Essay on Apple (Part 1)

Paper #1
Founded by two college drop outs in 1976 Apple has today grown into a multinational conglomerate that manufactures electronics as well as computer hardware software, and servers. The company has four prominent product lines which includes the iPad, iPhone, iPod music player, and the Macintosh range of personal computers. Apple started out primarily as a computer manufacturer and in the 1980’s achieved prominent market share with its top selling range of personal computers including the Macintosh and Power Mac lines.

However in the 1990s the company was faced with declining sales and reduced market share because of increasing competition from other computer manufacturers. During this lean period Jobs returned to the helm with a new philosophy emphasizing the creation of a line of easy to use and easily recognizable products. In 2001 a re- structured Apple entered the consumer electronic market and introduced the iPod.

 The product was an instant hit and continues to be one of the company’s top sellers After this successful launch the company underwent an image change, dropped the word “computer” from its name and started focusing on the consumer electronics market. It went on to achieve further success with the launch of the iPhone, the iPod Touch and the iPad. Today Apple has evolved into one of the biggest technology manufacturers in the world yielding an annual revenue of $65 million.

The decision to invest in a company is influenced by various factors. This includes the company’s performance an analysis of its strategy, favorable future trends and an overview of its internal and external capabilities. Apple’s financial performance in recent years has been strong, its strategy has been focused on producing a range of integrated products that are mutually compatible and also interdependent.

The strategy has also sought to identify a specific not catered for niche in the consumer electronic market and then produce products which satisfy this particular niche market. The future trends for consumer electronic market indicate a strong demand for products despite the onset of the global recession and tough economic times.

 An overview of the firms internal and external capabilities can be provided by conducting a SWOT analysis This is commonly used to evaluate the company’s capabilities both from an internal perspective (i.e. within the company itself) and an external perspective (i.e. in the context of the larger industrial environment.)


This analysis highlights Apple’s capabilities in terms of the Company’s internal Strength and Weakness as well as the Opportunities and Threats it encounters as a result of its interaction with the broader industry environment. This framework seeks to establish how the Company uses its internal strengths to counter its weakness and how it can use the opportunities available in the environment to balance the threats that it encounters.(David, 1995)