Apple Company swot analysis Essay

This is an analysis of the Apple Company which is one of the leading Phone companies in the world. This analysis looks into the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats of the company. The major strength of Apple Company is its creative and high ranking leaders who facilitate quality leadership and creativity in the Apple Company. The products of Apple are of high quality and unique compared to rival products from Microsoft or Google; this enhances customer loyalty. Apple has an opportunity of entering new markets such as TV, which will still perform as good as the existing products because Apple consumers may purchase an additional product from the company as a result of the company loyally. However, the company’s major weakness is the pricing effect it has on the market. Consumers perceive the apple products to be expensive even when the price is actually similar to that offered by other companies. The main threat of Apple is the upcoming android system from Google which has managed to tap into the youth market which apple had dominated longer and the closed system of offering their system. Strength of Apple Company It may be believed that it is the individuals who determine the strength of a company and not he products that are produced by the company. One may think that the demise of Steve Jobs may make Apple weak; this is not the case as Apple still has got its strength rooted in the uniqueness of the products they produce. With a leader such as Tim Cook, who is ranked among the top among the CEOs in the USA, with a staff approval of 98%. According to CNN Money, (2012) the inventory of Apple Inc has been drastically cut to days with channel supplies that are ultra sufficient and leads the fair wage movement in Asia- China. India Times, (2012) reports that not only Tim is the creative personnel in apple Inc, there is still Johnny Ive who steers creativity behind apple INC. This is the major strength which Apple has that  poses a competitive hand ahead of their rivals. The product’s ecosystem is strength of Apple Company. Apple icloud, OS and iOS make up an evolution of apples’ product ecosystem. According to Thomas (2010) each new product is enhanced by the ecosystem making the ownership of the products of the company to be worth more than the total sum of their parts. The system goes past the internet thought which makes it evolutionary. It is a unique system in that it is closed, maintains a store of its own including the software and hardware applications. This has enabled the company to have total control over the users’ experience hence they have been able to maximize profits as a result of elimination of third party costs. The system offers its users an environment which is free from viruses, it would be therefore said that the products of apple are the major competitive tool against their rivals. According to David (2011) with each considered as a bench mark product, iPad, iPod, iPhone, iTunes store are among the best selling Apple products in the market of their category. Diversity is greatly enhanced in Apple Company due to the depth of their assets which includes their liquidity position, their branded stores and professional and consumer applications which are leading. Weaknesses The main weakness of Apple Inc is their ideology; the internet has been made a powerful tool by the systems that are open which is the most used tool by Microsoft and Google. According to Colby (2011) this has created a specialized competing strategy in open products. If an individual is not already been attached to the Apple products, they can easily find what hey are looking for by any other brand. Another weakness of Apple Company is the pricing of their products. Consumers have a perception that Apple products are high priced even though some products may have moderate pricing. Electronics consumers do not have prior knowledge in the comparisons made concerning Apple products value and the value of a poorly made product brand from another company which would be cheap. Opportunities There are high chances that the creative minds in Apple Company may penetrate the TV market with a brand name of iPanel. According to Johnson (2011) there is the usual kept secret which would be made public to anticipate  product offering. As a result of the announcement the TV market has undergone major innovations in order to stay ahead of the anticipated Apple TV launch. Market analysts predict that even though the new TV may not perform really high as the iPad and iPhone, the buyers of the two may as well pick the Apple TV along with their iPad and iPhone purchases. Another major opportunity which Apple has is that the already existing products of Apple such as iPod create a gateway for purchase of other Apple products. With every single new product, there is an expansion in the ecosystem of products and as a result a new created gateway increases the consumer choice of using another Apple product. Threats Even though there is a major Apple lead in consumer computing products, there are tensions between Google and Apple Inc. the balance between open systems and Apple’s closed product would easily shift back to Google. This is so as there was a time when Google controlled almost all the PC product market back in the late 90s. Such a threat could be expected from the way open OS functions just very well. Windows 8 by Microsoft was highly anticipated and used by consumers and Google would easily advance its android operating system to support the desk top. Android is the greatest competitor of Apple’s product ecosystem since android has tapped the market of the youth; a market that has been dominated by Apple for more than fifteen years. Another threat would be a form of virus which would harm the Apple’s computing products from a perspective of public relations. In conclusion, Apple Company competes in the battle of ideologies. The competition is essentially between apple and other companies such as Google and Microsoft. However, apple has managed to be ahead of other companies in the consumer computing product market. The competition between Apple and other companies is quite sensitive because a mistake in the strategies of Apple would imply huge losses as the other companies are likely to top the market. The apple company has a management that is scientifically controlled to enable it maintain the lead with highest profit margin. Apple continues to grow as a result of the quality leadership which facilitates the purchase of new apple products by the consumers. References CNN Money, (2012). The analysis Weight In. retrieved, October 15, 2013, from: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/14/apple-shares-fallen-wall-street-analysts/ Booker, L. (2012). A little less Sam Sung in Apple Sourcing, Journal OF Strategic Management, 12, 34-37 Colby, N. (2011). Strategic Management Review- Apple Inc, Business Analysis, 4, 26-28 David, R. (2011). Strategic management: concepts and cases. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice-Hall. India Times (2012). Apple Once Again Crowned World’s Most Innovative Company, Retrieved, October 15, 2013 from; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/enterprise-it/strategy/Apple-once-again-crowned-worlds-most-innovative-company/html†¦ Johnson, G. (2012). Apple on the Forbes Most Innovative Companies, Retrieved, October 15, 2013 from: http://www.forbes.com/companies/apple/.. Thomas, M. (2010). Managing brand performance: aligning positioning, execution and experience. Journal of Brand Management, 16, 65-68