APPLE COMPUTER CASE ANALYSIS
After the return of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer many changes happened which finally brought the company back to profitability. However Apple holds a market share of only 3.48 percent among its six strongest competitors.
The fact is that today the PC market is a mature market and only the strong survive. In Exhibit 1 is shown how the PC market has been shared among the most valuable players and how Apple's share has decreased by more than half during five years time.
Under the current situation the only way for a company to increase its market share is to take customers away from the competition.
So the question is what Apple has to do in order to gain more market share.
First of all let's point out which are the key advantages of Apple's products over the competition. Why should a customer prefer an Apple?
It is better to distinguish Apple's strong points in hardware and software sectors as the competition the company faces is in both fields.
Hardware
· Style, aesthetic factors, unique elegant look. Apple manufactures PC cases, monitors, keyboards and other accessories artistically designed in a great colour range which can satisfy the most requiring aesthetic criteria.
· Image, Ideology, differentiation. Apple has spent much on providing its customers a sense of supremacy over other PC users. It turns to be a matter of ideology to be an Apple user, provides you an image.
Software
· Ease of use. Apple is traditionally aiming on bringing technology to the everyday user. They have invested much on providing the best user experience. That is the reason they always wanted to control both software (OS) and hardware development so they can control the user ex ...