Apple SWOT Analysis PDF

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SWOT Analysis of the APPLE Company for the Business Environment Module. ...

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APPLE SWOT ANALYSIS

APPLE Figure 1: Apple Website

SUMMARY ”SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is an analytical framework that can help your company face its greatest challenges and find its most promising new markets.” (Taylor, 2016) This SWOT analysis will take place on one of the most recognizable organizations of XXI century- Apple.

INTRODUCTION The American company Apple was founded in 1974 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. It is currently one of the most profitable and recognizable brands in the world. It produces iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macs. These products in recent years are the first on the list of the most popular and appreciated products in the technology industry mainly because of their design and customer-friendly use. ”There is possibly no other company which is so casual and at the same time so powerful as the computer and entertainment manufacturer Apple.” (Schneiders, 2011).

A lot of people worked hard to make Apple popular on a global scale. However, this must have been affected by many factors. This SWOT analysis is a sophisticated look at how Apple has become prestigious and well-known it’s quality which continues, to make customers choose their brand. It will discuss further opportunities the company still has and threats, which can be fought, unfortunately can not be eliminate.

MAIN BODY

SWOT Anaysis STRENGTHS 

Strong brand image



Price



Advertising



Costly service



Good for the environment



Similarity between new and old

OPPORTUNITIES

Strengths

WEAKNESSES



New products



Cellular network

products THREATS 

Competition

with

others

companies 

Rapid changes in technology



Fake products

The first and greatest strength of a company is brand image. Apple is not just phones, computers and other gadgets. For many people, it's a lifestyle. ”The genius of Apple is that its brand has come to embody a lifestyle.” (Cuneo,2003) ”Everywhere you look businesspeople and students parade their sleek titanium Powerbooks; computer geeks and tech pundits enthuse about the incredible speed of the new G5” This is prestige, it is best quality. Apple has become the desire of society. Even the first sentence of Apple’s Store Sales and Refund terms suggest that Apple’s products are ”cool”. ”Thanks for shopping at Apple. We appreciate the fact that you like to buy the cool stuff we build.” (Legal - sales policies, 2016).

Adevrtising is a another very strong side of the company. Apple today, as one of the richest companies in the world, achieved this by advertising their products were the best quality and more modern. Their first ad for their second computer-”Macintosh” has been one of the most popular ads in history (January 1984). ”The ad was aired nationally only once, during the Super Bowl.” (Lee, 2014). That ad shows a woman rebelling against the police state. (Antisubliminal (2006) Apple – 1984)

Figure 2: Higgins, C, The true story of apple’s ‘1984’ ad’s First broadcast...Before the super bowl.

Every ad produced under the logo of Apple is fashionable, modern. It puts pressure on the recipient. It uses persuasion to convince each customer that everything from Apple is the best. Example -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeoUELDgyM4 Apple allocates huge funds to create the best advertising, and use the most famous celebrities. For example in 2016 they ran a whole series of short adverts starring american singer Taylor Swift. (I.e. 'Taylor Mic Drop', 'Taylor - Dance Like No One's Watching' or 'TAYLOR vs. TREADMILL'- Available on YouTube)

Figure 3: Complex News (2016)

Nowadays it is hard to take care of the environment, however, Apple really achieve that. In 2016, a report was prepared by the Environmental Responsibility Report covering all areas in which the organization supports the protection of the environment. That's a big plus for the company.

Figure 4: Price, 2014

”We believe our planet deserves our best thinking. So we’re constantly striving to find or invent solutions to important environmental challenges” (Environmental responsibility report, 2016). The report states that all activities managed by Apple to produce new gadgets are environmentally friendly. These activities are designed to reduce energy consumption, produce renewable energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by building aluminum casing. ”We use the power of the sun, wind, and water to power our lights, servers, and coffeemakers.” Apple is constantly looking for solutions to be as energy efficient as possible and to achieve its goal which is to cover 100% of electricity consumption from all branches of the company including shops, offices or global centers. A goal that converts 100% renewable electricity. ”As of January 2016, we’re at 93 percent worldwide.” The report still contains a lot of information, for example how Apple takes care of trees, fights toxins in it’s products and has built newly Apple campus in Cupertino, which will be one of the most energy saving building in the world.

