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Apple incorporation
1. Introduction of Apple Computer, Inc.:
Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates
consumer electronics, personal computers, computer software, and commercial servers, and is a
digital distributor of media content. Apple's core product lines are the iPhone smart phone, iPad
tablet computer, iPod portable media players, and Macintosh computer line.
Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976,
with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino,
California.
For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal
computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and
low market share during the 1990s. Jobs, who had been ousted from the company in 1985,
returned to Apple in 1996 after his company next was bought by Apple. The following year, he
became the company's interim CEO, which later became permanent. Jobs subsequently instilled
a new corporate philosophy of recognizable products and simple design, starting with the
original iMac in 1998.
With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001 and iTunes Music Store in
2003, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics and media sales industries,
leading it to drop "Computer" from the company's name in 2007. The company is now also
known for its iOS range of smart phone, media player, and tablet computer products that began
with the iPhone, followed by the iPod Touch and then iPad. As of 2012, Apple is the largest
publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of
US$626 billion as of September 2012. Apple Inc's market cap is larger than that of Google and
Microsoft combined. Apple's worldwide annual revenue in 2010 totaled US$65 billion, growing
to US$127.8 billion in 2011 and $156 billion in 2012.
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2. Over View of Apple Incorporation:
Establishment
Type
Founders
Industry:
Traded as
Headquarter:
Proposed Headquarter
Number of locations
Area served
Key peoples
Products
Services
Revenue
Operating income
Net income
Total assets
Total equity
Employees
Website
April 1, 1976 in California (Cupertino), U.S.A
Public (Multinational Corporation)
1. Steve Jobs
2. Steve Wozniak
3. Ronald Wayne
Computer hardware
Computer software
Consumer electronics
Digital distribution
NASDAQ: AAPL
NASDAQ-100 component
S&P 500 component
Apple Campus, Middle of Silicon Valley, 1 Infinite Loop,
Cupertino, California, U.S.A
California (Cupertino) , U.S.A
406 retail stores (May 2013)
Worldwide
1. Arthur D. Levinson (chairman)
2. Tim Cook (CEO)
3. Steve Jobs (Co-founder & former CEO)
Mac
Apple TV
iPod
OS X
iPhone
iLife
iPad
iWork
iPad Mini
iOS
Apple Store
iTunes Store
Apple Store online
iBooks
Mac App Store
iCloud
iOS App Store
US$ 170.910 billion (2013)
US$ 48.999 billion (2013)
US$ 37.037 billion (2013)
US$ 207.000 billion (2013)
US$ 123.549 billion (2013)
Around 80,000 (2013)
www.apple.com
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3. Apple Incorporation:
Figure: Headquarter -Middle of Silicon Valley, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, U.S.
Figure: Proposed Headquarter - Cupertino, California, U.S.
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4. Vision Statements
Vision statement (most recent):―An Apple computer on every desk‖ – Steve Jobs
Vision statement (proposed): ―To be the global leader in the consumer electronics industry.‖
―To be the most admired company in the world and the most loveable brand people ever use‖
―Every person around the global should taste at least i apple product‖
Mission statement (actual):
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and
reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to
lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and
iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with
its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile
phone market this year with its revolutionary iPhone.
Mission statement (proposed):
At Apple, we will not only continue to provide revolutionary and innovative products to
the consumer electronics industry like the iPod and the iPhone, but we will also make every
effort to give back to society while recognizing our responsibility as a global citizen who strives
to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create. Additionally
Business Philosophy:
•
•
•
•
We believe that we’re on the face of the Earth to make great products.
We believe in the simple, not the complex.
We believe in saying NO to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few
that are truly important and meaningful to us.
We don’t settle for anything less than excellence.
Some advertisement and slogan of Apple Incorporation:
Apple's first slogan, "Byte into an Apple", was coined in the late 1970s
"Think Different" From 1997–2002, the slogan was used in advertising campaigns, and is
still closely associated with Apple
Apple also has slogans for specific product lines - for example, ―iThink‖ for the iMac
promotion, 1998
"Say hello to iPhone" has been used in iPhone advertisements.
