1. Introduction
Apple Inc., is known to be one of the world’s most valuable companies. It is a multi-national company with a worldwide presence; approximately 72,800 employees and total net sales of $156 billion in the year 2012 (Apple annual report, 2012). Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both college dropouts, founded this corporation in 1976 - “Steve Jobs, helped to transform the way in which the computer is used today through his creation of the first computer processing unit and his creative product innovations.” (Gupta and Prinzinger 2013). This paper will analyse the external environment, using the PESTEL model. The external environment incorporates all the factors that a company has no influence over and is only able to adapt to
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The company develops and creates new products on a yearly basis for all its categories to keep itself in the spotlight, ahead of the game, and constantly moving forward. However with the death of Apple’s founder and innovator Steve Jobs, this has proven to be a great handicap to the sustainability of the company and consumers has become sceptical and concerned about maintaining the uniqueness of Apple devices. Recently there has been the perception of a sacrifice in hardware capabilities for better design and better seen quality thus ruining Apple’s reputation in the eye of tech savvy consumers, who claim other competitors have better technology for a cheaper price (Yun Qing 2012) such as Samsung (Datamonitor 2011).
This figure shows the international sales of Samsung compared to apple, in the last few quarters Samsung is ahead. (FOSS Patents 2012)
e. Environmental/Ethical: The environment and ethical factors have been in the spotlight at a much larger degree lately. These include factors that keep a company green and also treat its employees ethically. Apple has recently improved its environmental credentials by rolling out new recycling campaigns, the company is now minimizing the environmental impact of its growth by using “less material”, shipping “with smaller packaging”, being “free of many toxic substances”, and being “as energy efficient and recyclable as possible”(Apple website, 2013). “Though our
Apple Inc. commonly known as Apple has effectively managed to be a successful company in a very competitive consumer electronics industry by been innovative and differentiating the company’s products with similar products in the markets by offering high quality products and good customer service while the actual manufacturing of the products is outsourced to trusted third party suppliers. On a wider perspective, the company has set high standards that even the company itself has to be on its level best to maintain the standards that it has set. Over the last few years, the consumer electronics market has
I learned that Apple is a juggernaut when it comes to their technological products and marketing goals. Apple focuses on the needs of customer’s light years ahead of their competition and even before most consumers have realized they want Apple’s products. Through their innovative marketing involving social media, word of mouth, Apple Stores they have convinced consumers about the high value of their product even lending to the formation of a “Mac cult” for its diehard fans. The way ahead for Apple is not to lose sight of its brand loyalty and continue to service the customers and entice them with the brand’s prestige. Even with the death of Steve Jobs, I believe Apple forge ahead to differentiate itself from the markets they are in.
Technology change has naturally been a major factor in Apple's success. The company played a major role in the shift to a mobile computing society, by developing the personal technology devices that would
In 2014 both Apple and Samsung sold a combined total of about 108.2 million units of their products! Samsung sold about 71 million units while on the other hand Apple sold 94.75 million units. For the past few years, the competing and comparison between Apple and Samsung was at its maximum. Fights started between people to prove an idea about which company is the best but they did not know that they were only comparing their smartphone. That is not the only thing a person should concentrate at while comparing two of the biggest multinationals in the world. People should look at the sales of all of the company’s products, their profits and losses, the history of the company, and the reviews of the people about their
Evaluate the economic and political impact of big business on the United States in the period from 1870 to 1900.
Apple is a global company represented in many parts of the world, but born in the United States by computer wizards by the names of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who founded the company back in 1976 (Capon, 2008). The organization deals with the design and sale of computer hardware, software and offers tech support to its customers. Examples of the hardware the company manufactures and sells include mobile phones, personal computers, iPads, tablets and iTunes with associated brands, like the MacBook and iPhones that represent Apple’s driving force towards its success. It is recognized as a brand leader in consumer electronics by the world in terms of quality and customer satisfaction and despite the wide product range, Apple manages each product in a distinct way that is a single business unit (Mittan, 2010).
Apple Inc. has been dedicated to innovation ever since the company was first formed. Apple's recent breakthroughs were a result of a new technologies convergence upon the "digital hub" strategy (Mortensen, 2010). This strategy has served Apple well; especially during the last few years. The iPad, iPod, and iPhone were all born from this strategy. Furthermore, producing these innovative, user friendly, and design oriented products has earned them a considerable amount of customer loyalty.
