AppleCase4490 Essay

Acer has a degree of control over its prices and a considerable amount of non-price competitions exists, which ultimately leads to price discrimination (University of Phoenix, 2011). As such, Acer should focus on attaining and retaining loyal customers. Their non-pricing strategy should be focused on the development of products that are unique

Since 1976 Apple’s innovation has helped the company become a market leader in computer and mobile electronics. Through this time the company has faced a number of challenges either it be an internal power struggles or criticism from the media for certain aspects of their business model. This report covers five different issues that the company is facing or may face in the future.

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).

Microsoft’s approach of creating competition also increases both the variety and the availability of their PCs. PCs can be found almost anywhere that sells other electronics. Each PC manufacturer produces their own configurations. Each retailer sells at least a few exclusive PCs. The end result is many different PC options for the consumer.

Bargaining Power of Buyers - The force of the buyer’s bargaining power can reduce prices and demand higher quality products and services (Porter, 1998).

Tablets are effective tools used to improve users productivity and online experience whether it’s used for business, or life in general. Tablets are smaller than a laptop and bigger than a Smartphone, so it is perfect to take on the go. Users can browse the internet, create presentations, stay connected with their boss, download books, games and videos, watch movies, share photos and much more with their tablet. Just recently tablets have become the “new thing.” There is over 47.5 Million tablets sold to users in the United States today. Two of the most popular tablets on the market are the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire. I evaluated them on battery life and capacity, screen size, and price. Though each of them had good qualities, I preferred the iPad more than the Kindle.

Apple is a technology company that is forever changing. From the iPod to the iTouch/iPhone to the Mac, Apple’s rapid growth as a technology superpower could not have been possible without an intricate information system. The innovation of Apple over the years has seen unprecedented advances in the way we look at technology. This is important to Apple because they have expanded their range of business and revolutionized their product. The problem with this is that not a lot of companies and businesses see Apple as unnecessary

In the last decade Apple Inc. has yielded exponential growth. As a company, the imaginative and invocative approaches of technological product advancements have enable Apple, Inc. to achieve an elite status among technology companies throughout the world. Apple, Inc. serves as an inspiration to many companies through higher benchmark standards they created. Though their product margin is not as vast as most technological competitors, Apple, Inc. innovates and releases a new product to consumers. Apple, Inc. has proven to able to move and create new markets with one product that allows Apple, Inc. to rain as the elite player in technology.

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, including a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Its most popular hardware products are the series of Mac computers, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Its software includes the OS X for Mac computers and iOS operating systems for mobile devices, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser, and the iLife and iWork creativity and production suites.

The large capital requirements to enter the computer industry combined with established brand identities of the current incumbents make barriers to entry high, not to mention the economies of scale and distribution channels that incumbents enjoy which make entry barriers even higher. The current PC incumbents enjoy demand-side benefit of scale in the business sector where PC buyers prefer to buy products from large trusted companies, raising the level of entry barriers.

Apple prides itself on offering innovative technology to a society that has become dependent on it. In markets inundated with companies offering similar products and services, Apple has had to rise above and distinguish itself from the masses. While their products have a cultivated a devoted-customer following (our family is one of them), their organization and the values it espouses are what will help them to remain a relevant and successful company in the tech world.

Bring your own device is a recent concept and a growing trend in the business world.

Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,

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.

PC industry is characterized by fast declining ASP year over year. Together with the increasing component costs from 2009, both Dell and HP are facing squeezing profit margins (HP 2010; Dell 2010). In the first quarter of 2011, HP’s gross margin for its Personal System Group (PSG) is as low as 6.4% (Epstein 2011). Similarly, Dell’s gross margin of PCs is often 3 to 5% (Wang 2010). This indicates that if both