“Small is huge”Mac mini, 2009
“Hello” for the Macintosh, Newton and iPod
“The ultimate all-in-one goes all out” for iMac, 2011
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6. Division of Apple Incorporation:
Apple has 4 main divisions:
1. Laptop and personal computer division
2. Music Division
3. Video and Sound division
4. Wireless network and Accessories Division
Apple Logo:
First Apple logo (April 1, 1976, Prototype)
Figure: The original logo with Isaac Newton under an apple tree
First official Apple logo
( May 17, 1976 to August 26, 1999)
Current logo
August 27, 1999 to still
Figure: The ―bitten" rainbow apple
Figure: The monochrome Apple
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7. The success story of Apple Inc.:
1. 1976–80: Founding and incorporation
Pre-foundation
Fig.: Garage of Steve Jobs' parents' home in Los Altos, California
1969–1984: Jobs and Wozniak
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had withdrawn from Reed College and UC Berkeley, respectively
by 1975. Wozniak designed a video terminal that he could use to log on to the minicomputers at
Call Computer.
Alex Kamradt commissioned the design and sold a small number of them through his firm. Aside
from their interest in up-to-date technology, the impetus for "the two Steves" seems to have had
another source. In his essay From Satori to Silicon Valley (published 1986), cultural historian
Theodore Roszak made the point that the Apple Computer emerged from within the West Coast
counterculture and the need to produce print-outs, letter labels, and databases. Roszak offers a bit
of background on the development of the two Steves’s prototype models.
In 1976, Wozniak started attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club. New
microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 and the IMSAI inspired him to build a microprocessor
into his video terminal and have a complete computer.
At the time the only microcomputer CPUs generally available were the $179 Intel 8080 ($777.00
in present-day terms ), and the $170 Motorola 6800 ($738.00 in present-day terms ). Wozniak
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8. preferred the 6800, but both were out of his price range. So he watched, and learned, and
designed computers on paper, waiting for the day he could afford a CPU.
When MOS Technology released its $20 ($82.00 in present-day terms ) 6502 chip in 1976,
Wozniak wrote a version of BASIC for it, then began to design a computer for it to run on. The
6502 was designed by the same people who designed the 6800, as many in Silicon Valley left
employers to form their own companies. Wozniak's earlier 6800 paper-computer needed only
minor changes to run on the new chip.
Wozniak completed the machine and took it to Homebrew Computer Club meetings to show it
off. At the meeting, Wozniak met his old friend Jobs, who was interested in the commercial
potential of the small hobby machines.
Apple I
The Apple I was sold as an assembled circuit board and lacked basic features such as a keyboard,
monitor, and case. The owner of this unit added a keyboard and a wooden case.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had been friends for some time, having met in 1971, when their
mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. They began
their partnership when Wozniak, a talented, self-educated electronics engineer, began
constructing boxes which enabled one to make long-distance phone calls at no cost, and sold
several hundred models. Later, Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a computer
machine and selling it.
Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, who said they would be interested in the
machine, but only if it came fully assembled. The owner, Paul Terrell, went further, saying he
would order 50 of the machines and pay US $500 ($2.05 thousand in present-day terms ) each on
delivery. Jobs then took the purchase order that he had been given from the Byte Shop to
Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor, and ordered the components he
needed to assemble the Apple I Computer. The local credit manager asked Jobs how he was
going to pay for the parts and he replied, "I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of
computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms are COD. If you give me the
parts on a net 30-day terms I can build and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my
money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you."
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9. The credit manager called Paul Terrell who was attending an IEEE computer conference at
Asilomar in Pacific Grove and verified the validity of the purchase order. Amazed at the tenacity
of Jobs, Terrell assured the credit manager if the computers showed up in his stores Jobs would
be paid and would have more than enough money to pay for the parts order. The two Steves and
their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers and delivered to Terrell
on time to pay his suppliers and have a tidy profit left over for their celebration and next order.
Steve Jobs had found a way to finance his soon-to-be multimillion-dollar company without
giving away one share of stock or ownership.
