Premium Essay

Apple Strategy

In:

Submitted By hakingsley15
Words 827
Pages 4
Executive Summary

From a standpoint of profitability, the personal computer industry is unattractive. The companies are strategically positioned within the industry and highly competitive. Apple, however, has taken a more proactive approach. Because of its innovation and adaptability, Apple has returned to high profitability. Other companies are working to compete with Apple’s new technologies. To respond, Apple must continue to develop new products and improve existing ones.

Analysis

Personal Computer Industry

The personal computer industry is highly competitive. Although the threat of new entrants is lower because of high start up costs, well-established brands, and economies of scale, the four remaining forces of industry stifle profitability. First, the industry has vast rivalry. The four largest personal computer companies make up over 50% of the world market while several other smaller companies make up the remainder. Next, two companies, Microsoft and Intel, have supplier power over the industry with their specific, distinct products. Third, buyers have pricing power over the industry because of the movement towards commoditization of personal computers and the decrease in component prices. Finally, substitutes such as netbooks, smartphones, and personal video game devices have entered the market. Exhibit 1 illustrates the forces affecting Apple.

Although the current personal computer industry is unattractive, it was profitable in the past. Throughout the 1980s, there were fewer companies in the market with Apple and IBM leading the industry. Fewer companies equates to less competition and therefore, more producer pricing power. In addition, there were no substitutes to computers. The personal computer market was highly profitable with few barriers to entry, but by 1990 manufacturers began to flood the market. Industry rivalry,

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Apple Strategy

...Apple Assignment   Contents Solution 1: 3 Solution 2: 3 References: 4   Solution 1: Apple has created a mix strategy to take the competitive advantage in the markets of United States and China. Apple came up with iMac in the year 1998, which was a user friendly device and then in the year 1999, they came up with an operating system and it was followed by several updates. They built desktops and other portable devices in both the consumer as well as the professional segments. iTunes was launched in the year 2001, along with the iPods. Then after a few years Apple came up with their most innovative device, i.e. iPhone and it helped Apple to gain new heights under Steve Jobs (Elliot, 2012). The niche markets of US and China were flourished with the Apple products and it helped them to gain competitive advantage through their unique design and their product positioning in the market (Lashinsky, 2012). Solution 2: Apple targeted their strategic alliance to learn from their competitors in the market, to take advantage of economies of scale and also to manage risks and share costs (Rumelt, 2011). They had to trust AT&T on the fact that, they would not reveal the key technologies that Apple uses in their iPhone and AT&T also trusted Apple on the fact that after the release of iPhone, Apple would not break the strategic alliance with them. On the other hand Apple launched their iTunes on HP computers with the help of another strategic alliance. Moreover there are risks...

Words: 359 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...- current bank statement & one copy - reference letter from your employer/ education institution - visa fees for South African Visa |   | Apple Marketing StrategyApple has been so successful in these last years thanks to his fresh, imaginative way to think and do its business: a winning combination of exceptional products, great style and design, great strategy, innovative marketing, sleek and enticing communications. Apple owes its overwhelming success in the last years to the iPhone and to the smart iPod and iTunes product combination, a combination of a great hardware piece with great style, great software, great performance, user friendly interface, with a good e-business service. The iPod + iTunes halo effect and new great Mac computers and Mac OS software did the rest in increasing Apple revenue stream. In the 5 years between 2003 to 2008 the Apple share value increased 25 times, from $7.5 to $180 per share. At july 2008 prices, before the US Financial Crisis, Apple stock market capitalization was $160 billion. In January 2010 Apple shares topped the $210 mark. But even the best companies with the best products have bottleneck factors which often avoid full exploitation of the opportunities. The iPad. The new Apple Tablet, the iPad - an unnecessary product? - iPad Marketing Strategy Steve Jobs claims the iPad gives the best way to experience the web. Yet, the iPad does not have Flash Player, Flash is essential on the web and is used everywhere...

Words: 1796 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Marketing Strategy for Apple

...Marketing mix 5 Products 5 Distribution Strategy 6 Promotion Strategy 6 Integrated Marketing Strategies 7 Situation Analysis Key objectives Apple was voted the general victor of the 2012 CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence. Apple has been chosen as the victor or co-champ for five back to back years by the example of top advertisers. Apple's unique points: 1. Empathy – Apple comprehends the needs of their customer superior to other organizations. 2. Focus – keeping in mind the end goal to benefit a vocation of the things the company chooses to do, Apple pans to dispose of the majority of the irrelevant opportunities 3. Impute –Apple may have the best item, the most elevated quality, the most helpful programming, and so forth; the company displays its product in an imaginative, proficient way to ascribe the coveted qualities ("Corporate Goals And Objectives For Global Final Paper- Apple Inc."). Competition Apple is being led by Samsung as purchasers are requesting telephones with bigger screens at less expensive costs. Indeed, even with the presentation of iPhone 5c, late reports have shown that Apple only share 8 to 12 percent of the mobile sharing market in the overall industry, while Samsung has a 21% share in the industry and Android telephones have a 79% piece of the overall industry. Apple can't have valuing power and market sharesimultaneously. No business can for an augmented timeframe. The issue with Apple stock is that it is valued for...

