Understanding Apple's business strategy (2024)

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, is an American multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Apple's iPhones ushered in the smartphone era and revolutionized the way the world looks at phones.

Apple's business strategy, while simple, remains up-to-date and has played an important role in Apple's survivalthe first company ever to reach trillions of dollars in value.

CallsBusiness strategycan be easily understood by knowing the type of products and services they provide.

Let's find out.

Apple's business

Apple was founded on April 1, 1976from Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, and brought innovation to the table in the form of their rendition of what a personal computer should look like with the Apple I.

Apple continued to produce high-quality and perfectly designed products with an emphasis on design and aesthetics. For a while, Apple primarily made desktop systems and hardware accessories related to them, and soon expanded into making other consumer electronics such as laptops, PDAs, music players, and the like.

Their first major success of the new millennium was the iPod, which fully embraced Apple's entire design philosophy and paved the way for its future products. The revolutionary iPhone was launched in 2007. With resounding success, Apple once again redefined the public's perception of the smartphone.

To put it succinctly, Apple has –

• The revolution of the PC industry
• Introduction of mouse and graphical user interface for consumer products
• The music player has been updated
• Launched the smartphone revolution
• Bringing innovative technologies that set trends for the rest of the industry

Here are all the products and online services Apple currently offers:

Apple is among the leading electronics manufacturers in the world, with margins and revenues that put most major companies to shame. In August 2017, Apple became the first “tech company” to reach a trillion dollar market capitalization.

There are only five other companies that made the trillion-dollar list, which brings us to –

What is Apple's business strategy that has made them such a successful company?

Let's take a look at Apple's operational tactics that have helped them become one of the market leaders in the technology and electronics industry.

Apple's business strategy

Apple ecosystem

Apple has always designed, developed and produced its hardware and software in-house. This innate advantage helps them create a deeper level of integration between the hardware and the software – across all their devices.

Here is an example -

Suppose you buy an iPhone. You'll soon start using some of its online services, like iCloud for storage. Herein lies its brilliance: the hardware, software and features on the iPhone are so well designed and intuitive to use that you'll soon be fully up to speed with it. When you do that, it will ensure that you create a good image and also that only the rest of the Apple devices can use the services.

This means you buy their laptops and other hardware that fit well together. This also applies to their accessories: the latest series of iPhones have removed the headphone jack, which means people are buying more of Apple's AirPods wireless earphones.

This strategy has helped Apple create an environment or “ecosystem” that provides its users with a consistent and great experience.

Customer relationship

Apple has always placed great importance on providing excellent customer service and has been able to facilitate this with the AppleCare service and by deploying knowledgeable sales and service personnel to meet customer needs.

This has helped Apple stand out from the rest of the competition in terms of customer relations and support, increasing their customer baseloyalty to brands. Apple has made it a point to focus on providing the best quality of service to its consumers and this is reflected in customers being more likely to stay with Apple.

Apple builds on this with purpose-built Apple Stores, usually located in prime locations, allowing customers to experience Apple products before purchasing.

Apple Stores also help to have much better control over the customer experience and in addition to displaying Apple products and devices, Apple Stores act as service centers.

Form over function

One of Apple's key strategies in product development lies in its ability to deliver well-designed products and services – with an emphasis on minimalism, clean lines and solid tones.

But you could also say that Apple has made a point of focusing on design and aesthetics over performance wherever possible.

The latest Macbook (laptop) line-up is a good example of this. Apple has sacrificed heat-dissipating properties and added a thinner keyboard - which is riddled with problems that won't work if even the slightest bit of dust gets between the keys - all in the pursuit of a thin and sleek design.

But this strategy has still worked well and to Apple's advantage. The average consumer mainly prefers thinner and quieter laptops.

Brand differentiation

Callsbrand strategyand its marketing strategy has always seen it promote itself as a luxury brand while focusing on differentiating itself from its competitors. Apple offers the followinglabel mago- Apple competes with itself and not with others. This helps Apple achieve the desired brand image and recognition.

However, consumers tend to assume that this is because Apple has built its reputation as a manufacturer of well-built premium products.

Customer protection

Apple has always made it clear that it values ​​customer privacy and has been shown to care about itthe customer's detailsmuch better than the rest of its competitors.

During CES 2020, Apple's senior director of global privacy stated Apple's stance on privacy as:

• Minimize the amount of personal data collected from its users.
• Offers highly secure cloud storage (iCloud)
• Provides tools to help users maintain their privacy

Final thoughts

Apple's key strategies are as follows:

Apple uses product development andmarket penetrationas the main intensive strategy for growth.

Apple's product development revolves around creating clean and high-quality products that are quite timeless and appeal to a wider audiencemarket penetration strategycan be summarized as a way to differentiate themselves from the rest of the competitors, giving their products an air of distinction and recognition.

Their exceptional customer support and the seamless integration between their products are the icing on the cake and help Apple maintain its place as one of the market leaders in the technology and consumer electronics industries.

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