Apple Case

The global PC market has seen its prospects dim, with worldwide shipments declined in 2012 for the first time in 11 years.

To date, no company has as effectively attracted customers to other seemingly different products by getting them to purchase just one. Before Apple, mobile communication devices were made by one company and laptop computers were made by another company. The products had very little in common. But now, Apple customers can barely tell the difference except for the size of the product. The laptop is big, the tablet is smaller and the smartphone is even smaller. Otherwise, how the products operate, and how they share functionality and information seamlessly through connectivity, continuously updating customer's lives through simple plug-in, is very much the same.

 Just two years ago that wasn't the case. Apple had Mac customers. Apple had iPod customers. Apple had iPhone customers. But now, with each advance, particularly in regard to the iPhone's evolution and the iPad's launch, Apple moves closer to market domination across all three spaces like we've never seen from one company before.

 The unilateral strength is the difference-maker.

 It wouldn't happen if customers did not like the iPhone on its own merits. It would not happen if customers did not like the iPad for its own merits. And, it would not happen if customers did not like the Mac computer for its own merits. But put the three together, as millions of more consumers are doing with every passing quarter, and Apple has advantage that may be hard for competitors to touch anytime soon.