Case Study : Apple Inc.

Shaughnessy, Haydn. “Apple Remains World’s Most Admired.” Forbes Magazine. 28 February 2011. Web. 11 March 2015. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/02/28/apple-remains-worlds-most-admired-followed-by-google-and-amazon/>

One of the major challenges facing Apple was to get the appropriate replacement of the company’s visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Jobs who died on October 2011. The CEO was responsible for turning Apple into what it is today. Apple is in this case challenged to purse the strategies employed by Steve, that propelled the company to new heights, and which saw the company become a

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.

This additional elasticity in Apple’s business strategy shows its aspiration to conquer Dell, HP and Microsoft, done with a exceptional and groundbreaking mixture of digital media and personal computer creations.

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).

Attention Getter: In 1984 the first cd play or “Walk-man” was released. The first laptop came out in 1982 and cost a mere $8,150 which comes out to $19,630 today. In 2001 the first smartphone was released. All of these devices since have been outdated and updated. And the company that runs them all is Apple Co. And Apple would not be where it is if not for the mastermind behind it all, Steve Jobs

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

This paper is a business situation analysis of Apple, Inc. Apple a market leader in the consumer computer industry with products including desktop, laptop, and handheld computers, as well phones, media streaming, and now watches. A multinational company, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. They specialize in designing, developing, and selling high-end computers, software, and other electronic devices. Because of Apple’s broad product portfolio they compete with many different companies in a range of markets. This analysis will be conducted using historical information, a SWOT analysis, and portions of Porter’s Five Forces Model to understand its business strategies, impact within markets, products and services offered, corporate leadership, and future.

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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the world leaders in the research, development, marketing, sales and service of personal digital music & video devices, in addition to personal computers globally. Its' innovative music and digital content delivery service, iTunes, has sold over 1 billion songs to date. As of the close of their latest fiscal year the company generated $156B in Sales and generated a Gross Profit of $68B earning a Net Income of $41B (Apple Investor Relations, 2013). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate Apple's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and provide an analysis of each. The cause, impact and recommendations for each specific strength, weakness, opportunity and threat are provided along with an action plan of how to maximize strengths and opportunities and mitigate the effects of weaknesses and threats. The Apple brand is among the most valuable in the world and its ability to innovate with successive product generations unmatched, yet this has led to a high dependence on its iPhone and iPad platforms, to the exclusion of entirely new businesses. The Apple iTunes platform and ecosystem delivers 30% of all profits and a significant portion of overall revenue, making this single business a stabilizing force in their strategic product and services roadmap (Apple Investor Relations, 2013). Despite these challenges however Apple continues to attain

The shifted new strategy of Apple was initiated by the release of iPod in 2001, followed by the iPhone in 2007, then by iPad in 2012. It was the iPod that brought significant growth in Apple. Initially, the iPod was just another MP3 but soon became the icon of the digital age due to its sleek design and user friendly interface. Moreover, iPod could sync with Windows as well as a Mac and offered accessory markets. Soon enough all the competitor in MP3 market had to face the challenge of consumers comparing their model with iPod. However, the greatest challenge that the competitors had to face was the introduction of iTunes store.

Apple’s strategy has evolved as technology does. At the beginning, Apple focused on the computer industry

“An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator... these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is.” –Steve Jobs. On January 09, 2007, Steve Jobs made an announcement that affected the world as we know it, he announced the first iPhone. No phone on the market came close to the iPhone, the competitor at the time was the BlackBerry, but was outclassed in every way. The iPhone brought the first true, responsive touch screen on a phone to the market. The iPhone had the best web browser on any phone and started to change the way phones were made due to dominating the phone market, and even today continues to do so. The iPhone can go head-to-head with the best smartphones out there today and still come out on top.

BIG PICTURE 2 The Big Picture Part 1 Measures of Effectiveness Any fruitful IMC arrangement has foundation goals which serve to give the system shape, aim and an objective to reach. In considering of this, for Apple and their iPod compact music player, the accompanying is a short exchange on IMC targets as I see them. Apple has a long-standing history of item and outline advancement. Since the beginning in 1976, they have reliably been looked to as a pioneer in creating both equipment and programming that pushes the points of confinement of innovation and is anything but difficult to utilize, dependable and design cognizant (Završnik, B., & Jerman, D. , 2011). Given this legacy, be that as it may, Apple 's general piece of the overall industry in the PC business sector is little. At the point when considered in the chronicled setting in which this occurred and how the business responded, the organization 's initial choices with respect to authorizing and dissemination methods extremely affected Apple 's general capacity to get their item into purchaser’s hands. While they explored different avenues regarding option appropriation and permitting methods utilized as a part of the predominant Windows stage, these were abandoned. Both of these certainties constrained the organization 's capacity to infiltrate the bigger purchaser market. On account of this, the organization has progressively tried

Apple Inc. has launched its iPhone in January 2007 (telegraph) as a new product in the market with latest technology and it was the first multi touch smartphone adding the feature of iPod and received an overwhelmed response by selling 270000 units. It had created a new record for a new company like apple, iPhone had laid a stepping stone for the success of Apple and till this time iPhone is the best seller product of Apple Inc. during first quarter of 2016 apple has sold over 74 million iPhones worldwide. (statista, 2016).