Apple Computers Have Developed Into

Apple computers have developed into one the world's new corporate darlings. Sales of its I-pod phenomenon has reached unprecedented levels, showing in only the past 12 months that Apple has recaptured a market niche and is expanding outwards. The success of Apple and Steve Jobs can be accredited to several areas, in the below analysis we will discuss Apple's current market position through an internal and external analysis.

Apple Inc. is headquartered in Cupertino, California. Its location may have as much to do with its current success as anything else. Cupertino is located at the very heart of modern day internet and software innovation, the status of Silicon Valley has transcended its trendy cultural iconoclasm of the 1990s and turned into a tangible growth of technology sector players within the past five years. Top tier talent and innovation runs through Silicon Valley and as a result, Apple has benefited from the vastly improved talent pool. Apple has relied on its market position as a high level innovator and high quality producer. It has created a niche in both the music technology industry as well as the computer sector. Although Apple's market share within mainstream computer sales is still relatively low, it has held steady as fans of Apple computers continue to purchase them, showing that they have an incredibly strong brand loyalty. The real strength of Apple is in its continuing technological advantage. Within the computer sector it produces by far the best multimedia laptops and desktops on the market. Within the portable music sector, where they have an incredible 87% overall market share, they have maintained highly innovative technology to stay competitive. The advent of such products as the iPod Nano, and iPod Video has increased its reputation as the technology innovations leader and in doing so they have redefined both style and innovation. Jobs have done an increasingly good job of creating a strong supply chain in order to market and sell Apple's chief products. Apple traditionally has relied on its retail stores to sell their wares, however, the recent explosion of Apple's popularity has meant that Jobs must redefine the supply chain management strategy to better execute their present model. As a result, Apple Stores have now turned from serious retailers to a showcase of their best technology, with stores centered on more creating a feeling of style and creative culture rather than hard sales merchandise. As a result, most of Apple's purchasing has become an online phenomenon with the Apple website its main vehicle. Apple has also created strong connections with many of the world's biggest electronic retailers such as Best Buy to active recruit them to sell Apple products. The combination of their online sales, retail stores and bi-lateral retailer agreements has allowed Apple to expand its position to encompass mainstream use of their products. Overall their core competency can be defined as their ability to create high quality and high innovation technology that no one else can duplicate, while at the same time selling to a market share that has maintained and established their brand loyalty for Apple products. With their focus on moving from niche market to eventual cultural iconoclasm, Apple computers is on their way to supplanting the traditional technology powerhouses of the domestic computer industry.

Externally, Apple is under consistent pressure from competitors to stay at the top of their market. Even though Apple has been the de facto winner within innovation and overall product quality, many other manufacturers are attempting to advance their own technology. Apple is fighting in affect a three front war, because it is competing in three separate industries each with their own strong competition. Within the computer manufacturing industry they must battle the likes of IBM, Dell and HP in order to maintain their market share. Within the software industry, their Mac technology must compete with Microsoft. Finally, within the music sector they are consistently faced with challengers such as Dell and Microsoft. However, because Dell has branded themselves as a niche player and created strong brand loyalty they have at present had little problems with maintaining the same level of production and sales despite their external competition.