Apple Inc. Report
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Apple’s History and Background:Apple Inc. is a public American company with its headquarters in California. It started as only computer company but later diversified to capture larger market share. They started as Apple computer Inc. but later changed it to Apple Inc. to create this image of their brand in the industry that they are not just focusing on computers but on other products as well. It was founded by Steve Jobs, Ron Wayne and Steve Wozniak in California. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were friends and were both interested in computers and electronics. Wozniak made a microprocessor that he programmed which jobs thought could be marketable. Jobs, who had a strong vision of market and the future, launched Apple Computers Inc. to sell this product. They started out with little money, so they each sold something just so that they can have a start. The first computer they made was called Apple I. Jobs and Wozniak started to work at Jobs parent’s house. On the naming of Apple, Jobs said he was on one of his fruitarian diets. He said he had just come back from an apple farm, and thought that the name sounded fun and appealing.Later on that year, Wayne sold his portion of the company which was 10%, for $800 to both Steve Jobs and Wozniak who were equal partners of about 45% each. Then in 1977, Apple II was introduced which was considered a growing stage for the company. After Apple I success, they began working on the design of Apple II. Again they didn’t have enough money so they took a loan and released Apple II in 1977 and were able to sell millions of units and made a big fortune of $2.5 million. This marked the success and growth of the company which never ceased. A few years later, in 1985, the board of the company excluded Jobs from his position and placed John Scully instead. Jobs resigned and created another company called NeXT Inc. Years later in 1966, when Amelio was CEO, Apple bought NeXT Inc. and brought back Jobs to the company. In October 2001, Apple witnessed an unfortunate crucial loss of Steve Jobs and everyone started to be concerned about the future of the company. Current Status of Apple:It has approximately 357 retail stores in almost every major city. Being one of the leading technological organization. Apple Inc. manufactures, designs and markets mobile communication and media devices, portable digital music players, persona computers and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third party digital content and applications. The company’s products and services include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and Mac OS X operating systems, iCloud, service and support offerings. The company also sells and delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBook store, and Mac App store. Apple Inc. is ranked the largest technological company and third based on world’s phone manufacturer. Apple has a record of becoming the first U.S. company having more than $700 billion as revenues. Apple’s concept is ‘imperfect makes improvement’. Apple has a large variety of customers. It targets all ages and levels of society from children to older women and men. As of 2014 data, it is the second biggest IT Company in the world by revenue, behind Samsung (Tseng, Liu & Wu, 2014). The company has established its image not only as a reputable innovator, but also as a strong financial powerhouse.
Apple’s current main competitors in the smartphone market are Samsung, Lenovo, HTC, …. Google also is considered a large competitor as its Android operating system is featured on many new smart phones and is rapidly gaining market share. Apple also has numerous competitors in computer software industry, namely, Microsoft, which owns about 90% of the market share if computer operating systems. Apple also makes computer hardware, all other computer brands such as HP, Dell, Asus, and many other are all competition among themselves. Apple is unique in that it manufactures both of its hardware’s and software. The competitive scenario of Apple is wide due to the fact that Apple offers numerous products in several different industries. While it is considered a leader in the smartphone industry market share, it is also growing in computer software industry. Apple has been unique as a company from its competitors because it offers high and qualified end products that are different than others and provide high usability and quality experience. Recently Apple has been in the news for several lawsuits with their competitors including Samsung and Motorola. Apple has been very aggressive with their patent infringement lawsuits in an effort to keep market share in the industry, which resulted in their win in almost every lawsuit. They were awarded 1 billion dollars against Samsung which was eventually reduced to 550 million after Samsung appealed. Mission Statement: “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.”Although Apple is widely popular for its products and services in the market, It’s mission statement does not sound capturing or professional. It’s mission statement sounds more like a promotion of their products rather than what the company actually is and what is their purpose. Decide mission statement…..!!!!Social and Ethical Behavior:In the current corporate and fast changing environment, corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior are considered very important and given first priority in order to portray superior to all relevant stakeholders to thrive in highly competitive business world. They have to show concern on areas such as ethical governance, environment conservation, and other social aspects. Where Apple relies heavily on ensuring their products are of high quality and reach targeted consumers, it also focuses on its ethical practice and its responsibility towards the society. It has demonstrated in past that it is ethical and socially responsible to the society and to its employees. Apple is considered the strictest in the industry which obliges its employees to follow its rules and codes of conduct. There should be no discrimination at all. It also doesn’t allow underage labor and excessive working hours.