Words: 3092 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...Individual Literature Assignment 1 Apple’s marketing strategy October A-details Apple is the company, attached to details more than other companies. The reason for this is Steve Jobs. Customers pay attention to details. Most companies do not appreciate this. But this is important. Because details add value to product. There is some examples: [pic] http://mertbulan.com/wp-content/uploads/icloud-altin-oran.jpg (01.10.2011) This is iCloud logo. Golden ratio is used here. [pic] http://mertbulan.com/wp-content/uploads/tumblr_lmy74hFhFO1qlzfx0o1_500.png (01.10.2011) [pic] http://mertbulan.com/wp-content/uploads/apple-altin-oran.jpg (01.10.2011) There is some details on macbook too. For example, DVD-ROM. All other notebooks have protruding DVD-ROM. But in macbooks, you need to put in CD or DVD yourself. It remains more of free space within the device. B-always the best Once apple have been using PowerPC processors, which is apple produce this prosessor. Then the cause of increase in demand for Intel prosessors, Apple began to use these prosessors. But these prosessors use more energy. Performance is more important than energy use at that time. And Apple have been use Intel prosessors. But now, energy saving is very important. Because customers want to use their devices everywhere. Therefore, Apple began to produce own prosessor: A4. A4 is mobile prosessor for iPhone or iPad. This indicates that, Apple seek the best of everything. C-advertisement ...

Words: 359 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...Lost in Translation', The plummeting economy persuaded Apple to decrease the price of it's product as global recession was hitting it's peak by the time Apple launched it's product in the European market. The market although dense & vast still couldn't afford the price of the product so Apple had to work on the problem enumerate the decision factors and the best alternative it had according to the situation was lowering the price. This was the right step as buying power of the western world was getting affected by the economic downturn and job security was affected so a high price item would not have attracted the consumers. The economic growth in south Asia has tempted Apple to enter the Asian market where India and China are home to about 25% of the world's population for firms to aim their products at together and emerging markets even during the economic downturn coupled with cheap labour and the lower costs in these countries are not to be ignored. How Apple wants to be aware of the effects of this factor in the macro environment is that product exclusivity might not be favourable in the Asian markets as people will never want to and be able to pay the high costs of switching. It has worked in the western world but not in the Asian countries although in certain places people have a lot of spare cash yet the psyche of a credit shopping spree or big monthly mobile bills doesn't prevail. To meet those standards Apple will have to subsidise...

Words: 2897 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...MARKETING STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS OF APPL COMPANY IN IPhones Vision and Mission Statement Apple, Inc.’s Vision Apple, Inc.’s vision is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings Apple's Mission Statement Apple Computer is committed to protecting the environment, health and safety of our employees, customers and the global communities where we operate. We recognize that by integrating sound environmental, health and safety management practices into all aspects of our business, we can offer technologically innovative products and services while conserving and enhancing recourses for future generations. Apple strives for continuous improvement in our environmental, health and safety management systems and in the environmental quality of our products, processes and services. Various Management Objectives at many different Levels Apple, Inc.’s Business Strategy and Goals The Company’s business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own operating systems, hardware, application software, and services to provide its customers new products and solutions with superior ease-of-use, seamless integration, and innovative design. The company believes continual investment in research and development and marketing and advertising is critical to the development and sale of innovative products...

Words: 13655 - Pages: 55

Premium Essay

Strategies at Apple Inc.

...The normal thing organizations do is define a single ambiguous strategy like differentiation by development of core competence, intense efficiency leading to cost leadership or choosing a niche market. The thinking is that should firms choose to pursue more than one strategy at a time, they will run into confusion and may fail Somehow, select firms like apple has done what can be termed “quantum strategy” (loizos hercleous 2012). They are able to balance contradicting strategic features like groundbreaking innovation and quality with rock bottom cost to achieve extraordinary performance. The leadership at apple is at the heart of this competitive advantage. The leadership aims at strategic alignment, focus, simplicity, synergies and systemic connections to bring about a balance on competing demands and gain strength in the industry. In the past fifteen years, Apple Inc. has brought a revolution in the personal electronics, telecom, computer and media by string of excellent products, offering unique, designer and exciting customer experiences. They have exceeded industry expectations thereby exerting significant power over both customers and industry players, with outstanding financial results. In August 2012, Apple inc was announced the most valuable listed company having a market value of $ 623 billion. In September 2012, it had the highest cash reserves of USD 121 bn. achieves a net margin of 20 % with a revenue increase from us $ 65.2 bn in 2010 to us$108.2 bn in 2011 and...

