Strategic Analysis Of Apple

Apple being the top price point for its products must compete differently than some of the others in the market to pull in consumers willing to pay for the Apple brand and its promises, such as making devices as easy to deploy as they are to use.

Apple’s over-arching company strategy follows an innovative, mysterious and customer-centered strategy. One of the main reasons for Apple’s success has to do with their large commitment to satisfying customers while continuously innovating their products and design without creating a sense of “too much” or confusing their consumers through new operating systems. These goals, which create a unique and successful company, are achieved through the ways in which they use the five key strategic elements: arena, differentiators, vehicles, staging and pacing, and economic logic.

Apple has been on the cutting edge of technology for many year. However, their leading competitor Samsung has begun to close the gap. Apple has several major and minor issues that should be addressed in order to corner the market and pull ahead of their competitors. In the past, Apple has been able to generate a buzz with their revolutionary products and top of the line technologies. However, in the past few years , their lack of product innovation has caused a drop in the companies popularity. Apple needs to reinvigorate their imagine in the eye of the public and improve their business strategy. Outlined below are several of the major and minor issues facing the Apple corporation, as well as recommendations to help the corporation regain its share of the market.

On April 1, 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne joined together to form Apple Computer Incorporated. The concept behind their company was the creation of an inexpensive, simple to use personal computer kit. Working out of Jobs’ garage in Cupertino, California the trio designed and manufactured their first product in three months. They named this product the Apple I and it went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66. Six months after the release of the Apple I, Ronald Wayne opted to sell his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for a meager $800. Soon thereafter multimillionaire Mike Markkula joined Apple and on January 3, 1977 the company was incorporated. Apple continued to gain

Introduction Consumer electronics company in Cupertino, CA 72,800 employees $156 billion in sales in FY 2012; $41.7 billion in profit Strong growth trajectory since early 2000s Main products: iPad (tablet), iPhone (smartphone), computers, mp3 players 3rd-largest online retailer; also has network of retail stores Simplified product lines, emphasis on design and product quality Integrated hardware and software Segmentation Demographics: Apple skews young, urban, white, educated Socioeconomic: High level of disposable income, emphasis on style, upwardly mobile, social. Upper middle class and above.

Apple, Inc. is a multi-billion dollar company based in Cupertino, California focusing on the design and manufacturing of personal computers, tablets, mobile phones, media and music devices, as well as, the software and services related to these (Richardson, 2015). Today, Apple’s products include the iPod, iPad, Apple Watch, AppleTV, Mac computers and laptops, and iTunes (Apple, 2015).

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, online services, and personal computers(Wikipedia, 2014). It is best-known for its hardware products such as Mac line of computers, iPod, iPhone, iPad. Its online services include iTunes Store, iCloud and App Store. The consumer software by Apple include the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media browser, Safari web browser and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites. The company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976, to develop and sell PCs (personal computers). It was renamed as Apple Inc. later on as it shifted

According to Turban, McLean and Wetherbe (2001:92-104), Competitive strategy may be defined as “a broad-based formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what plans and policies will be required to carry out those goals”. Organisations including that of Apple Inc. seek to gain competitive advantage in the industry using competitive strategy which is a key factor to the organisations success or failure (Turban et al. 2001:92-104). The use of a Strategic Information system can help an organisation gain competitive advantage by its ability to increase performance and productivity (Turban et al. 2001:92-104).

The multinational technology company Apple Inc. is number three on the current Fortune 500 list and a Dow Jones Industrials Company with a revenue of $215.6 million. Also, an S&P Global 100 company, Apple is a leader in the industry in profit, revenue, market capitalization and consumer prestige. By creating alliances with IBM and Cisco Systems Apple has increased its penetration of the enterprise market. Notably, around 60% of the revenue comes from outside the Americas. Apple operates in the Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific (Apple Inc. Company Information, 2017).

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a

As witnessed in Silicon Valley, the recent technological breakthrough is slowly transforming the world into a small ICT village. As a leading Global 2000 company, Apple Inc. emerges as a key player in the mobile phone industry. Besides its remarkable innovative designs alongside the impressive media content and apps, the unadulterated consumer appeal for Apple’s products and services has propelled the company to the status of ‘most valuable brand’ surpassing Coca Cola in the Omnicom Groups’ Best Global Brands 2014 report (Hertzfeld, 2014). Apple has featured as the best marketer for four consecutive years by winning the CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence. Apple’s immense success in marketing is in part attributable to its profound 3-point – empathy, focus, impute - marketing philosophy. Empathy entails a comprehensive understanding of their customer needs as compared to their competitors. The focus entails identifying potential marketing opportunities and subsequently exploiting them. Impute entails providing a more appealing product based on the understanding that people actually do judge a book by its cover.

The case study will follows examines Apple Inc., which launched its iPad on 4 April 2010. Apple was founded in 1976 by two college dropouts, specifically, Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The two built a computer circuit board working in Job's family garage located in Los Altos, California. (Yoffie and Kim, 2010, paraphrased) After several months time they produced 200 units and took on a new partner, A.C. 'Mike' Markkula, Jr., who played a primary role in the attraction of venture capital since he was the one with the experience in business.

Strategy can have many different meanings, depending on the context. However, in this situation, strategy is; as Riley mentioned on the tutor2u website (2015), strategy is “Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term”. Strategy is a planned pathway that a business needs to follow in order to achieve its aims and objectives for success. Every businesses strategy is different to one another, depending on the type of business and the market they operate in. however, there can be a few similarities between every business’ strategies. Such as, Apple’s strategy is very different each other, because they operate in two different markets, however there are a few similarities between the two, for example, high prices etc. Strategy is very important, and it has to be well planned, because the business can either achieve all its objectives successfully or fail entirely. Every business’s strategy has its own strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the business has opportunities and threats as well, that can affect the business.

For the past 30 years, Apple, Inc. has been the pioneer in the computing industry with its landmark products. In 1976, the founders Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak introduced Apple Computers, Inc. to the American public which revolutionized the industry. The logo for Apple, Inc. F.K.A as Apple Computers, Inc. is possibly the most recognizable logo in history. It is just pure marketing genius on how they made this company a household name. For more than 3 decades, Apple, Inc. has introduced groundbreaking products and accessories that truly defy the technological barriers such as its Macintosh line of Mac computers and Mac OS X software

1. Apple is known to provide customers with a personal computer revolution that is easy-to-use machine. It was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Apple was a success at the beginning period of its production due to marketing and technological innovation and the company has invented. Apple grew quickly as the development of the products increases and the revenue continued to grow. Apple’s business strategy is to focus its products on differentiation by providing a unique product that is impossible to clone and charges its products at a premium price. In 1983, Apple faced a difficulty because PC entered the market and was marketing their products at