Apple Inc.’s History, Products, and Competitors

Apple Company Inc. was established in 1976 by co-founder Steve Jobs. Later in 1997, it acquired NeXT Software Inc., a California-based company that enabled it to quickly implement business applications to the internet. Additionally, the company announced Steve Jobs as its Chief Executive Officer after working as an advisor to the board for a few months (Russell, 2022). In October 2000, the company released QuickTime 5, a streaming server that enabled users to watch high-quality audio and video and a downloader. When Mitch Mandich retired as Senior Vice President of global sales, Tim Cook assumed his position in 2001 (Russell, 2022). He was then appointed as the Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and the Chief Executive officer in 2011.

The main products produced by Apple include the iPhone, iPad, Wearables, and home accessories. In addition, the company offers services such as advertising services, AppleCare, Digital content, Payment Services, and Cloud services (Russell, 2022). The main competitors include Microsoft, IBM, Samsung, PayPal, and Amazon. Concerning financials, Apple Inc.’s revenues have been increasing; by September 25, 2021, the company had $365 billion from revenues that year and a net income of $94 billion (Russell, 2022). The company’s two main markets are USA and China, with the US generating revenues of $133 billion and China $68 billion in 2021 (Russell, 2022). The shareholder equity as of September 2021 was $63 billion (Russell, 2022). This is the main difference between the company’s assets and liabilities, implying a positive trend in the company’s financials.

Apple Inc. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis
Environment
Opportunity Threat
Company Strength
  • It is the second-largest brand valued brand after Oil giant Saudi Amarco (Hoskins, 2022).
  • It is a reliable brand in computers and phones.
  • It is a top technology hub by being the first to introduce new technologies such as iPod, accessibility tools for the disabled, and high-speed wall chargers.
  • Apple indulges in research and development, spending a whopping $21 billion in 2021 on research alone (Russell, 2022).
  • Apple has now introduced recycling plants, and it recently introduced the use of certified recycled gold (Apple Newsroom, 2022).
  • Apple has reported a break in its production chain after the COVID-19, where it used to send engineers to China to help in the production of iPhones (Russell, 2022).
  • Apple has not invested heavily in marketing its products which has given its competitors leverage in the market.
  • Over-reliance on Chinese engineers makes Apple lose trust in the domestic US market.
  • The company has been involved in many lawsuits that tarnish its name. One of the recent ones involves the Air pods that permanently destroyed a child’s ears (Russell, 2022).
Weakness
  • Apple products are expensive hence the high profits. For instance, the company made $50 billion in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 5.5% from 2021(Russell, 2022).
  • The company is entering into non-competency areas such as payment services, where PayPal disputes them
  • Incompatibility with other software such as android.
  • It has introduced a method for tracking mobile devices, which has got many users worried about their privacy.
  • Growing customer base as shown by the rising revenues and purchases in different continents.
  • Apple has a high number of qualified professionals and engineers who are resourceful for the company, as shown by the income generated by individual.
  • Apple can venture into smart wearable technologies by advancing its research in that field and innovating. For instance, it has invented smart glasses that do real-time translation.
  • Apple can join the chip manufacturing business dominated by the Asian market. This will help them avoid stealing their chips by other companies and employees.
  • Apple can reduce its long-term debt to increase its net profits.

Specific Areas That Need Change

Apple needs to do is start massive promotion and sale of their products in developing markets. Its advertising budget is not proportional to its profits, which has given its competitors like Samsung an opportunity to penetrate emerging economies (Okusolubo, 2020). While Apple focuses on the developed countries only, its competitors are both in the developed and emerging economies, enabling them to continue selling their products to a wide range of consumers. Marketing and selling their products in emerging markets will give the company increased revenue. In addition, it will eliminate counterfeit products being sold in the developing economies, which tarnish the company’s name (Okusolubo, 2020). This move will help the company to diversify its income such that it is not only reliant on two markets.

Apple should be wary of its overreliance on cheap labor from the Asian market. The company has been dependent on Chinese engineers to produce most parts of their products. 70% of an iPhone is produced in China, threatening the US labor market (Russell, 2022). There was cooperation between the USA and China before the pandemic, making it easy for iPhone to oversee its production. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and trade tariffs between the two countries have become tense. Therefore, it should look for options in other countries. Asian employees have been caught stealing Apple chips to reproduce them and sell them to competitors in several instances (Russell, 2022). Therefore, Apple should seek to diversify its production services back to the USA to enable the company to get the full support of the people and government since it is the largest consumer. For instance, it can start the production of the chips in the USA and leave the assembling to be done in China.

Apple should settle down its long-term debts to increase its net profits. Despite the many profits that the company makes, it still has heavy debt luggage on its back. In 2021, the company had a long-term debt of $109 billion, which the company keeps on growing due to repurchases of dividends and share programs to increase its capital (Russell, 2022). This large debt has high-interest rates for the company, which takes a significant percentage of their revenue. Since Apple is a capital-intensive company, it should alternatively clear off its debts or part of the debt to reduce the interest rate.

The other thing that Apple must change is its tracking of customers. Although the company was issued patent rights for a tracking method that gives a geometric environment model using the front camera, this infringes the consumer rights. Many consumers may start doubting the privacy of their iPhones and other devices produced by multinationals. The company is a technological giant that understands how privacy and confidentiality are essential to the consumer when it comes to personal electronic devices (Birch & Bronson, 2022). Thus, it should drop the patent rights or assure their consumers that their devices will not be tracked. However, even with the assurance of their data privacy, most consumers are most likely to lose confidentiality and confidence in the company after installing the tracking models.

Changed Objectives, Newly Implemented Interventions Required to Improve Apple’s Position

One of the main newly implemented interventions to improve Apple’s position is advancing into other business fields. Apple has gotten into other business models, such as the finance and health sector, enabling the company to expand its portfolio (Birch & Bronson, 2022). For instance, the company has launched its payment method, which has seen many lawsuits from PayPal because it allows Apple users to pay for bills using their devices directly (Russell, 2022). This innovation has helped the company to jump into the finance industry, which due to its dominance and popularity, Apple is expected to prevail. In addition, Apple has ventured into artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, wearables, and other markets, which will improve the company’s position in the market.

Conclusion and Recommendations for Improvement

Apple has been doing well in the market by producing quality products hence increasing consumer loyalty. However, there are various areas in which it needs to improve to ensure that it stays at the top of the market. Apple should increase its marketing activities to let users know the features of its brands and the other products that the company sells. In addition, the company should tap into emerging economies to look for new markets because the US market will be saturated with their products in the future. Apple should look for means of returning some of its production services to the US, which has currently been left with the managing role of the company (Okusolubo, 2020). Although China is a large market for the devices, the company should base most of its productions in the US due to the rising tariffs between the US and China, proving costly for the two countries to work together. Finally, Apple should increase research and development on wearables as they are the future of technology.

References

Apple Newsroom. (2022). Apple expands the use of recycled materials across its products. Apple Newsroom.

Birch, K., & Bronson, K. (2022). Big tech. Science as Culture, 31(1), 1–14.

Hoskins, P. (2022). Apple loses position as most valuable firm amid tech sell-off. BBC News.

Okusolubo, G. (2020). (PDF) Organizational analysis (A Case Study of Apple Inc.). ResearchGate.

Russell, F. (2022). General company information – Apple Inc (pp. 1–112). Mergent Inc.

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