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Visit an e-commerce website. Search the web for competitors in the industry and market. Describe the market space of the company's industry, the size of the market, its growth rate and the company's market share. Describe the customer need the company is trying to satisfy, the specific customers the company is trying to satisfy, the specific customers the company is pursuing, the technology and resources likely needed to deliver the benefits of the company's offering, the revenue model, the company's key competitors, the basis of the company's relative advantage and the company's strategy.

For purposes of this analysis, Apple Computer's website and products will be used. Specifically focusing on the Apple iPod and iTunes, this analysis focuses on this specific business model of the company. Apple's market share of the music player market, according to NPD groups' measures in January of 2007, is 72%. Their closest competitor is SanDisk with 8.9% market share, followed by the highly promoted Zune from Microsoft, with 3.2% market share. Creative Labs (2.9%) and Samsung (2%) comprise the remainder of the competitors in this market. Figure 1 shows a graphic of market shares in the music player marketplace as of January, 2007.

Figure 1: Music Player

Market Shares (Source" NPD Group)

The market growth rate according to iSuppli (2007) for the Portable Media Player (PMP) and MP3 market is projected to have a compound annual growth rate of 13% through 2011. iSuppli (2007) forecasts that 268.6 million units will be sold in 2001 worldwide. Gartner Dataquest has projected comparable growth, which is shown in Figure 2, which are results which were first posted in an Investor Presentation for a new MP3 player.

Figure 2: Comparing forecasts (Source: Investor Presentation, 2007)

Apple's revenue model with the iPod product series is to maximize the sales of music, video, and partners' content (including ABC and Disney) and podcasts through its iTunes store, which in 2006 reached the milestone of selling over 1 billion songs since its introduction. Apple's strategy is highly differentiated as has focused both on the depth of musical content, in addition to its breadth and variety, and an example of this is the continual addition of new artists and films specifically for use on the video iPods.

Apple's focus is on providing digital music to anyone, anytime they want to listen to it, expanding to include digital entertainment of all forms as well. The critical success factors for Apple are its supply chain which is tasked with providing enough flash memory to support the iPod Nano product series, in addition to getting enough video screens to support the video iPod production runs and customer demand. The company's core competitive strength is in its branding and marketing, which is exemplified in the iPhone launch on June 29, 2007. The bottom line is that Apple's competitive strength is in its ability to work in a synchronized series of strategies to launch new products and defend the sales of others in the market.