1. Brief Summary of Case
Apple Inc., which designs, produces and famous for computers, MP3 players, phones, and tablets, is one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. The company was found in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Los Altos, California. At the beginning, Job’s mission was to bring an easy-to-use computer to the market, which led to the release of the Apple II in April 1978. After that, Apple quickly became the industry leader and launched a successful IPO in 1980. In 1985, due to decline of Apple’s net income, Jobs was forces out and John Sculley started to lead this company. Sculley pushed the Mac into new markets, most notably in desktop publishing and education, he tried to move Apple into the mainstream by becoming a low cost producer of computers with mass-market appeal and also chose to forge an alliance with Apple’s foremost rival, IBM. However, Sculley’s strategy did not work well, he was replaced by Michael Spindler in 1993. Unfortunately, Spindler couldn’t help Apple to return its market leading position. In order to save the company, Jobs became the company’s interim CEO in 1997. While previous CEOs sought to broaden Apple’ products, Jobs believed deeply in focus. In 1998, the iMac was introduced and Apple turnaround and posted a $309 million at that year. In 2001, Jobs presented his vision for the Macintosh in what called the “digital hub”. Apple’s shift toward a digital hub strategy was initiated by the debut of the iPod in 2001, follow by the iPhone in 2007, then the iPad in 2010. Steve Jobs had changed Apple from a company on the verge of bankruptcy to one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. For a few weeks during the spring of 2012, Apple’s market capitalization surpassed $600 billion, making it the most valuable company in the history of the world. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs tragically died of cancer on October, 2011. The new CEO, Tim Cook, had an