means that Apple has a long way to keep growing. My estimate is that Apple stock will grow this summer to $150.00 and this winter back up to $200, as it was last year. All this will be driven by fantastic laptop sales and iPhone sales. And if the iPhone is adopted by a China telecom or an Indian one, just look for a nice upside bonus. I think by the Summer of 2009, Apple can reach around a $240 to $260 dollar per share price.

All this driven by innovation that is just easy to use. No doubt I will be buying into Apples’ products many times this year –both for personal use and office use!

Carpe Diem,

Rich Sage.

Disclosure: I am long on Apple (AAPL)