Secrecy at Apple

1007 Words3 Pages

Apple Inc. is brand that anyone would recognize around the world. It designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players (Apple, 2011). The company sells its products worldwide through branded retail and online stores, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, and retailers (Reisinger, 2008).

Even with Apples proven success records, one factor that I think Apple should consider as the company develops a long-term strategy for growth is to work on lowering its retail cost so it can offer its high-end products to a broader audience. As appeared in a Forbes article in February of this year, Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research predicted that “Apple could increase its addressable handset market by 6X in unit volume and 2.5X in revenue with the launch of a smaller, less expensive iPhone model” (Hodgkins, 2011, para 1). In the same article, Sacconaghi also stated that Apple is missing 60 percent of the handset market using its current strategy because it is limited its distribution to select carriers and sells its iPhone at a high price (Hodgkins, 2011). Based on current price comparisons, Android based phones are selling for less than half of Apple's average iPhone selling price.

A second factor Apple should consider as the company develops a long-term strategy for growth is to work on a focus strategy to be able to attend to the needs of a particular market segment. “A firm pursing a focus strategy is willing to service isolated geographic areas; to satisfy the needs of customers with special financing, inventory, or servicing programs; or to tailor the product to the demands of the small- to –medium sized customer (Pearc...

... middle of paper ...

... balanced scorecard: translating strategy into action - Google Books. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SKPB_enUS343US344&biw=1440&bih=711&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Robert+S.+Kaplan%22&sa=X&ei=aoxJTp3QI-KGsALGgrXZCA&ved=0CCcQ9Ag

Pearce, J, & Robinson, R. (2011). Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Reisinger, D. (2008, August 6). Apple needs to bring Mac prices down. CNET. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10008421-17.html#ixzz1V7Crlyk5

Shiverick, B., Janelle, P. & Anichini, A. Cultivating employee commitment to achieve excellence. My InnerView. Retrieved from http://www.myinnerview.com/_media/doc/general/my_innerview_employee_commitment_final.pdf

Stone, B. & Vance, A. (2009, June 22). Apple’s obsession with secrecy grows stronger. NY Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/technology/23apple.html

Open Document