Apple's Future

APPLE Industry environment -- Porter analysis Apple: SWOT Apple was created as a visionary organization by the late Steve Jobs and has recently begun to transition from Jobs' brainchild to, after its death, a company with staying power beyond the vision of its founder. Strengths The Apple Corporation is one of the most famous companies in the world and has an extremely loyal fan base. Apple dominates the music player and smartphone markets, both of which demand a high level of buy-in from consumers.

Although Apple still lags behind Microsoft in the PC market, consumers are using PCs less frequently vs. smartphones. Weaknesses Apple products have been criticized for their expense and for perceived technological flaws. Apple has been criticized for being built more upon branding than upon actual product quality. "Apple has long marketed its products as easy-to-use and bug-free with the 'it just works' slogan" (Goldman 2015).

When that slogan is criticized, it is particularly damaging for Apple, given that Apple has marketed itself based upon its style, features, and usability rather than price point. It is also heavily reliant upon a relatively narrow range of products, which can be problematic if the reputation of these images becomes tarnished. "Apple pins 60% of its revenues and likely a far higher percentage of profits on its iPhone. When iPhone sales slow down, as they did a year or so ago, Apple's stock weakened.

When iPhone sales surprised to the upside, as they did in the recent April earnings report, Apple's stock jumped" (Jackson 2014). Opportunities Apple encourages consumers to be repeat purchasers of its products through synching all of the available options together.

"Apple continues to give more and more benefits to its users who choose to buy Apple accessories with their core iPhone" including the use of cloud technology: "iCloud Drive allows for every photo to be shared across all your Apple devices; When you edit one photo on an Apple device, it updates across all devices" (Jackson 2014). Although Apple does have rivals, the perception remains that Samsung and its ilk are merely playing 'catchup' to Apple, which is the 'real thing' in terms of customer service and quality.

Threats App makers have complained about Apple's lack of functionality. Said one designer: "the software quality has taken such a nosedive in the last few years that I'm deeply concerned for its future…I fear that Apple's leadership doesn't realize quite how badly and deeply their software flaws have damaged their reputation" (Goldman 2015). The technology industry is highly volatile and new products and customer demand can cause dramatic shifts and changes in a short period of time.

Microsoft discovered this now that we are in what has been called the 'post PC era' and Apple could find itself left behind as well. Financial data analysis Apple remains a financially profitable.