Question

Write about a current or relevant business event. Papers are to be well researched with a minimum of five complete pages of content. The five pages do not include the cover and reference page. Sample ideas can include topics like: the success of apple, walmart opens 1962, cola wars between coke and pepsi. Use one of them or feel free to choose your own topic.

Answer 1

The beginning of apple was a true all American story or we can say great things happen when you are at the right place in right time. This is true for the foundation of apple.

In the year 1969 in one side of this revolutionary year microchip was in development and it was the same time when 14 yr old Steve Jobs met 19 yr old Steve G Wozniak sharing their love for technology but neither of them had any idea that they will change the future.

Steve Wozniak was always keen on computers who shared a common dream among tech enthusiasts of owing a personal computer, an impossible concept of time. Which changed in 1984 with the introduction of ALTAIR 8800, micro computer kit. Even though it didn't had any output apart from it's flashing lights it caused a massive excitement among tech enthusiasts discussing the things which can be done with the same.
One of such was - The Homebrew Computer Club in San Francisco influenced by the counterculture happening around engaged a team effort to figure out what the ALTAIR 8800 could do once put together.

Meanwhile Steve Wozniak was building his own computer and at the same time the early CPU from Intel and Motorola were justade available. Each time he would bring something new to the club but evertime people gathered asking questions which were difficult for him to attend at that point of time. Steve Jobs who was one of the attenders of the club suggested Steve Wozniak to sow the efforts together.

In 1976, Steve J lobs and Steve Wozniak started it in a garage started to work on it with a single circuit board with no included keyboard or monitor which was officially the beginning of Apple Computer. Started working around they discovered that people actually want to own a personal computer but their vision of a of a readymade PC was impossible at that time because it would have tool way too many chips Making it too expensive and complicated which was not possible without some serious innovation. Wozniak actually knew it want impossible and he singlehandedly used his mind to make an industry breakthrough and Steve Jobs added his design knowledge Making the computers easy to use which made the computers palatable to the consumers.

In the meantime Steve jobs managed to get some investment money together for investment and the bunch of lights and switches was a usable computer with the streamlined efforts.

The innovation came to public when they both showcased the apple tool in West Coast computer fair in 1978. By 1980 IBM saw Apple's success in the PC market and realised that the computers could be actually used to extend human intellect and even for communication. Throughout the decade the Apple battled IBM and other competitors loosing market share as the went along and the company saw losses and even bankruptcy the company entered into the second golden age.

In the present day, Apple is reckoned on the world stage with a strong market following and which managed to earn 92% of smartphones all smartphones profit in the first quarter of 2015. Apple's first quarter revenue in 2015 just from iPhones was 52.2 billion Dollars, more than the entire market share of Yahoo at 45.5 Billion Dollars, 3 times more than Google's revenue in third quarter of 2014 and almost twice as much as Microsoft's quarterly revenue.

Apple's success can be attributed to a different and more human approach to technology, technologies job is not just a tool in life but to get a way in life and be natural and Apple has done this extremely well. The modern era of apple has a lot to do with problem solving and the targets are always on Making the products easy to use for people.

Let's take a few examples -

iPods - In 2001, hard drive storage was down to a reasonable size but the capacity was increasing when the Apple found digital music. But the problem was scrolling up with thousand songs was not anyone would love to do and the company again came up with a perfect solution of a haptik feedback with a scroll.

Iphone - in 2007, phones were entering into new world and had became a smaller version of PCs, but the keyboards with a tiny mass were difficult and the tiny space for nevigation was difficult to use and the company again came up with a solution of a capacitive touch screen, first ever to be put in a consumer device which made the product sell itself.

Apple may be the king of tech world now but it was a very different tale nearly 2 decades ago. In the mid 1990s the company was on the verge of going burst, time was running out but all that changed with the return of Steve Jobs.

The apple co founder came back in the year 1997 and immediately put the company back on track by partnering with Microsoft which was once an enemy and now a life saviour.

It wasn't very late when it all started recovering with new designed icons and fonts which was a commercial success for the company. A year later the iBook laptop was released and the profits nearly doubled which made jobs continue with new products out of which some were success and some where not.

In 2001 the company revolutionised it's music business they launched the iPad and the iTunes store. With the growing popularity of these devices away from computers apple invested in it's software, iPod and music business and by 2007 the company controlled almost 70% of all legally downloaded music and the name changed from " Apple Computers" to "Apple". And the next thing was when the iPhone came into being it became on of the companies most successful products and ushers and the long line of versions

Over the next few years apple continued Rolling out popular products and services from the app store to the iPad. Today apple has a market capitalisation of in excess of 700 Billion Dollars.

Apple Today -

Strength -

1. Brand Recognition - Apple is most valuable and worldwide company in the world, Everyone we know around us has been using or atleast once has used an apple product in his lifetime.

2. Innovation - Apple does a great job in innovation new products. Once they make a solid product they don't make extreme changes every year this helps to products to be reliable and steady in performance.

3. Marketing - marketing can make or break a company, Apple does an Amazing job in marketing attracting customers in their commercials and flashing their logo read on the screen right when your eyes and heart are drawn on the TV.

Weakness -

1. Premium Price - Apple products are offered at a higher price and it could be difficult to compete with future competitors offering lower prices unless they offer lower prices.

2. Closed Operating system - the iOS is a closed operating system which limits what users can do. Apple could learn a lot from outside tech sources that have open access than the iOS operating system.

Opportunities -

1. Aquisition of Beats by Dre - Apple bought beats audio company for 3 Billion dollars in 2014. Apple needed innovation in their music division and the Beats founder Dre was the person they were looking for.

2. Apple Cars - apple is trying to examlnd it's product market and wants to introduce Apple cars by the year 2020. Apples app are already has a great charisma in the market but their expansion could be a great success if executed properly.

3. Technology Advancement - apple is always first in line to make technological advancement. They always seem to be Making their moves in right time. Apple is not always first in market but it's reliability and durability makes Apple a competitor whenever a product is released. Smart connection of the product is the future and the Apple watch is an example when it comes to gaining interaction for Apple.

Threats -

1. Samsung - Samsung is one of apples competition in the phone market and the sales are not even close at the moment. Samsung's phones cost a lot less than the iPhones and offers a lot open Operation system for the technological customers.

2. Rising cost of goods - rising cost of goods is always a treat for any company. Apples prices are already at the top of the market and they can't afford to raise their product prices any further. Cost of materials in electronics could go up at any time and leave apple looking for backup plans. Import tax coming from China could also be a threat for the company.

3. Microsoft - when it comes to computers market Microsoft is apples biggest threat. Microsoft offers softwares that are not compatible with apple computers and some of these programs are used nation wide for business practices and when it comes to gaming the Apple doesn't even compared to Microsoft performance. Competitive gaming is on the rise and microsoft is already excelling the market with no competitors aside.