The machine had only a few notable features. One was the use of a TV as the display system,
whereas many machines had no display at all. This was not like the displays of later machines,
however; text was displayed at 60 characters per second. However, this was still faster than the
teleprinters used on contemporary machines of that era. The Apple I also included bootstrap code
on ROM, which made it easier to start up. Finally, at the insistence of Paul Terrell, Wozniak also
designed a cassette interface for loading and saving programs, at the then-rapid pace of
1200 bit/s. Although the machine was fairly simple, it was nevertheless a masterpiece of design,
using far fewer parts than anything in its class, and quickly earning Wozniak a reputation as a
master designer.
Joined by another friend, Ronald Wayne, the three started to build the machines. Using a variety
of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family, selling various prized items
(like calculators and a VW bus) and scrounging, Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while
Wozniak and Wayne assembled them. But the owner of the Byte Shop was expecting complete
computers, not just printed circuit boards. The boards still being a product for the customers
Terrell still paid them. Eventually 200 of the Apple I's were built.
Apple II
Wozniak had already moved on from the Apple I. Many of the design features of the I were due
to the limited amount of money they had to construct the prototype, but with the income from the
sales he was able to start construction of a greatly improved machine, the Apple II; it was
presented to the public at the first West Coast Computer Faire on April 16 and 17, 1977. On the
first day of exhibition, Jobs introduced Apple II to a Japanese chemist named Toshio Mizushima
who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan.
The main difference internally was a completely redesigned TV interface, which held the display
in memory. Now not only useful for simple text display, the Apple II included graphics, and,
eventually, color. Jobs meanwhile pressed for a much improved case and keyboard, with the idea
that the machine should be complete and ready to run out of the box. This was almost the case
for the Apple I machines sold to The Byte Shop, but one still needed to plug various parts
together and type in the code to run BASIC.
Building such a machine was going to be financially burdensome. Jobs started looking for cash,
but Wayne was somewhat gun-shy due to a failed venture four years earlier, and eventually
dropped out of the company. Banks were reluctant to lend Jobs money; the idea of a computer
for ordinary people seemed absurd at the time. Jobs eventually met Mike Markkula who co9
10. signed a bank loan for US$250,000, and the three formed Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. The
name Apple was chosen because the company to beat in the technology industry at the time was
Atari, and Apple Computer came before Atari alphabetically and thus also in the phone book.
Another reason was that Jobs had happy memories of working on an Oregon apple farm one
summer.
With both cash and a new case design in hand thanks to designer Jerry Manock, the Apple II was
released in 1977 and became the computer generally credited with creating the home computer
market. Millions were sold well into the 1980s. A number of different models of the Apple II
series were built, including the Apple IIe and Apple IIGS, which could still be found in many
schools as late as 2005.
Apple III
Apple III
While the Apple II was already established as a successful business-ready platform because of
Visicalc, Apple was not content. The Apple III was designed to take on the business
environment. It was released on May 19, 1980.
The Apple III was a relatively conservative design for computers of the era. However, Steve Jobs
did not want the computer to have a fan; rather, he wanted the heat generated by the electronics
to be dissipated through the chassis of the machine, forgoing the cooling fan.
Unfortunately, the physical design of the case was not sufficient to cool the components inside it.
By removing the fan from the design, the Apple III was prone to overheating. This caused the
integrated circuit chips to disconnect from the motherboard. Customers who contacted Apple
customer service were told to "raise the computers six inches in the air, and then let go", which
would cause the ICs to fall back into place.
Thousands of Apple III computers were recalled and, although a new model was introduced in
1983 to rectify the problems, the damage was already done.
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11. Apple IPO
In August 1980, the Financial Times reported that"Apple Computer, the fast growing Californian manufacturer of small computers for the
consumer, business and educational markets, is planning to go public later this year. It is the
largest private manufacturer in the U.S. of small computers. Founded about five years ago as a
small workshop business, it has become the second largest manufacturer of small computers,
after the Radio Shack division of the Tandy company."
On December 12, 1980, Apple launched the Initial Public Offering of its stock to the investing
public. When Apple went public, it generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor
Company in 1956 and instantly created more millionaires (about 300) than any company in
history. Several venture capitalists cashed out, reaping billions in long-term capital gains.
