Apple-Strategy for Future

Section B

Umberto Eco, an Italian philosopher, once compared Apple’s Macintosh platform to Catholicism and Microsoft’s Windows to Protestantism. The Macintosh, he wrote, “tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step.” On the contrary, Microsoft “allows free interpretation of scripture…and takes for granted the idea that not all can achieve salvation.” Three and a half years since Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO, Apple, under Tim Cook’s leadership, may be on the verge of its own Reformation.

So, what do you do after becoming the most profitable company in the world?

Tim Cook has a got a very unique challenge at his hands. Most of the companies would give anything to post the numbers which Apple just did and would consider it to be an achievement. Apple on the other hand is expected to deliver such results. The challenge for Cook is to show that Apple has not peaked and that it can sustain this growth, rather it can build on it.

When Tim Cook took the reign at Apple into his hands, back in August, 2011, a lot of people expected him to fail. It was thought that he would not be able to carry the company forward in the way Steve Jobs did. He had huge shoes to fill in. Three and a half years on and he has taken Apple to the summit that other companies dream of reaching. Under his leadership, Apple has become the richest company in the world with a cash stash of $189 billion. Recently, Apple owned the record of making highest profit in a quarter with the figure of $18 billion.

In these years, he has tried to build Apple in his own image. He has taken some decisions, which industry experts believe Mr. Jobs might not even have considered. Mr. Cook understood the demand in the market and decided to launch a large screen phone in the form of iPhone 5. This was a move Mr. Jobs was always reluctant to take. However, the move worked in Mr. Cook and Apple’s favor, as people received the phone well. Ever since its release, Apple has been riding on a wave of success which continued with the launch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

The decision of developing an application for maps came from the philosophy of Apple keeping control over the software being used on its hardware. However, the application was a major flop. Tim Cook had to come out and apologize to the customers while also advising them to use a rival’s application viz. Google Maps. Following which he fired Scott Forstall who was heading the project to develop Apple Maps. This was a clear statement of intent from Tim Cook. With this action he sent out a message that failure at any cost would not be tolerated. He also showed openness to bring people from outside to spearhead Apple’s services. Hiring of Angela Ahrendts, former head of British apparel retailer Burberry PLC to run Apple’s retail operations is an example of such a decision.