Icloud Essay

One key element of Apple’s strategy in computers, personal media players, tablet computers, and smart phones is product innovation, diversification and development. Over the years Apple has been very successful in integrating software and hardware in new developing products. Despite the struggling economy in recent years, Apple has been able to grow their market share and stay ahead of the game.

For the fiscal year (FY) 2013 fourth quarter (Q4) Apple posted revenue of 37.5 billion and quarterly profits of 7.52 billion. Figure 1 shows financial data for three consecutive years from 2011-2013. See Appendix Figure 1 for financial details. Net sales for FY 2013 were $170,910 million an increase of $14,402 million from FY 2012 (Apple reports, 2013). Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads, and 4.9 million Macs during 2013 Q4. Apples App Stores’ sales exceeded $10 billion for FY 2013. App Store customers downloaded almost three billion apps in December 2013 making it the most successful month in App Store history (App store sales, 2013).

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.

The information technology always require changes and updation time to time, because new technologies and techniques are coming in the market, that’s why, it is essential for the business organizations and companies to change and upgrade their information technology systems. Similarly, the requirements of the people and customers are also being changed with the passage of time and to fulfil the requirements of the customers companies are looking to change and upgrade their information technology system and environment.

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.

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.

Cloud Computing allows the company to set up what is essentially a virtual office to give you the flexibility of connecting to the company anywhere, anytime. With the growing number of web-enabled devices used in today's business environment, access to company data is even easier. There are many benefits to moving Cameron's Coffee to the cloud.

Issue 02: Apple is a wildly successful company that generates billions of dollars in profits every year. This is one of the strongest examples of how a company with the right strategy, great products, a strong leader and the willingness to take some risks can become vastly successful. The market in which Apple is strong has intense rivalry for market share. Apple is challenged with staying ahead of its competitors and maintaining long-term relationships with its customers. In order to stay ahead of the competition Apple is forced to keep product innovation a top priority. I would maintain a Blue Ocean Strategy to market our product and maintain our competitive advantage (McGraw-Hill Irwin, Page 152). The company has a strong and loyal customer base which will allow Apple to concentrate the focus to highlighting the features of our products. I will not focus on what our competitors can and cannot do; I will focus the attention to the benefits of having Apple products. Strategic marketing campaigns highlighting the different uses and features of the popular iPhone and iPad will headline the campaign.

(Sivaprasad & JangaJe, 2012): With the introduction of Information Technology in the business, every organization that comprises IT has started to take benefits of this technology. This is done by attaining the advantage over other competitors in the market, by providing new features to the customers after incorporating technology at the operational side specially, increasing the operational speed and reducing the probability for any error in operations. (Wen, 2012): IT also assists higher management in the process of decision making.

Porter 's five forces analysis is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy, consisting of five rules: Threat of new competition, Threat of substitute products or services, Bargaining power of buyers, Bargaining power of suppliers, and Intensity of competitive rivalry. By apply this model to the Apple company, we may know if the competition in this field is vigorous or not, and if Apple is safe in terms of being an attractive industries or not.

Employees are no longer tied to their desks and can use their mobile devices to access numerous applications and tools to increase productivity. Ultimately a company can turn over their IT needs to a provider and focus on other needs within their structure.

Further, in 2012 net income increased to $41,733,000,000. This shows that while the industry was declining, Apple was able to stay strong and profitable.

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.

Information technology is of great importance in this century 21, where life depends on rapid technological development. In the business world, information technology has been a big difference since its emergence as it helps in the development of both domestic and international sectors. Before Information technology in companies was more hierarchical in the transmission of information (misinformation). With the advent of information technology, the transfer of information has become much easier than ever and it was one of the most important reasons for the emergence of competitive advantages (SHARIRO, RG 2016). Information technology is one of the reasons why business technology is helping to enter the new market better and more at the present

One of the competitive strategies for Apple Inc. lies in its string Sales and Marketing positioning all across the world tough its exclusive Apple stores or in the form of franchise stores. Another competitive advantage of the company lies in its Research & Development capability. This strategy has long been a source of competitive advantage to beat the competitive rivals, both in the domestic market (like Microsoft Windows operating System and Apple’s Macintosh), Google Inc. (Android mobile operating system and Apple’s iOS) s well as in the international competitors like South Korean giant, Samsung and Finnish mobile maker, Nokia Inc. (University of Oregon Investment Group 2012).