Essay on Documentary – Steve Jobs: Billion Dollar Hippy, Bbc

In 1996, Apple was a struggling company that had lost more than 70% of its market capitalization in the past decade. Apple’s sales had fell dramatically and their new personal computers weren’t particularly popular with consumers. The return of Steve Jobs to the company was a turning point for Apple and initiated a new era for the firm. With the launch of innovative products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple became the biggest brand in the world. Now it remained to be seen if Tim Cook would be able to continue to develop new products and maintain Apple’s success.

One feature that Apple offers that Microsoft doesn’t have is ITunes and an App store which offer customer to buy as much music as they want to be stored on their phone, iPod or computer or mac. This means that Apple appeals to a larger target group and can get more business. One feature that

Without Jobs, Apple was falling apart. In 1996, Apple agrees to buy NeXT for more than $400 million. Apple didn’t buy just NeXT, but they also bought Steve Jobs back. Jobs became the chief executive and Apple’s a multi-billion dollar company thanks to products like the iMac and iPods. Jobs said, “Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Blumenthal says, “ In an almost unbelievable way, the dots had connected again. Jobs had been thrown out of Apple, started a company that struggled, and then sold that company to Apple, his first love, where he was now in charge. Of course, none of it would have happened had he not been fired” (197).

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.

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

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.

The three most important factors in Apple's past success before the death of Steve Jobs was the push for innovation, portable devices, and iTunes. Steve Jobs was a man who wanted to create the "future" of technology. He created a better home computer with the creation of Apple II PC and the Macintosh computer. The Macintosh computer was created for the students and working professionals. Steve Jobs was the forefront of Apple's new innovations. He had the creative mind and the ability to look to the future. When Apple removed him as the CEO of Apple, he didn't give up. He went and started a new company. With that company he came up with the foundation of the new operating software of Mac OS X. We can all tell that Apple needed Steve Jobs when all other CEOs failed. Since the removal of Steve Jobs as CEO, Apple took a big hit in the market. With this, Steve Jobs decided to move toward the mobile devices of iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

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.

IBM entered the market in 1981 and gave Apple its first real competition. Apple managed to bounce back and thrived on this competition to abolish complacency and starting findings new ways to stay

As millions around the world swipe through their iPhones today, not much thought is given to the visionary man who played a pivotal role in the development of this innovative device. Steve Jobs, the man behind the development of iPhone and multiple other devices such as the iPods, iPads etc., was the backbone of Apple Inc. (CNBC Titans: Steve Jobs, 2011). Under his guidance and supervision, Apple Inc. has achieved new heights by re-defining the manner in which we, as consumers of electronics, interact with technology (Kane & Fowler, 2011). Apple Inc. not only introduced new and innovative devices into the market but also fulfilled Jobs vision of taking complicated technologies and simplifying them so that they can be used as consumer products (CNBC Titans: Steve Jobs, 2011). Jobs’ technology company was unique from others as it was the “one that developed tightly integrated packages of hardware and software.” (Steve Jobs: Insanely Great, 2011). Jobs creative ideas and visionary thinking enabled Silicon Valley to transform from a fruit orchard into the technology industry’s innovation center of U.S. today (Kane & Fowler, 2011).

introduction of the Apple II, to the Mac, to its more recent iTunes and iPhone, Apple has managed to maintain a competitive advantage and in recent years been able

* In 1985, Compaq and IBM do a research and development (R&D) and make move Apple into the mainstream by becoming low-cost producer and joint venture with IBM. This’s one of Apple failure moment and Apple Gross margin drop to 34%.

In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as an advisory and with the purposes of reshaping the product line. The changes made by Jobs resulted in increased sales and $309 million in profits. Job changed the mindset of Apples management and development team. He encourage them to have the “think different” management style that promotes the development of products that are ahead of the technology and design curve, and a creative retail strategy. It is this strategy that would eventually make Apple the best-selling company in the PC industry.

In return, they have a strong financial backing, brand reputation, strong marketing and advertising teams. Apple plans to take these strengths and prosper off of them. Taking the amount of brand awareness they have built along with their benefit of retail stores the company can plan to use their strong marketing and advertising teams to launch a new product.

It was through jobs that significant and highly marketable designs came into Apple like the original iMac of 1998. iPod launched Apple into a