Weaknesses Similarity between new and old products is a big weakness of Apple. Many people want to follow fashion. Therefore, when there is a new product on the market at any price it is desirable. However, a large part of the population is aware that price above all is the main difference of new gadgets. Of course, with each new model, for example the iPhone, there are new, better performances, accessories and sometimes design. However, in itself the phone, not

a lot different from the previous models. An example of this may be the newest smatphone Apple- Iphone 7 which went on sale on September 16 this year. ”Sorry Apple fans — the iPhone 7 is going to be boring” (Insider, 2016). The man directed his words to Apple fans, telling them that the iPhone 7 will simply be ”boring”. It reveals the truth that, except for minor changes, iPhone 7 will not be significantly different from the previous model.

At this point, the thought comes to us of probably the biggest minus of Apple. Price. Both the price for the same products and the very high cost of service. Companies pay huge money for Apple’s gadgets. At the present moment the price for the iPhone 7 on the official Apple website is £599 and for the Iphone 7 Plus is from £719. Not only the product itself is expensive. Service is as well.

IPhone service pricing - Apple support

Out-of-warranty Model

iPhone 7 Plus

Screen repair

£ 146.44

Battery service

£ 76.44

service fee

£ 326.44

iPhone 6s Plus

£ 146.44

£ 76.44

£ 306.44

iPhone 6 Plus

£ 146.44

£ 76.44

£ 306.44

iPhone 7

£ 126.44

£ 76.44

£ 296.44

iPhone 6s

£ 126.44

£ 76.44

£ 276.44

iPhone 6

£ 126.44

£ 76.44

£ 276.44

The table shows the price for each phone repair. Glass Repair iPhone 7 is more than 1/5 of the value of the new phone.

Opportunities: Apple as one of the most profitable companies in the world has great potential. What is most important- new products. Every year in the shops there are new Apple products. The timeline (from 1998-2009) shows how quickly the company is developing. Every year there are two or three new products on the market. For example, in 2005 there were Mac Mini, Ipod Mini and Ipod Classis. The next year saw new products, for example Macbook Pro and Ipod Nano.

Figure 5:Anderson, T. (2015) Behance

This is precisely because the company has access to the best specialist in the world. The most talented people in this field are working hard to keep up with technology that is growing at a tremendous rate. It's also a good team that rises the company to the top. It's people like Tim Cook, who is CEO of Apple, Angela Ahrendts- Senior Vice President, Jonathan Ive- Chief Design Officer, and many others. We continuously developed new projects and more modern toys. However, Apple may in the future develop its range of products. Who knows what number 1 will be in a few years?

One of the many possibilities is to create its own network. Certainly, every Apple fan would be tempted to join this network. It could lower the cost of purchasing your phone (contract + phone). Could create better opportunities for the holders of gadgets, such as free calls between mobile companies, special packages, new applications (only for owners). Creating a network of Apple would certainly be a big breakthrough in the communications industry and a significant threat to companies such as T-mobile. Apparently there are plans for it, that such a network of Apple uprising, however there are only preliminary projects and nobody do not really know if they will ever realized. The article (Griffin, 2015) speaks of reports on Apple proprietary network. The fact that "The company is secretly trialling a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) - a mobile network That Borrows its service from other companies - According to Business Insider." And that there is a chance that the company in a few years turned plans into reality and introduced it’s individual network to business.

Threats: Every company is exposed to some risk they can not avoid. Especially huge and profitable companies like Apple. One of the biggest threats to Apple is constant competition with other companies. Apple still has to fight for its position in the market. It competes with companies such as Samsung and Microsoft. The Annual Report of Apple said that: ” The markets for the Company’s products and services are highly competitive and the Company is confronted by aggressive competition in all areas of its business.” The report also says that competing companies, which sell

electronic products have to lower its prices and margins of products to stay in business. The main competitive advantages, which are, for example, price, quality of product or reputation of the company itself. Article (Zucchi, 2015) shows Apple's competitors due to individual products and services. 

Personal computers - Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Acer and Lenovo



Mobile computers - Google, Samsung, Nokia and Asus



Smartphone - Huawei, Samsung, Sony (SNE), HTC, Lenovo (On the operating system created by Google – Android)



Entertainment Media and Applications - Google



Mobile payments - PayPal and Google

Apple is one of the most advanced and profitable company, however it has to develop all the time to not lose the battle with their largest competitors.

