Tim Cook Apple Retail Stores

Apple’s stock moved beyond $700 a share today in after-hours trading, proving that all you really need to have a successful business is a new iPhone. Good luck to everyone else.

The new share price is the highest Apple’s stock has ever reached, and the iPhone 5 isn’t even in consumer’s hands yet. Last week, Apple released the newcomer to its iPhone line, which sports with a new form factor with a longer screen. Apple customers are loyal, excitable folks, who snapped up two million of Apple’s iPhone inventory in the first 24 hours of preordering.

And Apple is already drawing a crowd in front of its New York store on Fifth avenue, though, some of those fans are actually just lining up to promote their startups and bands.

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On the same day, Apple also updated and released both the iPod Touch and the Nano, which now comes with a 2.5 inch touchscreen. It also showed off its latest mobile operating system iOS 6, a revamped iTunes, and released new earphones called “EarPods.”

The company hit its previous all-time high of $696.98 on September 14 and hit its newest high of $700.68 a share after the markets closed today. Apple already holds the title of most valuable company in the world, overtaking Exxon Mobile.

Tim Cook image via Meghan Kelly/VentureBeat

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