Apple Inc HBSC #9-710-467
1. What, historically, have been Apple’s competitive advantages?
Apple has used the following competitive advantage strategies: Apple uses its ability to design and develop its own operating system, hardware, application software and services to differentiate its brand from competitors. The Apple Inc. Company, with 2009 net sales of $42.9 million, primarily competes in the PC, MP3 player, Portables, IPod, Handset, Peripherals, Software and service markets. Apple stands out for “typically designing its products from scratch, using unique chips, disk drives, and monitors.”1 In the MP3 player market, they differentiated their product early on by providing what competitors could not – storage of up to 1,000 songs vs. only an hour of music. Through technological advances by 2010 they held more than 70% of the MP3 market in the US. Overall, their product’s appeal has a lot to do with the company’s stated goal of providing customers with products that have superior ease of use, seamless integration and innovative design. Quality is also an Apple brand trademark that provides the company with an excellent reputation and is a differentiation advantage when compared to their competitors. Incorporating all these strategies have allowed Apple to gain certain competitive advantages and benefit from a strong brand, a loyal customer base, innovative and quality products as well as exposure to fast-growing markets.
2. How sustainable is Apple’s competitive position in PC’s?
Apple needs to revisit their competitive advantage strategy in the PC market. Sales of Apple's computers - the Macintosh (Mac) - made up approximately 32.3% of the companies net sales in 2009. That year, the company shipped over 12.3 million units of desktop and laptop computers. Portables units sold about two times as fast as desktops. In 2009. total Mac net sales were $13.8 billion dollars with a gross margin of 40%. In addition, Apple’s PC R&D/Sales percentage was 3%. Apples
Apple has used the following competitive advantage strategies: Apple uses its ability to design and develop its own operating system, hardware, application software and services to differentiate its brand from competitors. The Apple Inc. Company, with 2009 net sales of $42.9 million, primarily competes in the PC, MP3 player, Portables, IPod, Handset, Peripherals, Software and service markets. Apple stands out for “typically designing its products from scratch, using unique chips, disk drives, and monitors.”1 In the MP3 player market, they differentiated their product early on by providing what competitors could not – storage of up to 1,000 songs vs. only an hour of music. Through technological advances by 2010 they held more than 70% of the MP3 market in the US. Overall, their product’s appeal has a lot to do with the company’s stated goal of providing customers with products that have superior ease of use, seamless integration and innovative design. Quality is also an Apple brand trademark that provides the company with an excellent reputation and is a differentiation advantage when compared to their competitors. Incorporating all these strategies have allowed Apple to gain certain competitive advantages and benefit from a strong brand, a loyal customer base, innovative and quality products as well as exposure to fast-growing markets.
2. How sustainable is Apple’s competitive position in PC’s?
Apple needs to revisit their competitive advantage strategy in the PC market. Sales of Apple's computers - the Macintosh (Mac) - made up approximately 32.3% of the companies net sales in 2009. That year, the company shipped over 12.3 million units of desktop and laptop computers. Portables units sold about two times as fast as desktops. In 2009. total Mac net sales were $13.8 billion dollars with a gross margin of 40%. In addition, Apple’s PC R&D/Sales percentage was 3%. Apples