Apple's Future Harvard Case Study

1. Apple intends to differentiate the Apple Watch from competitors. The main competitors of Apple Watch are traditional watches(e.g., Swiss watch), other smartwatches(e.g., Android Wear) and other wearables(e.g., fitness bands). To differentiate, Apple emphasis it as both a piece of technology and a fashion item. It is better than other watches and wearables on technology, as it can provide more functions more than timekeeping and tracking. For example, it can allow people to interact with their phones and see notifications. Also, to beat other smartwatches, Apple Watch is more stylish and can provide more combination to choose from.

However, the price for the Apple Watch is too high that the least expensive model is priced higher than other most expensive smartwatches. Together with the fact that Apple Watch only works together with iPhones and Apple Watch is not the exclusive device to work with iPhone, and the threat of other luxury watchmakers enter the market, Apple’s market share on watch might not be as high as its share on phones.

1. Apple TV started as a storage and playback model and moved towards a streaming model. I believe this is a good attempt. Although traditional cable TV remained the dominant way people choose, streaming video is developing at a significant rate with faster Interest speed. However, today young people also shift to watch videos on Internet such as YouTube rather than watch TV. Unless Apple could provide cheaper services(but this is not compatible with Apple’s aim on high end market), or provide exclusive content, there would be little room for Apple TV.

1. I believe Apple should not enter the car business but should stay focus on providing software for future cars.

There are several reasons for not entering the car market. Firstly, the current competition is fierce and it is a mature industry, which means it can be hard for customers to shift to Apple to buy cars. Secondly, the engineering challenge is high. Although Apple was trying to lure engineers from potential competitors such as Tesla, it could be hard to conquer the tech issue. And there are some new techs emerging. Also, the car industry typical face low margins relative to its huge initial investment. Apple might need to build new factory to manufacture cars, and there are also cost associated with connecting with car parts suppliers.