A Detailed Analysis of Apple Inc.

A Detailed Analysis of Apple Inc.

COMPANY INTRODUCTION

Apple is a highly innovated business that entered the business world making computers back in the 1980s. They ventured out in the 2000s making non-PC devices and by the spring of 2010 had a market capitalization of $220 billion dollars. For the past three years Apple has been known by fortune as the world's most admired company.They are known for elegant product design, innovation, customer loyalty, brand-building marketing, and secrecy. Apple Inc. has been ranked number one on Fortune Magazine's Most Admired list for the fourth year in a row according to CNNMoney. The "The American Customer Satisfaction Index" (2012) website shows Apple with a score of 87 out of 100 points on a scale of 0-100 at the national level; this was a 13% increase from the first year in 1995. Personal Computers and HP both came in second with a score of 78 out of 100 (Carlton 1997).

Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976 with their first personal computer design known as Apple I. In 1978, they introduced the Apple II a more easy to use personal computer with the first color display setting the stage for their landmark entry in to the PC industry. Apple Computer would go on to gain grounds in the PC industry by directing there focus towards developing applications meant solely for upgrading their Macintosh computer. In 1991, Apple released its first-generation notebook computer, the PowerBook followed by the PowerMac family of PCs in 1994. After this, they would go on to face some turbulent times due to management and financial crisis, but in 1997, things took a different turn with the emergence of Steven Jobs as the “interim CEO.” He made certain significant changes in how the company operated, setting the pace for new achievements such as increase in the company's stock price as well as making profit in all four quarters of that year. What followed that was a series of innovations, the iMac, iBook, PowerMac, an extension in 2001 of the company into the digital (MP3) music player industry and finally into the mobile phone company with the invention of the iPhone in June of 2007 (Scott 2008).

INDUSTRY ATTRACTIVNESS

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

A string of successful products

Apple has a string of successful product launches which created a halo effect and the company was able to drive its market share. Following iPod was the iPhone which saw Apple's success build in the smartphone market. Since its launch, iPhone captured increasing market share and displaced the then mobile phone market leader, Nokia. By the end of third quarter of 2007, iPhones accounted for 3.4% after its launch in the beginning of 2007. The product gained traction and the market share was three times higher by the end of third quarter of 2008. The success resonated with each launch of iPhone. Apple sold one million of its new 3G iPhones in the first three days of its debut while it took the first iPhone ...