What Are the Chief Elements of Apple’s Overall Competitive Strategy?

I learned that Apple is a juggernaut when it comes to their technological products and marketing goals. Apple focuses on the needs of customer’s light years ahead of their competition and even before most consumers have realized they want Apple’s products. Through their innovative marketing involving social media, word of mouth, Apple Stores they have convinced consumers about the high value of their product even lending to the formation of a “Mac cult” for its diehard fans. The way ahead for Apple is not to lose sight of its brand loyalty and continue to service the customers and entice them with the brand’s prestige. Even with the death of Steve Jobs, I believe Apple forge ahead to differentiate itself from the markets they are in.

Technology change has naturally been a major factor in Apple's success. The company played a major role in the shift to a mobile computing society, by developing the personal technology devices that would

What are the chief elements of Apple’s overall competitive strategy? How well do the pieces fit together? Is the strategy evolving?

Since 1976 Apple’s innovation has helped the company become a market leader in computer and mobile electronics. Through this time the company has faced a number of challenges either it be an internal power struggles or criticism from the media for certain aspects of their business model. This report covers five different issues that the company is facing or may face in the future.

The sudden shift from multiple devices to single handheld device was a challenge for the industry. But Apple through its innovation and research capabilities developed the iPhone which has all features one needs in a day-to-day life.

Apple Inc. has been dedicated to innovation ever since the company was first formed. Apple's recent breakthroughs were a result of a new technologies convergence upon the "digital hub" strategy (Mortensen, 2010). This strategy has served Apple well; especially during the last few years. The iPad, iPod, and iPhone were all born from this strategy. Furthermore, producing these innovative, user friendly, and design oriented products has earned them a considerable amount of customer loyalty.

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

With Apple being so far ahead of their competition, the only problem one can foresee in Apple’s future is how long they can sustain such innovation before they plateau. Apple does a phenomenal job at releasing their innovative products before their competition, but if their innovation cannot hold steady, this may lead to changes in demand for their products considerably. This can be seen with their release of the iPhone, the first successful touch screen cellular phone. Although people swarmed to the iPhone when it was first released because of its advanced technology, as the years have passed, other similar designs, including those with android and windows based operating systems, have drawn a considerable portion of the market. A clear representation of Apple’s attempt to regain some of this market can be seen when the iPhone was released to Verizon Wireless’ customers in

Apple operates with fierce competition in the consumer electronics segment which comes in many different forms. There are a large number of competitors in the different market niches who offer many similar products. Furthermore, many of these competitors' products are priced much less than an Apple branded products. Just as soon as Apple releases a new product, major companies begin imitating it immediately. In the personal computer industry, market pressure is continuously being exerted from such companies such as IBM, Dell, HP, and Toshiba (Wildstrom, 2009). Furthermore, with its flagship product the IPhone, Apple competes with companies like HTC, Palm, Blackberry, and Motorola (Wortham, 2011). Apple has had significant success despite the competitive environment because Apple commands a brand loyalty and dedication to innovation that few companies have ever achieved.

Apple’s competitive advantage is it brand. According to Forbes, Apple is the World’s most valuable brand valued at $151B. It grew 6% last year. Apple has fans. Millions of people will buy whatever Apple sells. A bigger phone, that’s great innovation, they’ll buy it. A smaller phone, genius, sold. A knack for simplicity Apple has a brand for simplicity, making complex things simple. Before the iPhone, smartphones were complicated. Before the iPod buying digital music was a mess. Before the iPad tablets were cumbersome. Part of their secret sauce is integration. Apple

2.What are the key elements of Apple’s strategy in computers, personal media players, and smartphones? Have its strategies in its core businesses yielded success? Explain.

iPhone marketing plan Market Summary The iPhone targets consumers who need to store information and communicate or pe ople who want entertainment on the go. Apples target segments consist of profess ionals, students, corporate users, entrepreneurs, and health care workers. Curre ntly, the market for high-end phones like the Apple iPhone is small. Few people want Internet, video, and PDA features in one device because of the high price. The smart phone market is still relatively small compared with general phone mar ket. The market will rapidly increase in coming years due to lower prices and gr eater power. SWOT Analysis Strengths Innovative – The iPhone has an innovative touch screen that is patented and unma tched by any other mobile product today. It also has many functions of other mob ile products all in one device. Compatibility –The phone will work with iTunes and with other Mac/Apple products like the new Apple TV, allowing for wireless connectivity to the big screen. Th e iPhone is also compatible with many Mac OS software tools. Mac OS compatibilit y means that the iPhone has limitless potential for upgradeability. Ease-of-Use – The all-new touch screen interface making operations extremely int uitive. It is radically different from those of other phones or PDAs that recogn izes multi finger gestures, just as the human hand normally behaves. The Mac OS X application imbedded into the iPhone assures users will easily recognize what they can do Brand awareness –

Apple aims at delivering the best possible products to the customers by designing the software and hardware by their own to solve problems and is easy to use. Apple’s small retail and online stores provides a unique

Apple Corporation was initially operating into the personal computer arena but later diversified into other segments. The change was brought by changes in management and differences in views that were coupled with missed opportunities resulting in loss of competitive advantages. The company currently operates in the music and personal computer industry as part of its initiative to continue providing innovative products for its customers. Despite venturing into different industries to enhance competitive advantages, the corporation is still confronted by intense opposition across all its business segments or industries. The aggressive competition is mainly because the markets for personal computers, mobile communication devices, consumer electronics, and digital music services are increasingly competitive. The competitiveness of these markets is also attributed to the rapid technological advancements that constantly increase the capabilities of these devices. In light of the increased competition, the Apple Corporation needs to develop and establish measures for sustaining competitive advantage with evolving external environment and executive succession.

A description of what you believe to be the key marketing issue(s)/challenge(s) facing this Organization and Justification.