The announcements came fast and furious at Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference this week. Between the operating system upgrades and new rollouts, the Cupertino tech darling's prospects never looked brighter.
The same can't be said for many of the publicly traded companies that may be licking their wounds after Apple's next phase of tech domination.
Let's go over a few of the stocks that will likely feel the pain as the refreshed iOS, Lion, and iCloud hit the market.
Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM)
Anything that makes the iPhone stronger will be a deeper thorn in the BlackBerry's side, but one new Apple feature in particular sealed RIM's fate with one notable analyst.
Morgan Keegan's Tavis McCourt downgraded RIM -- from outperform to market perform -- while slashing his price target on the shares from $71 to $49.
I know what you're thinking. Were there actually analysts out there who were still bullish on RIM, beyond its potential as an acquisition target? Well, McCourt was -- but no more.
McCourt fears that the new iMessage feature in the upcoming iOS 5 platform levels the playing field with RIM, which used to have bragging rights with its BlackBerry Messenger offering.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
iCloud's most prolific feature didn't make a victim of the world's largest software company. Apple could have limited the ability to seamlessly share documents and photos across iPods, iPads, and iPhones to Macs alone. Instead, PCs get to play on Apple's cloud, too.
However, Steve Jobs did allude to a "PC-free" future, where the computer is simply another device. We don't all need computers, especially when so much of the casual computing experience is now taking place online in an operating-system-agnostic environment. The iCloud demo also featured Apple's Pages rather than the more popular -- yet costlier -- Microsoft Word.
Microsoft just got victimized. It just doesn't know it yet.
It may only be a coincidence that box tracker IDC hosed down its forecast for PC sales this year a day after Apple's keynote, but the grim reality is that Windows is becoming less necessary for consumers.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)
Big G is taking a couple of small yet sharp jabs from Apple's moves.
Android is the bigger victim. Thanks to iCloud, someone with any iOS device is now more likely to stay within the family of Apple smartphones, tablets, and portable media players when purchasing a replacement or an additional device. If you want the photo you took on your iPhone to be instantly available on your tablet, it better be an iPad, not some Android-fueled gizmo.
Google also recently introduced its music locker service, but now it's been outdone by Apple's new digital locker. Apple actually took the time to broker deals with the record labels, offering instant access to tunes without the need for time-consuming uploads.
The iTunes Match service isn't free, but for $25 a year, any songs in your iTunes library that you haven't already purchased from Apple will be quickly scanned and made available in rich 256 kbps quality. On Google's service, you'll need to upload those tunes yourself -- a time- and bandwidth-consuming endeavor.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY)
One can make the argument that encouraging more gadget buyers to stick to Apple products will make your nearby Best Buy store even less relevant than it's been during the past two quarters of back-to-back declines in comps, sales, and profitability. But I'm not going there.
Instead, Apple's shot at Best Buy is all about its fledgling Napster service.
Napster charges $10 a month -- or $96 for a year -- for access to 12 million songs available as streams across a wide range of devices. The much cheaper iTunes Match service has 18 million songs at its disposal, but you actually need to have the tracks already. That's a big difference, but how many people will nix Napster, Rhapsody, or any digital music service for the cheaper combo of iTunes Match for library streaming and Pandora for music discovery?
The iTunes Match and Pandora one-two punch may not be enough to dent premium radio. Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) can exhale -- for now. Even Apple's assortment of fresh podcast content won't wean the masses off Sirius and XM. However, this will leave a mark on Napster.
What other companies do you think matter less in light of Apple's announcements? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