Words: 1281 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Apple Operation Strategy

...<University> | | | Apple operation strategy | | | | by | | | | <Name> | | | | <Date> | | | | <Lecturer’s Course Number> | | Nature, structure, products types and factors affecting the company Apple is multinational company that deals in manufacture of consumer products such as PC, phone and computer software’s, phones and digital media distributors. The company was started by Steve Jobs and Woznaik, currently it is the leading company in the technology industry. Job shares are 10%. The company went public in 1980 with shares price being 22 dollars and was split unto four times and adjusted IPO share was 0.39 dollars and currently goes for 94.58 dollars. Apple Apple is of the largest multinational company in America that manufactures and sells computers, portable music players, mobile phones, Softwares and applications and other media communication devices. It has a well-established market segment, and some of its products are the Apple TV, operating system (OS X and IOS), iPod and iPhone, and other products. The products produced by Apple unlike other companies dealing with similar products they are known for quality, uniqueness and they are associated with a class in the community. These characteristics have made the products to be outstanding in the market and hence they are preferred by many customers. Apple is one of the outstanding and most looked for after in the market by item fashioners who like quality. The Apple Company is also known...

Words: 2743 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Marketing Strategy of Apple

...Marketing Strategy of Apple Published by : www.studymarketing.org 1 Introducing Apple Steve Jobs is the brain behind the very famous and very Popular Apple Company. Apple creates and designs desktop computers, Mac laptops, iTunes, iPods, the OS X operating system, the iPad and the iPhone. Apple has been in the business for quite some time now and they have indeed reported great success. It is currently one of the leading companies in the technological world and their products are growing in popularity with each passing day. Apple’s success was not automatic; work was put into achieving it. Proper measures were put in place and high quality and effective delivery of both products and services was ensured. In the year 2010, Apple went passed Exxon Mobile as the most valuable company in the entire world. This was attributed to the release of the iPad which impacted the world in a very big way. They were also in the same year reported to be United States’ most profitable retailer. The question on every one’s mind then and today still is how did they manage to achieve all these? Below we take a look at the strategies that Apple chose to go with. There is no denying that these strategies played a very huge role in giving them the success that they are enjoying today. There are quite a 2 number of leaves that businesses all over the world can borrow from these strategies. Apple’s Marketing Strategy Just one word can be used to describe the Marketing strategy that Apple...

Words: 10207 - Pages: 41

Premium Essay

Apple Business Strategy

...Apple Corporation: Strategy Analysis Executive summary Apple Corporation continues to be the worlds most admired company because of its huge financial base, ability to attract and retain customers, ability to innovate and to produce technologically superior products. The company’s strategy as found in this report is built around creativity and innovation. Its capabilities in terms of resources and technology have made the company to produce technologically advanced products. Despite the huge influence of the external factors such as regulations, the economy and changes in technology, Apple is still strong and able to leverage its capabilities to achieve success. Apple is thus strategically positioned to achieve its objectives despite a few challenges that were identified that pose a threat to the company. Overall, its future direction should be guided by innovation and its ability to diversify its activities and products in order to extend its product line in order to survive. Introduction The 21st century has witnessed a rapid change in the way companies do business and the rationale for this is the cut throat competition among firms. The need to make profits and to gain market share has driven these companies to enact strategies that have led them to perform better (Vernon, 2001). This is not always the same with all companies as performance varies across these companies and this could be explained by the different strategies that they have adopted (Francis, 2010)...

Words: 4492 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Marketing Strategy of Apple

...Good figure. Though the stock prices of Apple had dipped after the fmous resignation of Steve Jobs from the position of CEO followed by appointment of Tim Cooks in the same position; financial analysts now say that Apple is all set to conquer expectations in the 2nd quarter. After Tim Cook joined the board he drove major financial ventures like increasing Apple’s buyback intentions to a figure of 90 billion dollars from 60 billion dollars which in turn drove up dividend by 8%. The robust financial performance of Apple seems to be a direct result of Apple’s broader price range on I phones and increased portfolio. Obviously portfolio diversification has fueled sales and nearly 50% of activations that happened in the last year came from new sales. Apple’s gross profitability ratios are pegged at 44.11 and it is quite higher than the average of 43.5 (Morningstar 2012). The retail outlets owned by Apple helps allocation of selling and distribution expenses in an efficient manner and this way the discount fee which is paid to wholesellers is avoided. The industry average ratio of net profit is 26.97 while Apple’s figures show that its nets profit is 26.97 (Morning star, 2012). Apple’s market share is 29% in smartphone segment and 60% in tablet segment. The low price to earnings ratio of Apple (14.5) confirms that is a lesser risky investment (Garner, 2012). The current ratio of Apple is 1.6 which demonstrates that short term assets of Apple can be quickly dissolved to form hard cash...

