SONIA AKTER

202110306
MBA-6464

DELL
1.What was the status of Apple in the year 1997 and before? What did Steve Jobs do to
turnaround the company?
Ans: 1989-1997: lacklustre period when Apple was nearly written off

- charged premium prices and operated through a closed proprietary system at the time when more
economical IBM compatible PCs gained mass appeal

- Its cost base was high compared with its major competitors

- This combination of factors led to shrinking market share and lower profitability

- Apple lost momentum in PC industry despite the efforts of three different CEOs to reverse the downfall

- 1997 second quarter: Company reported a loss of $708 million and was flirting with bankruptcy

*2000: Steve Jobs took over as CEO

*2003-2008: Impressive dynamic comeback

- Sales tripled to $24bn and profits increased to $3,5bn up from a mere $24 million.

- Apple topped Fortune 500 companies for total return to shareholders both over 2003-2008 (94%
return) as well as over 1998-2008 (51% return), a remarkable achievement Voted as the most innovative
company for the three consecutive years during 2006-2008

2.What are the important innovations that Apple has produced in last 15 years?
What did Apple do to produce these innovations?
ans:* Apple placed its trademark on long list of technological breakthroughs
including:
- Mouse
- the graphical user interface
- color graphics
- built in sound
- networking and wireless LAN
- Fire wire and many more
* Apple’ approach over the years had been to make use of a personal
computer as easy and intuitive as possible through developing
- a highly responsive operating system
- establishing standard specifications to which all applications software packages
were expected to conform
- strict control of outside developers and
- delivering computers that did what they promised
* Apple’s innovation enhanced the consistency across application which
translated to ease of use, an attitude that helped to explain to some extent
Apple’s loyal consumer base.
* Another significant characteristics of Apple’ approach was:
Diffusion of innovation across the value chain with both high end and low end
products that appealed to a much wider audience ranging from amateurs to
professionals
* According to Jobs “Apple’s DNA has always been to try to democratise
technology. If you make something great then everybody will want to use it”
*Many of the disruptive innovations Apple has introduced are based on what
employees call “deep collaboration, cross pollination or concurrent engineering
*This approach refers to products not developed in discrete stages but by “All
departments at once- design, hardware, software- in endless rounds of
interdisciplinary design reviews”
3.Analyse the breakthrough innovations in consumer and entertainment
industries?
Ans:
i.In 2001: Apple introduced its first iPod, launching a new era for the company as
it entered the consumer electronics industry
ii. Capitalising on the emerging trend of MP3 music, Apple introduced a
breakthrough product that soon became synonymous with the MP3 music player
category
iii. With impeccable design and easy to use menu, the iPod could load 1000 songs
in just 10 minutes and play music for 10 hours
iv. The integration with the iTunes 2.0 software also made synchronizing music
libraries a matter of few seconds
v. A year later, in 2002 Apple released more capacious iPods that could also work
with Windows, a move that helped to skyrocket iPod sales
vi.By end of 2003 more than one million iPods were sold marking the first
substantial stream of revenues apart from Macintosh
vii. Since then the iPod product range has been renewed every 3 to 5 months and
the company announced in 2007 that it sold the 100millionth iPod. These
numbers made the iPod the fastest selling music payer in history
viii.In 2003: Apple launched iTunes Music store, a revolutionary service through
which consumers could access and purchase online music for only $0,99 per song
xi. The iTunes Music Store was compatible with all iPods (running both in Macs as
well as Windows based computers) and served as Apple’s Trojan horse to what
jobs has envisioned as his digital bub where digital content and Apple devices
would be seamlessly interconnected
x. The download songs had royalty protection and could only be played by iPods,
bringing the interoperability between Apple’s hardware, software and content to
a new level and creating higher barriers to entry in this ecosystem.
4.Analyses Apples’ corporate culture and human capital
Ans:
*Apple’s culture is all about intense work and perfectionism but in a casual
environment
* Jobs stimulated thinking out of box and encouraged his employees to
experiment and share with others “the coolest new thin” they have thought of
* Jobs mentioned: Processes lead to efficiency not innovation mor new ideas
*Innovation and new ideas come from people meeting up in the hallways, calling
each other in the middle of the night so share a new idea or the solution to along
thought as unsolved problem
* Apple has a tradition of long working hours and relentless pursuit of perfection
* Each manufacturing and software detail is worked and reworked
*Until a product is considered perfect thus providing a seamless integration of
software and hardware
* Apple’s engineers spend so much time on each and every product that they are
able to foresee and respond to any possible difficulties a consumer might
encounter when using it. It is because when you buy our products and three
months later you get stuck on something you quickly figure our (how to get past
it). And you think “Wow someone over there at Apple actually thought of this!
* Apples employees are not paid astronomically
*They are not pampered, nor do they enjoy unique privileges beyond what most
large companies offer
* They are talented people with passion for excellence proud to be part of the
Apple community
* Moreover they want to be part of a company that believes that the best way to
predict the future is to invent it
* This pride stems from corporate culture that fosters innovation anda sense of
Apple’s superiority against competitors
* Apple recruits talent of the highest calibre and jobs was known for approaching
people who are known tas the best in what they do and recruiting them to Apple
*Apple only hires top –notch folks. They are super smart and creative.
*Steve Jobs said: We may not be the richest guy in the graveyard at the end of the
day, but we are the best at what we do. And Apple is doing the best work in its
history

5. Analyses key success factors of Apple in consumer and entertainment

electronics?
Ans:
* Relative price performance
* Product quality
* Reliability
* Design innovation
* Software availability
* Product features
* Marketing and distribution capacity
* Service and support
* Corporate reputation
* Internet connectivity and constant development
* The Apple campus address is “1 infinite loop, Cupertino, USA”. The address is a
Apple “ Kizen” mantra for
- constant product development
- smaller, simpler, less expensive devices an infinite loop of product progression.
6.Future trends?
Ans:
Apple, a technology company you may remember from such hits as the iPhone,
iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch, has announced that it expects to remain in
business through 2020.
While the financial fate of the company appeared touch-and-go for a minute due
to retail store closures and supply chain disruptions, Apple has not actually run
out of money yet, and may still exist when the iPhone 12 launches this fall.
The company made a paltry $11.2 billion profit on $58.3 billion in revenue during
the second quarter of the fiscal year, which would normally signal that bankruptcy
is just around the corner. But these are not normal times. As you may have heard,
we are living through a global pandemic that shut down China, where many of the
factories where Apple components are made and its devices assembled, for much
of the second quarter. China is also one of Apple’s biggest markets, and its retail
stores were closed.
But despite a rough February, production was back to normal by the end of March
and Apple stores in China are open again. Even in the U.S., where stores are still
closed and Apple has taken a hit in AppleCare revenue (because no one can take
their devices in to be repaired), people are still buying Apple products and
subscribing to Apple services. (Apple CEO Tim Cook said retail employees are still
getting paid, despite the store closures.)
Apple didn’t just narrowly avoid financial collapse this quarter. The company also
doubled down on its efforts to assist with efforts to combat the spread of
coronavirus: distributing 7.5 million face masks; creating a covid-19 symptom-
checking app that was downloaded 2 million times; and partnering with Google to
develop an exposure-tracking API that will allow public health app developers to
alert users when they’ve come in contact with someone infected with covid-19.
That API is currently in beta.