Apple’s Competitive Advantage

Chumpol Mesangsorot 524 32400 26

Thanayuth Chatskulwong 524 32605 26

Chavit Suntiparapop 524 32336 26

Sim Kwang Wei 550 02229 26

2605320 Current Issues in Marketing (Spring 2013)

BBA Chulalongkorn

Apple’s competitive advantage

Among the earliest pioneers of personal computers, Apple computers (the name used in the past) have an early mover advantage in the personal computer market. Subsequently, Macintosh was introduced, demonstrating high level of user-friendliness, industrial design and technical elegance. Constantly innovating and differentiating its products from its competitors, Apple enjoys a reputation of being a revolutionary and versatile company in the industry.

Apple also controlled its products software licensing and peripherals where they directly produce their own computers, their own operating system, and own suite of software, ports and even mouse. This allowed seamless and non-disruptive design concepts making Apple a choice for users demanding unique and beautifully designed machines. While the strict controls of Apple software and peripherals allowed Apple to create a preferred user experience, it is also arguably a weakness that has greatly restricted the rate of penetration of Macintosh in the personal computer industry during the Apple’s OS war with Microsoft.

Apple placed great emphasis in marketing, research and development- perhaps the most important factors that allow Apple to create and sustain its loyal following. In marketing, John Sculley, the man behind the Pepsi’s challenge campaign was invited to the board and subsequently replaced Steve jobs, demonstrating Apple’s early emphasis in marketing. A higher than industry level of revenue was also channeled to research and development, allowing Apple to create its own suite of software and hardware that offers greater functionality with user friendly interface to out-pit arch rival Microsoft who has a wider availability of peripherals and software due to its free distribution. Their excellent Research & Development department allows them to bring PC’s innovation to the market and further stabilize their high value image on innovation leadership, which is one of the company’s most significant cornerstones. Coupled with Apple’s dedication in customer service, Apple consistently rank among the first among other IT companies in terms of customer satisfaction.

Analyze the personal computer industry. Why did Apple struggle historically in PCs?

In the past, computers were not as common with the penetration rate ranging from 0.05 million to 33 million users worldwide before 1990.