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Bilal Bajwa

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1 Success of Apple

The success story of Apple is indeed the success story of its former Co founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, who, along with other two associates, founded this company way back in 1976 and nursed it till its present position though sheer ingenuity, market savvies, competitive worthiness, and personal sacrifice. In a world that is marked with cut throat competition and materialistic pursuits, it were people like these who proved to the world that commercial success could also be gained by being philanthropic, altruistic and possessing worldly wise virtues of head and heart. Rarely has a major company and industry been so dominated by a single individual. His influence went far beyond the iconic personal computers that were Apples principal product for its first 20 years of its chequered existence. With out a doubt, Apple Inc. has achieved tremendous amounts of success in the PC dominated global marketplace. In the last decade, Apple has redefined the music business through the iPod, the cell phone business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad (The New York Times, 2011). Thus a lot of credit of the present fortunes of Apple Inc, could indeed go to its Co founder and CEO, who, despite a great deal of difficulties and tough situations, was able to guide the destiny of Apple in the right progressive and growth oriented direction. In 1981, Jobs joined a small group of Apple engineers pursuing a separate project, a lower-cost system codenamed Macintosh, which was introduced in January 1984. Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve" (Rediff Business, 2011). But the real success of Apple only began since the year 2001, when iPods were launched. Its forays into the iPod market created history for this company, and combined with aggressive

Bilal Bajwa

29069119

marketing strategies were able to create a revolution of sorts in the contemporary PC industry. They were innovative solutions that competitors could not penetrate, let alone compete against. Besides, there were a widening chasm between the kind of products and services that Apple provided, as compared with its nearest rivals and competing firms. And only AppleCare products give you one-stop service and support from Apple experts, so most issues can be resolved in a single call (Apple, n. d.). Since the launch of the iPad and iPod this company has always put its best foot forward in all their strategies, business deals, and business promotions. The primacy reason for the unstinted success in the consumer technology market has been that Apple has a robust product line up, and they executed their business plans extremely well. Add to this, there is no deficit of talented executives at Apple, so there is no reason to expect anything short of total success. Besides, Jobs uncanny ability to come from down under, his intense commitment to innovation and ability, despite his eccentricities, and the competence to continuously come up with product line after product line, that not only challenged the way its competitors think about their own products, but also influence how consumers think about the manner in which they consume content. There is not an iota of doubt that former co Founder and CEO played a vital and key fundamental role in steering Apple's success in the intense market of personal computers. He attached a great deal of importance to innovation and this could perhaps be one of the major reasons why Apple succeeded while others failed, Apple always believed that it aimed to sell what customers sought and the market denied, and not what Apple was intent on selling. Personal computing was invented with the launch of the Apple II in 1977 (Ottter, 2011).

Bilal Bajwa

29069119

During the beginning years of the 21st century legal digital music recordings were brought into the mainstream with the iPod and iTunes, and mobile phones were revolutionized, after the 2007 debut of the iPhone. However, the main success of Apple grew with the invention of the IPad in 2010, a touch-screen tablet computer that set a whole trail of competitors jumping onto the iPad bandwagon, but with limited overall success. Thanks to the dedicated and committed efforts of the Apple team all over the globe where it conducted its operations, since 2005, Apples revenue streams, margins and stock values have grown dramatically, especially in developed and developing countries. During fiscal 2010-2011, its stock market value even overtook that of Microsoft, which is indeed a forewarning of the things to come regarding performance of Apple and the marketability of Apple products in the years to come. Overall, Microsoft stock is down 20 percent compared to 10 years ago, while the value of Apples has grown tenfold over the same period (Etherington, 2010). One of the major reasons for the resurgence of Apple has been that in the PC market where Microsoft rules, the demands have shifted from traditional products to tablet PC and smartphones, wherein Apple has distinct competitive edge and strong market presence. The trends are indeed changing fast and dramatically and obviously, companies that could acclimatize themselves faster and adapt products and services to changing PC environment would indeed be more successful when compared to companies that are slower to react and restructure their product and service lines quickly to suit changing market conditions. This changing of leadership at the vanguard of PC business has been seen as one of the most spectacular turnarounds in business history for Apple, which had been given up for dead only a decade earlier, and its co-founder and visionary chief executive virtually written off. The rapidly rising value attached to Apple by investors also heralds an important cultural shift: Consumer

Bilal Bajwa

29069119

tastes have overtaken the needs of business as the leading force shaping technology (Helft, M. & Ashlee, 2010). Thus, it would only be fitting to consider that Apple Inc. has indeed come a long way since it was started in a ramshackle shop, way back in 1976. Having encountered and successfully overcome a great deal of financial and marketing agonies over a span of over 3 decades, Apple Inc, the brain child of its former CEO, could rightfully take their place in history not only as pioneers and ardent entrepreneurs who has the vision, courage and personal integrity to excel, but also as a force that has changed the course of human history over just a short expanse of time.

Bilal Bajwa

29069119

5 Work Cited

Apple. Service and support from the people who know your apple product best. Apple.com, (No Date). Available online at http://www.apple.com/support/products/

Etherington, D. Apple Overtakes Microsoft in Market Value: End of an Era? gigaom.com, 2010, Available online at http://gigaom.com/apple/apple-overtakes-microsoft-in-market-valueend-of-an-era/

Helft, M. & Ashlee Vance. Apple Passes Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech. Nytimes.com, 2010. Available online at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/technology/27apple.html

Ottter, J. Steve Jobs: Feb. 24, 1955 - Oct. 5, 2011. moneywatch , 2011, Available online at http://moneywatch.bnet.com/economic-news/blog/moneywatch-editors/steve-jobs-feb24-1955-oct-5-2011/802/

Rediff Business. Steve Jobs and his words of wisdom. Rediff.com, 2011. Available online athttp://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-tech-steve-jobs-and-hiswords-of-wisdom/20111006.htm

The New York Times. Apple Incorporated. Nytimes.com, 2011. Available online at http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/apple_computer_inc/index.html? inline=nyt-org

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