Apple Inc. Apple Was Founded

APPLE INC.

Apple was founded in 1976 and since then it has been the number one strongest Microsoft competitor on the market. The most acknowledged Apple products are those in the Macintosh line and the latest successful products are the iPods. What differentiates Apple from other soft and hardware producers is their unique market approach: instead of focusing on the products, Apple focuses on creating a trust-based relationship with their customers.

Demographics and psycho graphics of customer

The company with 14,800 employees and almost 14 billion dollars worth of annual sales, has been able to develop a long-term relationship with their customers and most importantly, win their confidence. Based on the surveys of J.D. Power (a market research corporation), "Apple has the highest brand and repurchase loyalty of any computer manufacturer. They have cultivated a customer base, referred to as the Cult of Mac, which is unusually devoted to the company and its brand."

In 2005, Apple sold personal computers to 150 million consumers; "80 per cent of all the computers used in the advertising, design, prepress and printing are Macs." According to market researches, most of these customers belong to an "unusually artistic, creative, well-educated and politically liberal-minded population."

Competitive analysis on direct competitors in the sector

Apple's position among IT market leaders is constantly challenged by numerous companies such as Sun, Oracle, Microsoft, RedHat, Novell, Canonical or Intel. The most threatening of this competitors is Bill Gates' Microsoft.

Gates' multinational corporation has been for more than two decades now the irrefutable IT leader. What assures the company with the leading position are its impressive strengths. Among these are the impressive number of Microsoft consumers and the user-friendly interfaces for almost all software products which make it easy for any client to utilize the Microsoft products. Aside from these, Apple's major competitor also befits of international recognition and infallible reputation.

However, Microsoft is currently faced with outside competition as customers tend to disagree with the monopolistic position of Microsoft and start looking for IT products in other companies. Aside from the monopoly installed on the IT market, Microsoft customers also complain about the decreasing quality of the products: most software products have bugs and prove little sense of innovation.

Retail and marketing mix

Apple currently sells both software as well as hardware products. Among the best sold hardware are a wide variety of Macintosh computers, components and accessories as well as three different versions of iPods (shuffle, nano and video). Apple software products encompass numerous operating systems, computer programs and Internet applications. The products are designed to ease technological usage and increase the number of IT consumers.

The prices at which Apple products are being sold to the final customer vary according to the technology incorporated in the products and the costs at which they were achieved. However, the overall retail price is a bit higher than in the case of Microsoft products, fact explained by the better quality of the items.

Given the monopoly of Microsoft on the IT market, Apple needs to implement highly attractive promotional strategies. For instance, given that Apple software runs on Linux operating system, the company freely distributes compact discs containing Linux and other similar versions such as Ubuntu. Those who desire to possess these CDs will register online and within one week they will receive the products at their residence.

Another issue regarding Apple's marketing mix regards the distribution and selling of the products. The producer sells their products within their own retail stores as well as within other IT specialized stores. In addition to retail stores, Apple also distributes their products towards the final customers throughout the Internet and specialized magazines. In the case of specialized magazines, the reader of an IT magazine can place an order with the aid of an order coupon in the magazine and have the products delivered to their houses.

Category management/supply chain management (direct selling and outsourcing)

Currently, Apple is managed by a Board of Directors consisting of seven members and nine executive directors. The 14,800 employees are mostly located in the United States. However, Apple has recently began the process of outsourcing human resource to India. The process has led to numerous controversy. Apple claims that outsourcing brings about improved quality at lower prices, while specialized economists argue that the process causes job losses in the U.S.