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Current Market Conditions Competitive Analysis: Apple, Inc.

ECO/365
February 23, 2015

Current Market Conditions Competitive Analysis: Apple, Inc.
Apple, Inc. is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, computer software, commercial servers, and they distribute media content. Their leading product is a smartphone called the iPhone, which began selling in the early 2000's. It has made them billions of dollars over time, because their cost to manufacture the phone is less than what they can charge to sell the phone to consumers. This leads to Apple producing larger profits for their shareholders. Besides manufacturing the iPhone, Apple is also responsible for the iPad, iPods, and Mac computers. Apple is known to have expensive products, but their products still have a high consumer demand.
The first iPhone was unveiled in the market and sold to consumers on June 29, 2007. The device is unique because it is centered on its touch screen user interface, Wi-Fi, and downloading capabilities. According to Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO, “iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone…” (Apple Press Info, 2007). The special capabilities of this phone have since led to seven versions of iPhones being produced and released to market.
Factors that can affect the supply and demand and hence the equilibrium price of iPhones are varied. When iPhones first came on the market, they were the best in smartphones and demand was high. Even though the cost for the iPhone ranged from $500 to $600, people were willing to pay for the latest technology and Apple was willing to produce all that was demanded. Within seventy-four days of its launch, Apple had sold one million iPhones (Apple Press Info, 2007). Even though years have past since the iPhone was originally

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