Apple Kasey Chappel BSAD 150-01 NEO ? Apple’s Mission Statement The mission statement of Apple is “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” Apple’s History Apple’s story of success is a very interesting one that I enjoyed learning about. I had always thought that the company was simply started in a garage by three young men. However, I learned there was more to it than just that.
In 1976, three young men did start the company Apple: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Once Apple was officially created on April 1st, 1976, ten days later, the first Apple computer was created and released to the public. The computer was sold for $666.66, and today is worth $200,000. Only a year later in 1977, Apple II was released to the public. It initially cost $1298 but is worth about $5,000 today. Six years later in 1983, the Apple Lisa was released.
It was one of the first personal computers to offer a graphical user interface in a machine aimed at individual business users. In 1984, Apple Macintosh, a family of computers sold by Apple, was created. This is one of Apple’s best products. It is still popular today, over 30 years later.
By the time Apple was becoming successful in 1985, Steve Jobs was only 30 years old. Many other leaders had seen Steve as too young to hold his position at Apple. They believed someone older should be running the company. The other leaders at the company hired John Sculley to work for the company. He and Steve did not agree on many topics about the company.
So, later in 1985, Steve decided to resign from Apple. This definitely impacted the company, because the employees at Apple no longer had someone leading them in the right direction. In 1986, with Steve gone, the leaders of the company were rethinking every aspect of the corporation. They wanted to change the products they were selling. This is where the business was impacted poorly. Steve Jobs knew that the products he had put up for sale were the key to Apple’s success.
When the leaders changed that, Apple started going down-hill. In 1990, Microsoft released Windows 3 and Apple leaders were becoming worried about their increase in competition. Fortunately, Steve was there to help the company. He joined Apple again in 1997. He helped continue many of Apple’s partnerships.
In 2000, he helped the company continue on in the business world by personally calling Bill Gates and persuading him to continue developing Office for Macintosh for five years. One year later, in 2001, the iPod was released to the public. It was a huge success for the company. In 2007, Apple continued its success by releasing the iPhone. However, in 2009, Steve Jobs took a leave of absence because he was ill and needed surgery. He later died in 2011, in which his longtime deputy, Tim Cook took over the company.
Apple’s Product Lines and Brands Apple’s product lines are very extensive. There are numerous products from Apple that are all famously known. These products are shown below: Some of the brand names owned by Apple include Apple, Beats, and Shazam. As a matter of fact, Apple does indeed have a slogan.
It is “Think Different”. Many people believe that the slogan was created as a response to IBM’s slogan, “Think.” Apple is always working to better the company. Currently, Apple has released to the public that they are working on the iPhone 9, iPhone 11, and another unnamed iPhone. They are also working on the 2019 line of MacBooks, new versions of iPad Pros, and they are also looking into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Apple’s Competitors Apple’s major competitors include Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Amazon, Dell, and Fitbit.
An example of one of the advantages that Apple has against its competitors would be their branding. It’s distinct, recognizable, and the design of all of their devices follow the same philosophy. Another example would be how the company bundles all of their software in with their devices, such as iTunes and the App Store. The last example would be how vertically integrated Apple is in the market.
Apple’s competitors also have some leverage when it comes to competing in the business industry. An example would be Google. Google has Android, which is the biggest competitor for iOS that isn’t an Apple product. Google also has the Google Suite, which are many apps that compete with Apple’s such as the music app, the app store, and many more. Another example would be Apple’s longest-standing competitor, Microsoft. Microsoft has Windows competing against Apple’s OS X.
They also create laptops and computers that compete against Apple’s MacBook. A disadvantage for Apple would be that their hardware is priced at a higher level than most of the market. Another disadvantage would be that Apple’s products are not compatible with other technologies outside of their own brand. Lastly, Apple only has a few products within each product line, so they do not have as much diversity as other competitors. A Good Ethical Decision I believe that a good ethical decision that Apple made was to partner with schools.
They made the decision because in today’s world, there is a need for technology in the classroom, and they are trying to promote future generations. They hoped to achieve students being more versatile with technology and learning faster and more efficiently. I believe that this was a good ethical decision because I have been in both electronic classrooms and classrooms where I did not have access to electronics. It definitely helps to have the technology by your side when learning new things. A Poor Ethical Decision I believe that a poor ethical decision made by Apple would be when they slowed down older versions of phones without telling the consumers.
