Apple Strategy

Apple has a lot of internal strengths that make it a successful and competitive company that it is today. Apple, considered as the Technology leader, has created a very strong brand image in the personal computer industry and the mobile devices market by being "different" with its innovative design, feature filled and ease of use products ranging from MP3 players, mobile phones to personal computers and tablets. Apple is in its own league in the competitive PC and mobile industry and has a huge loyal customer base. By highly investing in research and development, providing a variety of products, and maintaining a unique brand image, Apple has been able to create a sustainable competitive advantage by differentiation. It is very obvious that Apple follows a Differentiation strategy catering to less price sensitive customers in broad market ranging from students, educators to high tech developers. This successful differentiation strategy, which provides unique design and superior features, allows Apple to command premium prices when compared to its competitors. Even if its competitors,Dell or HP, were to manufacture a similar product (for example, similar to MacBook) they would not be able to command such high prices as Apple. Such is the influence of Apple Brand image.

a) Constant Innovation:

Apple has emerged as one of the pioneering innovators in the consumer electronics industry. Apple continues to diversify their product offerings through innovative design. Apple's first major breakthrough outside of its traditional personal computer line was with the introduction of the iPod. By having the first-mover advantage, Apple was able to gain 70% of the market by 2010. In addition, relatively high profit margins allowed Apple to reinvest profits in R&D and maintain its cutting-edge product offering. This subsequently led to the introduction of the iTouch just shortly after the iPod whichreached sales of 3.5 millionunits in just 3 years. The success of Apple's innovative image continued with the introduction of the iPhone and iPad, which both proved to be major successes and allowed Apple to claim dominating market shares in both the smartphone and tablet PC categories. Although Apple's products are easily imitated, Apple continues to successfully gain majority market shares by being an innovative company and launching their products before competitors.

b) Customer Value :

Apple has established a seamless experience for customers across online, telephone and personal touch points. The Apple store is the physical manifestation of the brand. In addition to displaying all Apple products in a very simplistic store design, Apple store offers training workshops to potential customers, conducts customer gatherings for existing customers and overall offers an engaging and exciting experience for customers who wants to