Apple vs. Microsoft: Business Strategy and Market Approach
This paper compares Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corporation across several dimensions, including their founding histories, core product lines, and strategic philosophies. It examines how Apple pursues revolutionary, design-driven innovation — building on underexplored technologies for mass-market appeal — while Microsoft focuses on market domination by leveraging its vast resources to acquire and scale established ideas. The paper also contrasts the two companies' customer-reach strategies, including their respective online stores, software ecosystems, and service models. The conclusion reflects on each company's public image and long-term competitive positioning in the broader technology landscape.
- Introduction: Founding histories of Apple and Microsoft
- Business Approach: Innovation versus market domination strategies
- Reaching Customers: Online stores and customer engagement models
- Conclusion: Public image and long-term competitive positioning
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses clear, parallel structure to compare the two companies, making similarities and contrasts easy to follow throughout each section.
- Concrete product examples — such as the iPod, iPhone, Windows, Xbox, and Bing — anchor abstract strategy claims in recognizable real-world evidence.
- The conclusion synthesizes the comparison with a broader observation about public perception and the nature of innovation, giving the paper a reflective closing argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates a point-by-point comparative analysis structure, addressing the same thematic categories (strategy, customer reach) for each company in turn. This method allows readers to evaluate the two subjects against a consistent set of criteria, which is a foundational technique in business and technology comparison essays.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with background paragraphs introducing both companies before moving into two thematic body sections — "Business Approach" and "Reaching Customers" — each of which covers Apple and Microsoft in sequence. A brief conclusion synthesizes the key contrasts and offers a closing value judgment about what matters most in technology competition. The Works Cited section follows MLA format.
Introduction
Apple Inc. is a California-based multinational company established by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on April 1, 1976. By the time the company shifted its focus from computers to broader information technology, its business coverage had expanded to include computers (laptops and desktop personal computers), the iPod, iPhone, servers, mobile hardware, and software (Mac OS X, iWork, and iLife suites), in addition to web-based services such as MobileMe. For around 35 years, Apple rose to its peak, deteriorated significantly, and then climbed back up to claim the status of the world's leading technology corporation. Apple's most influential figure has been Steve Jobs, its former CEO and co-founder (Griffith 119).
Microsoft Corp. is another multinational company, founded in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, that has long dominated the computer technology world. The Washington-based company develops an array of software products, online services, gaming hardware, and more. However, the core of Microsoft's business remains its operating systems (OS) and office suites, which generate the company's greatest revenues. Microsoft is also well known for developing BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) interpreters for the MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer (Griffith 123).
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