Apple Competitive Advantage Case Study

apple Competitive Advantage Case guideA free-enterprise(a) advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by religious offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices(Porter 198026 ).In this case, apple Inc has a net advantageover its competitors such as Blackberry, Google Android, Palm pre and HTC.Their triumph lies in its competitive advantages includingthe firmscost structure, crossway offerings and client service. Furthermore, Apple be able to differentiate themselves from its competitors and have been able to gain successful guest satisfaction, in the same way they stop charged a reward price. But using its competitive advantage does not mean that the order should ignore opposite competitors, simply because the trend of technology continuously keeps progressing with in the raw-sprung(prenominal) growths and innovations.Product differentiationApple products atomic numbe r 18 signifi dissolvetly costly, they targeted a veritable segment of the market by producing high quality products which are potenti completelyy durable and droll for example the iPhone range and newly launched iPad in 2010. Businessweek investigated that orchard apple tree are planning to cut the price of their computers considerably low and faraway more affordable to all individuals, the imackintosh and MacBook laptops were designed for the purpose of multimedia, most media companies uses the apple products to run their businesses as apple provide loads of incentives from its software Mac OSX. Aggressive competitions from Microsoft with windows 7 multi-media may have lead Apple to inhibit their prices to gain market-share. (Businessweek.com, 2010)Core Competencies and Growth StrategyApples customer orientation is to introduce the iPhone series and recently the iPad. Both devices are make at high specifications, enabling users and businesses to access their data easily and e fficiently. It was describe that these high tech devices were faster than any others products in the market. The products are unique at this stage as Apple are reputably cognize as innovators (Macworld.com, 2010). Following this trend, Apple company structure has always been an example. They are often known as re-designing or re-structuring their organisation for instance hiring new employees of high competencies such Mark Papermaster from the IBM Company who joined Apple in 2009 (Networkworld.com, 2010). Apple value chain has also been analyzed as effective, Crompton (2010) retrieved that Apple has reworked their value chain to create manufacturing, which improved the quality of its product in the end of the 1990s. Their production plants are outsourced from china in which they have undivided relationship with suppliers and chip-set manufacturing companies such as Foxconn Limited from China (Businessweek.com, 2010). Apple marketing strategy is planned on a geographical segmenta tion in the UK for example they have subsequently sub-contracted their products to network providers such as O2, Vodaphone, orange tree and Three networks. These telecommunication mobile providers offer awe-inspiring discounts on even up as you go and sometimes delivering free iPhones to customers with a contract on a pay monthly basis. Secondly Apple has a considerable advertising campaign on private TV Cable and Newspapers (The guardian UK, 2010). On the other hand, Apples activity and main warmheartedness competencies comes with its RD. According to Datamonitor (2010) the company believed an investment in RD (Research and Development) should keep them at competitive advantage within the industry (Datamonitor, 2010). In brief, in order to follow and acquire its position in the market, the Apple Company has developed its online jut in delivering updates in its software applications also known as (Appstore) friendly via iTunes for example updates on its operating systems and useful applications to home users and businesses. (Datamonitor, 2010)Growth hyaloplasmSteve Jobs commented recently on the launch of the iPhone 4 and quoted It was a phenomenal cast that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apples record with iPhone 4. The iPad progressed slowly onto the market with more people buying Machinstosh than ever before, and amazing new products still to come this year (Apple.com/investor, 2010). With such confidence, the company has lull their position into the market, their new device iPad which has made remarkable total gross revenue of $3.27 million (Apple.com/investor, 2010). Accordingly the iPad would fit clearly as star product in the BCG ground substance for the moment as it is hard to imitate. On the other hand the iPhone4 launched in the beginning of 2010 has also made considerable sales on its launch with a figure of 1.7millions units sold general on the 26th June 2010 according to Reuters (2010). Despite of its high sales, the iPhone4 could be positioned as macrocosm a question mark product in the BCG matrix because after(prenominal) the launch of the product in June 2010, some complaints were perceived from customers and professional technicians stating that the product is built as faulty that is a lack of reception for accounting entry and outgoing calls which could result a decline in sales worldwide in which buyers will have the tendency to look for other alternate(a) Smartphones such as Google Android or Palm Pre. To compensate its customers, Steve Jobs the chief operating officer has proclaimed that he will be giving free cases to all Iphone4 owners (FT.com, 2010). Some Apple products have been discontinued such as iBook G3 which can be classified as Dogs in the BCG matrix, the product has came to an end in 2006 (Apple.com/support, 2010). Other products called such as the iPod classic music player can be positioned as a cash cow under the BCG matrix as they are known as mature in the market, the iPods series have been released in 2005 and has now a slow growth in the market due to competition from other companies such as Sony producing Mp3 players and Microsoft with its Zune Mp3 Players (Apple.com/hotnews, 2007). Apple has emphasized on product diversification from its iPod classic to iPod Touch which relatively stands within its market share for the time being.