This led to consumers buying newer phones and spending more money on the company. Apple also started replacing batteries for consumers during this time, so they were able to profit from their decision. However, the consumers caught on to the act and a lawsuit was started. The lawsuits are still pending, however, there are over two-dozen lawsuits that Apple is faced with. I considered this a poor ethical decision because they didn’t tell the consumers about the problem. It hurts Apple’s reputation and the trust their consumers had in the company.
Marketing and Distribution Strategies Apple markets their products through electronic means and word of mouth promotion through their annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference. Examples of direct marketing include commercials, online ads, and links to retailers. At the Developer’s Conference, a speaker, usually one of the CEOs, will talk about the newest products or products that are in the making. Apple has two types of distribution: intensive distribution and electronic retailing. Apple gives their devices, (mainly iPhones) to phone carriers and also big box stores.
Apple sells products directly from their website, which is known as electronic retailing. They also sell products from other online retailers such as Amazon and Newegg. Apple’s headquarters is located in Cupertino, California. There, Apple’s executives and design team work. Majority of Apple’s manufacturing is done in China; however, the highest percentage of Apple’s sales are in America. The places that Apple sells to outside of the United States include Europe, China, Japan, and the rest of Asia.
Since Apple is a tech company, they’ve adapted all of their devices to be user-friendly to all cultures. An example would be programming Siri to understand many major languages around the world, and the consumers have adaptive text. Apple’s headquarters are powered by 100% renewable energy. Apple executives would consider the company to be Eco-Friendly, and they are always searching for more ways to increase their recycle-ability. Apple is working to reduce their carbon footprint and electricity usage. Balance Sheet ASSETS 2015 2014 CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents $21,120 $13,844 Short-term marketable securities $20,481 $11,233 Accounts receivable, less allowances of $82 and $86, respectively $16,849 $17,460 Inventories $2,349 $2,111 Deferred tax assets $5,546 $4,318 Vendor non-trade receivables $13,494 $9,759 Other current assets $9,539 $9,806 Total current assets $89,378 $68,531 Long-term marketable securities $164,065 $130,162 Property, plant and equipment, net $22,471 $20,624 Goodwill $5,116 $4,616 Acquired intangible assets, net $3,893 $4,142 Other assets $5,556 $3,764 Total assets $290,479 $231,839 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable $35,490 $30,196 Accrued expenses $25,181 $18,453 Deferred revenue $8,940 $8,491 Commercial paper $8,499 $6,308 Current portion of long-term debt $2,500 $0 Total current liabilities $80,610 $63,448 Deferred revenue, non-current $3,624 $3,031 Long-term debt $53,463 $28,987 Other non-current liabilities $33,427 $24,826 Total liabilities $171,124 $120,292 Commitments and contingencies Shareholders’ equity: Common stock and additional paid-in capital, $0.00001 par value: 12,600,000 shares authorized; 5,578,753 and 5,866,161 shares issued and outstanding, respectively $27,416 $23,313 Retained earnings $92,284 $87,152 Accumulated other comprehensive income $345 $1,082 Total shareholders’ equity $119,355 $111,547 Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $290,479 $231,839 Current Financial Status Apple’s current stock price is 191.67 a share, and it is up 23 cents today.
Apple’s stock price has gone up drastically over the course of the past year. They started 2017 with a stock price of around $118 a share, and now they are hovering around $190 a share. Over the next five years, people that follow this company are expecting it to grow earnings at an annual rate of 10.85%. This year, analysts are predicting an earnings increase of 23.97% over last year. Analysts expect earnings growth next year of 11.84% over this year’s predicted earnings. Concluding Paragraph Overall, I believe that Apple was in the top 10 of the Fortune 500 list for a reason.
The business is exploding and is predicted to continue growing in the future. Ever since the company first started, they were competing with other companies, but Apple prospers by continuing to release more products. Their ethics needs a little bit of work, but with the work they are putting into protecting the environment, you can tell they care about our world. Technology is expanding into more aspects of our life, and with that, Apple is willing to grow with humans and expand into more markets. Eventually, Apple will help the world evolve with technology and explore new possibilities.
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2017, www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/. Bryant, Sean. “Top Companies Owned By Apple.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 4 May 2018, www.investopedia.com/investing/top-companies-owned-apple/. Apple.
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