Apple Case Study
Abstract
Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Apple currently has 246 retail stores located in 44 states that employs over 27,000 retail employees. Apple also employs over 304,000 U.S. individuals from development to transportations. As of September 11, 2012, Apple is the largest publicly traded company ever. Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world in 2008, 2009, 2010 and2011. This case study will not only highlight Apple’s strengths, it will also discuss its weaknesses and past failures that have laid the foundation to become one the most powerful companies in the world.
History
As the story famously goes, “two Steves” started one of the biggest computer companies ever in a garage after quitting their day jobs. Steve Jobs worked at Atari, a computer and gaming company and Steve “Woz” Wozniak worked at Hewlett-Packard. A friend introduced the two seeing their mutual interest in electronics. Woz had built a computer in his spare time as a hobby. According to Charles Hill and Gareth Jones (2012), authors of Essentials of Strategic Management, “That is what people did in 1976,” (p. C13). Jobs realized that people might want to buy such a machine and persuaded Woz to set up a company to make and market it. Headquarters: Jobs’ garage in California. Thus Apple Computers was born. A total of 200 units were sold at a price of $666 each; the product rolled out on April Fool’s Day in 1976 at a local electronics store. The company went on to see great successes and some failures, and the two Steves are heralded as revolutionizing the personal computer industry.
After
Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. Apple currently has 246 retail stores located in 44 states that employs over 27,000 retail employees. Apple also employs over 304,000 U.S. individuals from development to transportations. As of September 11, 2012, Apple is the largest publicly traded company ever. Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world in 2008, 2009, 2010 and2011. This case study will not only highlight Apple’s strengths, it will also discuss its weaknesses and past failures that have laid the foundation to become one the most powerful companies in the world.
History
As the story famously goes, “two Steves” started one of the biggest computer companies ever in a garage after quitting their day jobs. Steve Jobs worked at Atari, a computer and gaming company and Steve “Woz” Wozniak worked at Hewlett-Packard. A friend introduced the two seeing their mutual interest in electronics. Woz had built a computer in his spare time as a hobby. According to Charles Hill and Gareth Jones (2012), authors of Essentials of Strategic Management, “That is what people did in 1976,” (p. C13). Jobs realized that people might want to buy such a machine and persuaded Woz to set up a company to make and market it. Headquarters: Jobs’ garage in California. Thus Apple Computers was born. A total of 200 units were sold at a price of $666 each; the product rolled out on April Fool’s Day in 1976 at a local electronics store. The company went on to see great successes and some failures, and the two Steves are heralded as revolutionizing the personal computer industry.
After