Reasons behind the Success of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc.’s main business model isn’t selling technology; it’s selling a lifestyle. Their massive success is mainly centered on brand loyalty and ecosystem, an area where the corporation has done an excellent job. But its products aren’t sold based Apple Inc. technology superiority to every other brand in the tech market.

The company’s devices are neither the most technologically advanced nor robust in its market. Apple sells its products more like fashion gadgets than electronic devices. When Steve Jobs the co-founder of Apple Inc. took over the company as a CEO, he had great and innovative vision for the company. He thought that computers should be more technologically friendly, and the design has to be very elegant. Just as the introduction of the Macintosh, the mouse click made it easy for average computer users to surf the web without having to remember codes, the introduction of the iPhone in 2008 changed not only the physical aspect of mobile phones but also how consumers use them. The introduction of the touch screen in mainstream technology for multipurpose use was a great idea to fulfill the consumer needs and ensuring brand loyalty. Apple came up with iPhone when the consumers were tired of seeing the usual and something daring was asked by the baby-boomers. The baby-boomers were tired of the traditional mobile phones, typing ends up hurting the users fingers, the buttons becoming smaller; therefore they wanted something new and never simple to use. The iPhone caused a great advance in technology. Just as the Macintosh made the use of computers very simple, the iPhone changed everything on not only how mobile phones are perceived, but also how we use them. The consumers could now start typing right on the screen, and it only took a swipe to the right to unlock the phone. With the iPhone came features called Apps, a friendly ecosystem that displays Music, Map, Photos, and Videos. Contrary to the traditional scrolling up/down, left/right, and click “OK” on the buttons to access something on the phone, a simple in click on the app right on the screen displays it. This was a huge innovation for Apple; it made cellphones tremendously easy to use. The Millennial generation followed their parents which expanded the Apple culture. Their ability to provide consumers something never seen before was a big risk Apple undertook, but the success of the innovation established an immense trust between the consumers and the company. Another factor that affects the buyer’s decision is the company ecosystem.

Apple Inc. has done well on growing an excellent network of loyal consumers, and integrated them all in a one big group to help maintain present clients by giving them an ecosystem of people with the same interest. It sat up an OS ecosystem, which makes it easier for every Apple user to communicate with each other, share videos and photos. Features like iMessage that allows Apple users to text each other with only the need of wifi or FaceTime which lets consumers make video calls with, iPhone, Macs and iPad. Despite its great success and promising growth, the company lead in the premium market might be in jeopardy in the future.

Apple so far has been leading its competitors because of the allure of its products design, but it seems like this triumph won’t last very long. With the revolution of technology, products are becoming more efficient and less rigid. This is a big problem because consumers would prefer to fully enjoy their money worth. If a six hundred dollars product can break easily, than consumers might rethink about the truth worth of their spending. Product longevity is what will shape the customer’s decision in make a purchase in that industry, a good example would the new iPhone 6 compared to the Samsung S5. Innovators always line up first in the morning to get the new iPhone but this time, Samsung made everybody reconsider their decision. The s5 came out with many excellent features that made many realize that iPhones aren’t necessary the best in the market; the Samsung s5 this time was not only dust proof but also water proof, it had up to 160GB storage capacity compared to the iPhone 128GB, and the battery life on Samsung far superior than the iPhone. Of course this doesn’t mean that Apple will fall because of these few inferiority, iPhone had better camera resolution and screen display than Samsung; but it definitely mean that competition is getting very tight, a technology journalist for BBC and Forbes Gordon Kelly called it the technological bloodbath. Even after questioning their decisions, many still went and bought the iPhone; again this brings us back to well established brand loyalty; the company can also use another strategy by selling only premium products in the future. Therefore it has to specify its market to: publishing, education, and science.  But this will only make the company a trend influence instead of its ambassador.The Apple Inc. workers (pirates) have came a long way and have been focused on design the most since the takeover by Jobs.

In 1984 when the iMac was first introduced, the print ads used arty photos that made it look less like a machine and more like a museum piece. When Apple Inc introduced the iMac, it had three targets in mind: the loyal consumers, consumers using other PC and first time consumer buyers. For the first-time consumer buyers, Apple changed the method of advertising. Buying computer used to be based on processor power, functions and software packages, but it became more about which color the consumers wanted; they had commercial that categorized the product as choosing between “strawberry and grape.” other print ads “yum” and “iCandy.”

Fashion and consumers connection to machines have always been the goals for Apple. In 1999 after apple introduced five more colors to its iMac,  they created a commercial featuring the five colors spinning with the song of the Rolling Stone “She’s a rainbow.”  One of the Apple products that emphasized fashion was the iPod.

Steve Jobs mentioned that the sale of iPod “should also help introduce Windows users to Apple’s clever and stylish designs, like the use of the screen as keyboard or swiping on the screen to unlock, thus encouraging more users of phone with buttons to adopt the iPhone when it came out. The design on Apple computers like the 3D presentation of the apps made PC users to switch to Macintosh computers.” after the iPod, Jobs predictions were right. To our these days, Apple products like iPhones, Macbooks became a must have. Only one out of all my friends at Rowan University isn’t an iphone user.Another design that brought Apple much success was the iPad.

The iPad was a great innovation, combining the features from the iPhone and the Mac. The size was perfect for people that are mobile, it is useful for office work and can be used as a great tourist tool for like: pictures, recordings, music and many other things. But the latest of Apple product is the complete representation of Apple as a fashion brand, the Apple watch. The new technology also takes a further step toward one of the companies goals; making technology friendly.

The product has been on the spotlight the past months, it has many innovators that can’t wait to purchase the product and the late majority is waiting on the smallest drop on the prices. One of Apple product innovator Sean Udall, also CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga, he has been looking for a smart-watch and now thinks he finally found it. These were his exact words on comparing the watch to the previous ones, “The difference is, this watch looks good! The styling looks good. There’s a ton of band choices. I’m actually really impressed with the look of the watch.” No where in his interview, he mentioned the superiority in technology. Don’t get me wrong the Sapphire glass on the Apple watch was a great move, but this doesn’t explain why in February 2014 Samsung Gear was said to have only 2millions sales while Apple Watch has already a prediction of 20millions sales by the end of 2015. This is a great innovation and Apple Inc. needs this type of innovation very often for the future of the company.

It is great to be creative with design and innovations but technologically, big names like Samsung and Microsoft are already catching up on Apple in the market and Samsung is an even bigger company than Apple. Apple inc. only beats those companies because of their understanding of the modern adopted design. But if there is anything that time teaches us is that fashion is an art that changes momentarily. It’s an art that keeps evolving from the most daring abstracts, it’s not fashion if nobody tells you the piece is not ordinary. But with this generation growing, it won’t be very hard for other companies to find those kids that think totally out of the box, Apple called them “Pirates.”

Work Cited

ValueWalk: Apple Watch Vs. Samsung Galaxy Gear. Chatham: Newstex, 2015. ProQuest. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Gideon, Tim. “The Best Apple Product Alternatives.” PCMAG. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2015.

Canada, Alonzo. “Take A Lesson from Apple: A Strategy to Keep Customers in Your Ecosystem.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 06 May 2015.