Another threat to every company like Apple is constantly evolving technology. Many people try to foretell the future and show how the world will look like in 20-30 years. An example of this may be the film that appeared on the Internet in 2016 showing gadgets that are expected to bring the following years. (Tech City, 2016). The film shows the type of gadgets like

bracelet, which displays a phone screen on our hands, the mouse to scan materials that are instantly displayed on our computer or tablet, interactive newspaper and many others. This develops so quickly that some companies are not able to keep up with it. Apple tries to ensure every product that comes on the market is at the highest level. One day, however a new comapny could be formed that will be better.

How many people are not tempted to buy a product seemingly identical but cheaper by half? Counterfeit products are everywhere at the present time. At every step we see a company seemingly identical to those we know well. And yet they differ in small, unnoticed detail. Typically, these are companies that produce the same products but definitely more cheapily than the original. They are usually much poorer quality. However, many people choose to purchase such "offal" because they simply can not afford to buy the original. Often there are situations when the buyer does not know that the product, is not the original product. An example of this can be the accusation that Apple filed in 2016. BBC News in October 2016 published an article saying that the company Amazon.com sells counterfeit articles of Apple. ”Apple said it had bought "well over" 100 iPhone devices, own-brand power adapters and charging cables, and had found almost 90% of them were fakes. […] It added that customers might be fooled into believing the products were safe because Amazon was perceived to be one of the US's most trustworthy companies.”

CONCLUSION

Referring to the definition of SWOT analysis at the beginning of the work, I can say how important it is for the business environment. This treatment, which reminds us what it can do to become a better, which makes it already is good. What must be careful and what to change to a completely different. SWOT analysis is important to every company, especially as highranking. Only through constructive assessment of the SWOT factors likes of Apple company can grow or simply stay on the market at the current competition. On the basis of this analysis, I can manage to the company Apple that in the coming years it has focused on developing its own mobile network. They could introduced amendments to the laws on copyright to products- perhaps greater consequence counterfeiting products by other companies removed through this problem. Terminally I wish I would of great and innovative ideas for a group of people who are working on this.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Taylor, N.F. (2016) SWOT Analysis: What It Is and When to Use It. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Schneiders, S. (2011) Apple’s secret of success - traditional marketing vs. Cult marketing. Hamburg: Diplomica Verlag.

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A.Z.

(2003) Apple

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Inc,

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(2016) Legal

-

sales

policies

-

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(Accessed:

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November 2016).

Lee, T.B. (2014a) How apple became the world’s most valuable company. Available at: http://www.vox.com/cards/apple (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Sheldon, N., Belanger, P., Lewis, T., Mahaney, M., Riedel, N., Nocito, J. and (rep.) DSREPS (2016) Environmental responsibility report 2016 progress report, covering fiscal year 2015. Available

at:

http://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2016 .pdf (Accessed: 27 November 2016). ANNUAL REPORT APPLE INC (2014) Available at: http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm? filingid=1193125-14-383437

Zucchi, K. (2015) ‘Investing in apple: The risks & rewards’, in Available at: http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/021815/investing-apple-risks-rewards-aapl.aspx (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

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Insider, T. (2016) Sorry apple fans — the iPhone 7 is going to be boring . Available at: http://www.thisisinsider.com/apple-iphone-7-boring-different-from-6s-2016-5 (Accessed: 27 November 2016). Mowery, J. (2012) Why apple products are so expensive (and so worth it). Available at: http://www.maciverse.com/why-apple-products-are-so-expensive-and-so-worth-it.html (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

BBC (2016) Apple complains Amazon’s US site is selling fake products. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37715531

Antisubliminal (2006) Apple - 1984. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=R706isyDrqI (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Tech City (2016) New future technology inventions 2016 - 2050, tech gadgets. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn2VD3bIKWY

APPENDIECES

Khan,

S.

(2012) How

to

say

more

with

your

logo.

Available

at:

http://blog.logodesignguru.com/logo-symbolism/

Price, D. (2014) Why apple was bad for the environment (and why that’s changing). Available at: http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/why-apple-was-bad-environment-why-changinggreen-3450263/ (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Anderson, T. (2015) Behance Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/25609477/AppleProduct-Design-Timeline (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Higgins, C. (no date) The true story of apple’s ‘1984’ ad’s First broadcast...Before the super bowl. Available at:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29911/true-story-apples-1984-ads-first-

broadcastbefore-super-bowl (Accessed: 27 November 2016).

Complex News (2016) Taylor Swift’s ‘Jumpman’ apple commercial benefited Drake in a huge way. Available at: https://youtu.be/XHlmSJuM8W8....