Words: 2674 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...Apple is the multinational company of United States. The underlying company produces and sells the electronic products and computer software. Apple Company was established in 1976 with the name of Apple computer but after that it has changed its name as Apple incorporation and provides several other services. The underlying company is the largest information technology company according to the revenue. Apple also produces mobile phones and it is the world second largest mobile phone manufacturer. The total employees of apple are 115,000. Apple has total 478 retail stores in seventeen different countries. The total annual revenue of apple from the whole world for the year of September 2015 was $233 billion. The revenue of Apple contributes to...

Words: 1487 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Apple and Promoting Strategies

...Apple Inc. and other forms of promoting the apple Ipad As Apple Inc. has a distinctive tempting mode or ways of getting positive response from both devoted users and new user base. The Cupertino-based electronics manufacturer has captivated over a million of people in the world with an unrepresented innovative, carefully styled products for over twenty year, one would hardly wonder how it goes about it form of promotion; Well with the Apple Ipad, it was an entirely entailed form of promotion strategy with which superior power of the Internet, and various forms of internet application ,games application and of all the media application which also enabled people to engage in their creativity in creating tribute to the company and its product. With Apple Inc opening floors or door to every sort of application, it created a flexible and the best ever form of promoting strategies for the Apple Ipad and one can comfortably say “Apple Ipad was basically promoted by devoted users or consumers. A typical example is the Banks. These corporations or organization created a sort of confortable application platform for it users showing them the possibilities of them been able to view their account on the Apple Ipad , watch the every breaking news and of all been transforming the Ipad into a digital library . Apple‟s official website set to a song by a popular Brazilian band, CSS, within a day and uploaded it to YouTube in September 2007. The clip received overwhelmingly positive responses...

Words: 593 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Apple Marketing Strategy

...Kevin Joyce Brian Lopez Apple Corporation Marketing Strategy Apple is a leading innovator in numerous technological markets, which includes the computer market, tablet market, smartphone market and the MP3 market. Being a leader in these industries comes with many challenges due to the number of competitors in each of the markets. Their main competitors are HP and Dell when it comes to the computer industry. Samsung, Google, HP and Dell are also primary competition in the tablet market. Apple was far and away the leader in the smartphone industry, however Google’s Android and Samsung’s Galaxy are becoming increasingly popular and they have become Apples principal competition. Apple brought MP3 players to a whole new spectrum when the iPod was introduced; however the iPod’s main competition is Apples very own iPhone because of the iPhones music playing capabilities. In order for Apple to stay the alpha leader in all these industries they must constantly be innovating and differentiating their products from their competitors. One of the greatest strengths of Apple is the way that each of their products can seamlessly interact with other Apple products. This is a key element that Apple has a keen edge in over their competition. For example, ITunes was a pioneer for the music storage devices that could be saved on your computer and can now be used to transfer music from your computer/tablet to your iPod/IPhone. Now, Apple has made it even easier to sync not just music...

Words: 852 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Apple Inc Financial Strategy

...Apple Inc Financial Strategy ------------------------------------------------- 窗体顶端 Search 窗体底端 * Home Page » * Business and Management Apple Inc Financial Strategy In: Business and Management Apple Inc Financial Strategy Apple Readers of this blog know that I’m not a huge fan of Apple, but that’s neither here nor there. No matter what you read in the press or business press about Apple and innovation, marketing, or product development, the fundamental business strategy at Apple is a financial one. Apple’s fundamental strategy is to squeeze as much profit as humanly possible from every sale it makes. Apple’s financial strategy, then, is to maximize its margins, a financial strategy it has pursued single-mindedly since Steve Jobs returned to the company. This foundational financial strategy informs every other aspect of its business model. Product development — to maximize margins, Apple has to offer products that consumers can buy nowhere else. This involves one part cutting-edge design, one-part unique, hard-to-emulate features, and several parts marketing. Always be launching – A standard truth about marketing is that early adopters are willing to pay the highest prices – and highest margins. The Apple launch strategy involves super-hyping products in order to build the largest army of early adopters possible. All those nice people who stood in line for an iPad on the day of its launch were willing to pay a pretty penny to get their hands on the device....

Words: 357 - Pages: 2