Apple has prospered internally and it is necessary to consider both strengths and weaknesses. Apple has lots of strengths, the major of them being it’s impressive brand reputation, Apple managed to position the brand as “premium products” for “elite” people. Customers are loyal and tend to stay in Apple’s ecosystem. Apple’s self-reinforcing ecosystem, it has a diverse ecosystem which integrates various hardware and software products into one large interactive space. Status of top innovator, Apple is perceived as the leading innovator and its products are highly anticipated. Apple’s very strong financial performance, high profit margins and very high liquidity. It’s network of retail stores, high-quality customer service helps to create advanced user experience. A powerful marketing strategy, Apple’s team masterly uses various marketing techniques to create a hype for their products and to strengthen the brand.
Apple Incorporated was founded in April of 1976 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The founders of the corporation were college dropouts that worked together to build computer boxes which were sold without keyboards and power supplies. Apple Incorporated is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services understands that without their stakeholders The purpose of this paper is to specify the nature, structure, and types of products or services offer. This paper will look into the factors that influence Apple’s external environment. This paper will also explore Apple’s stakeholder influence and its controversial corporate social responsibility. (Apple Computer, Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Apple Computer, Inc.)
After a half circle of product life cycle Apple refreshes its offer with new features and decreases the price of the previous offer. Thus the market skimming has become the strategy and thus practicing market leadership in product-quality will cover the high cost and R&D. Thus the each year apple enthusiasts are getting the higher value of high quality and advanced features in the closely same price which actually comprises everyday less-price as well.
Apple has always been something of a trendsetter in the tech space. Its product history since Steve Jobs’s return in 1997 gives us a solid list of examples to choose from, from its very first iPod, to Apple’s PowerBook (and later MacBook) lines, to the iPhone and the iPad. Apple’s history is dominated by products that existed before Apple had a crack at them - but it was Apple who simplified them, made them appealing on a much wider scale, and ultimately made them objects of desire for the masses.
2. Powerful brand image associated with quality and superior hardware design: Apple continues to innovate in the area of hardware design. Some innovations are:their own A-series chips for iDevices: Where others use general purpose ARM based integrated circuit chips to drive their devices, each A-series chip is designed specifically for the devices it is to power, designed explicitly to meet Apple’s specific requirements; the unibody design for the laptops: provides a lighter, stronger case for the MacBooks; the multi-touch track pad on the laptops: was new & innovative; the magnetic charger connection on the MacBooks; all the iDevices: the build quality is surpassed by no other; The newest iPhone 5 is regarded as a gold standard in terms of its durability as well as the iOS. In each of these examples, hardware design – aesthetics aside – is always of high quality, and uses the latest technology that is ready.
Even though Apple has encountered many setbacks, it continues to bring new and improve products to the market. Apple’s competitive strategy has been innovation. They have made an extraordinary effort developing, implementing, and executing its very unique strategy through innovation which has resulted in new product, and the enrichment of the existing ones. More specifically, Apple attempts to meet and supply the needs of a global market, by offering eager and enthusiastic consumers with innovated and high-quality products and services. Apple has employed a differentiation strategy linked to innovation with its three core products (computers, personal media player, mobile phones, tablets and other accessories). A key piece of their strategy involves meeting the needs of the converging digital electronics and computer markets. Apple has elected to implement its strategy by designing and developing proprietary operating systems and software technologies, thus allowing for strict protection of its intellectual rights.
A competitive strength assessment reveals that Apple’s success is unmatched. They have been able to maintain the leading industry position while developing and introducing new products. Stock price is continuously rising and products are always improving. The current products are improved with software updates and new products are improved by
Apple was established as an IT company dealing in exclusively in computers. However, competition in the technology sector forced the firm to focus on other consumer products. The diversification strategy has seen Apple’s sales grow tremendously in the last decade, earning the firm the No. 1 brand position at Forbes. The Apple brand is recognized on an international scale and enjoys a strong recognition thanks to its aggressiveness when it comes to creativity and innovation (Tar, 2013). It has a large number of loyal customers who would purchase the new products regardless of the market price, which guarantees profits from the new division.