The Success of Personal Computers in the Market

I believe most of the general populations are aware of how rapidly technology evolves. I will start by giving a little bit of background into my own computer system. I purchased my Desktop computer system in late October 2008. At the time I was set to begin a journey into the world of higher education and needed a computer that could keep up with me. As I did my research into what was on the market that would fit not only my budget, but the needs I believe I needed. I quickly found I was not interested in anything that was on the market in stores, simply because of

Computer technology is constantly advancing over software and hardware that is available at any one given time. These constant changes affect how long computer products can sell for a premium price but also can make it cheaper for those consumers that are not interested in the newest and latest components. Personal computers (PC), also known as desktop computers, are common place in jobs, schools and homes. The demand for personal computers is constant and revolving since components of computers gets better and more powerful with time. The target market then becomes anyone that uses a personal computer for home or work. HP uses the fact that computers are a common item in any office or home to their advantage and offers not only PC’s but other accessories pertaining to computers as well. While HP currently excels at providing a product for a decent price they are missing out on consumers that Equalus will focus

The PC industry has started to develop fast in the 80 's when IBM launched its first PC series and later on when numerous small companies entered the market. PC is a new product and companies had to create the demand to it from the scratch.

The targeted consumer has been identified as a recent retiree who is in her early 60s. This customer has just broken her laptop which was given to her as a gift from her daughter, four years ago and is looking for a replacement. As she is not in tune with the latest technology developments

With time, the PC continued to evolve and newer models offered better speed, color screens, more memory and larger hard drives. Further technical evolution continued to deliver higher speeds, larger storage capacity both internal and external. In addition to the hardware progression, the PC world continued to see progress with operating system solutions and advanced software catering to both large and small businesses as well as the home owner.

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.

"Pcs Industry Profile: United States." Pcs Industry Profile: United States (2012): 1-39. Business Source Premier. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

Dell Computer Corporation was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell. From the early 1990s until the mid-2000s, Dell was ranked as a PC market leader relying on their distinctive marketing pattern “Direct Model” which undertook direct communication with customers and provided customized products. Recently, the PC industry is facing inconceivable worldwide competition, and Dell is gradually losing their competitive advantages by using its direct model in critical business segments. The company is facing shrinkage of growth, increasing competition, declining quality of customer service, and limitation of expansion. These issues have an enormous impact on Dell’s position as a technological giant in the PC industry.

Very large customers accounted for 70% of business and no single customer accounted for more than 2 %

The PC industry is highly competitive and constantly changing as technology evolves and customer needs change. Some of the top competitors in the PC industry are IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple. Theses rivals are constantly jockeying for the top competitor’s position. They compete in prices, product innovation, advertising, etc.

When shopping for a computer, one can look at the cost and compare it to other models. For instance, individuals usually have less to spend than organizations. The HP Envy model is adequate for companies looking for greater processing power (Intel Turbo Boost) (“HP Pavilion HPE,” 2011). The Dell Studio model is a little expensive; however, this model is adequate for small business and organizations. Similarly, the HP Companies looking for attractiveness will find the MacBook’s unique design quite appealing. Overall, these three models range in price from $649.99 to $1300.00, they are high end products known for quality and

The company started off as “Apple Computer,” best known for its Macintosh personal computers (PCs) in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Despite a strong brand, rapid growth, and high profits in the late 1980s, Apple almost went bankrupt in 1996 (Kim & Yoffie, 2010, p.1). This can be explained that Apple has become larger and more significant than other competitors put together in 1980. Because Apple failed to innovate in 1996, the company almost went bankruptcy but eventually Steve Jobs took Apple from bad situation to the company that can make billions of dollars through promoted itself as a hip alternative to other computer brands. Apple highlighted its computers as the world’s “greenest lineup of notebooks” that were energy efficient and used recyclable materials. The goal was to differentiate the Macintosh amid intense competition in the PC industry (Kim & Yoffie, p.4).

And these analyses will be done with the help of Porter’s 5 forces (see appendix 1, 2, 3). This analysing toll deals with issues which are from outside the industry that impacts the nature of competition within the certain industry. Thurlby, (1998) stated “Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organisations the necessary insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market”1. The analysis of the three industry are given belowPC industry (See appendix 1) This competition within the PC industry is extraordinarily high consisting with top companies like Dell, HP, Apple, Gateway and Sony. In order to gain competitive advantage, the key factors are advancement in technology, custom built PCs, reliability and standard customer service. The life cycle of PC industry can be seen as mature (See appendix 6); however the growth of PC’s has not decline. The reason is due to the globalisation trends taking place within the major firms. The barriers very high where there are already five main firms that dominate the market. Therefore, the chances of new PC companies entering the market and get significant hold of market share is very slender. The main two factors that are making the entry level high are mainly cost and distribution and the top five firms also control 70 per cent of the global personal computer market. Another factor may be is that

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

The domestic market is the field which grows fast, whether the desktop or laptop, the growth rate of domestic markets in the commercial market is faster. The consumer notebook market (individual purchase market) is showing explosive growth. The market share of Dell in foreign increased gradually while the market share of domestic