Apple Inc.'s Core Competency
Apple Inc., 2008
1. What were Apple’s competitive advantages in the computer business?
There are mainly two kinds of competitive advantages, which are cost advantage and differentiation advantage. Apparently, Apple adopted the latter one.
On one hand, Apple enjoys high-end technology and innovation and keeps offering unique features. Apple put a high premium on creating machines that offered a cutting-edge, tightly integrated user experience. In marketing its Mac products, Apple highlighted features that differentiated them from other PCs while also emphasizing their interoperability with other machines. Attractive Apple design factors, ease of use, security, and high-quality bundled software were among the qualities that distinguished the Macintosh line. Apple not just sell computers, they also sell experience.
On the other hand, Apple has an excellent strategic leader, Steve Jobs. He developed all the cutting-edge visions of new products and markets. He developed not only Apple but also Pixar, a hugely successful animation company that teamed with Disney to make Finding Nemo. He created the Mac revolution with the Apple Macintosh computer and reshaped the music industry with iPod and the telephone industry with iPhone. Complementary to the iPod is Apple’s iTunes online music venture, also a part of Jobs’s vision dramatically change this online value-added industry. A good leader is a good name card for a company. It helped Apple to rebuild its image and made Apple not just a technology company but also a cultural force. It inspired people to chase their dreams in spite of great difficulty and keep moving on to make the world different. When Steve Jobs passed away, not only fans of Apple products but also those who appreciate his great contribution to electrical industry feel sad about the loss of a great man.
2. What were Apple’s competencies in the music and telephone business? Are they a source of competitive advantage? Why or why not?
Apple’s
1. What were Apple’s competitive advantages in the computer business?
There are mainly two kinds of competitive advantages, which are cost advantage and differentiation advantage. Apparently, Apple adopted the latter one.
On one hand, Apple enjoys high-end technology and innovation and keeps offering unique features. Apple put a high premium on creating machines that offered a cutting-edge, tightly integrated user experience. In marketing its Mac products, Apple highlighted features that differentiated them from other PCs while also emphasizing their interoperability with other machines. Attractive Apple design factors, ease of use, security, and high-quality bundled software were among the qualities that distinguished the Macintosh line. Apple not just sell computers, they also sell experience.
On the other hand, Apple has an excellent strategic leader, Steve Jobs. He developed all the cutting-edge visions of new products and markets. He developed not only Apple but also Pixar, a hugely successful animation company that teamed with Disney to make Finding Nemo. He created the Mac revolution with the Apple Macintosh computer and reshaped the music industry with iPod and the telephone industry with iPhone. Complementary to the iPod is Apple’s iTunes online music venture, also a part of Jobs’s vision dramatically change this online value-added industry. A good leader is a good name card for a company. It helped Apple to rebuild its image and made Apple not just a technology company but also a cultural force. It inspired people to chase their dreams in spite of great difficulty and keep moving on to make the world different. When Steve Jobs passed away, not only fans of Apple products but also those who appreciate his great contribution to electrical industry feel sad about the loss of a great man.
2. What were Apple’s competencies in the music and telephone business? Are they a source of competitive advantage? Why or why not?
Apple’s