In January 1981, Apple held its first shareholders meeting as a public company in the Flint
Center, a large auditorium at nearby De Anza College, which is often used for symphony
concerts. (Previous meetings were held quietly in smaller rooms, because there had only been a
few shareholders.) The business of the meeting had been planned (or choreographed) so that the
voting could be staged in 15 minutes or less. In most cases, voting proxies are collected by mail
and counted days or months before a meeting. In this case, after the IPO, many shares were in
new hands.
Steve Jobs started his prepared speech, but after being interrupted by voting several times, he
dropped his prepared speech and delivered a long, emotionally charged talk about betrayal, lack
of respect, and related topics.
2. 1981–89: Success with Macintosh
The IBM PC
IBM entered the personal computer market in August 1981 with the IBM PC. After examining a
PC and finding it unimpressive, Apple confidently purchased a full-page advertisement in The
Wall Street Journal with the headline "Welcome, IBM. Seriously". Microsoft head Bill Gates
was at Apple headquarters the day of IBM's announcement and later said "They didn't seem to
care. It took them a full year to realize what had happened". By 1983 the PC surpassed the Apple
II as the best-selling personal computer. By 1984 IBM had $4 billion in annual PC revenue, more
than twice that of Apple and as much as the sales of it and the next three companies combined,
and a Fortune survey found that 56% of American companies with personal computers used
IBM PCs, compared to Apple's 16%.
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12. Xerox PARC and the Lisa
Apple Lisa
While Apple Computer’s business division was focused on the Apple III, a separate group was
focused on a computer that would change the world. While the Apple III was another iteration of
the text-based computer, this new machine would feature a completely different interface and
introduce the words mouse, icon, and desktop into the lexicon of the computing public.
In return for the right to buy US$1,000,000 of pre-IPO stock, Xerox granted Apple Computer
three days access to the PARC facilities. After visiting PARC, they came away with new ideas
that would complete the foundation for Apple Computer's first GUI computer, the Apple Lisa
The first iteration of Apple's WIMP interface was a floppy disk where files could be spatially
moved around. After months of usability testing, Apple designed the LISA interface of windows
and icons.
The Lisa was introduced in 1983 at a cost of US$9,995 ($23.4 thousand in present-day terms.
Because of the high price, Lisa failed to penetrate the business market.
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13. Macintosh and the "1984" commercial
Macintosh
The Macintosh 128k was announced to the press in October 1983, followed by an 18-page
brochure included with various magazines in December. Its debut, however, was announced by
a single national broadcast of the now famous US$1.5 million television commercial, "1984". It
was directed by Ridley Scott, aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22,
1984, and is now considered a "watershed event" and a "masterpiece." 1984 used an unnamed
heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white tank top with a Picassostyle picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer on it) as a means of saving humanity from
"conformity" (Big Brother). These images were an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel,
Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by a televised "Big Brother."
For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than
US$2.5 million to buy all 39 of the advertising pages in the issue. Apple also ran a ―Test Drive a
Macintosh‖ promotion, in which potential buyers with a credit card could take home a Macintosh
for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards. While 200,000 people participated, dealers
disliked the promotion, the supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many were
returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold. This marketing campaign caused
CEO John Sculley to raise the price from US$1,995 to US$2,495 ($5.61 thousand in present-day
terms.
Two days after the 1984 ad aired, the Macintosh went on sale. It came bundled with two
applications designed to show off its interface: MacWrite and MacPaint. Although the Mac
garnered an immediate, enthusiastic following, it was too radical for some, who labeled it a mere
"toy". Because the machine was entirely designed around the GUI, existing text-mode and
command-driven applications had to be redesigned and the programming code rewritten; this
was a challenging undertaking that many software developers shied away from, and resulted in
an initial lack of software for the new system. In April 1984 Microsoft's MultiPlan migrated over
from MS-DOS, followed by Microsoft Word in January 1985.[36] In 1985, Lotus Software
introduced Lotus Jazz after the success of Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC, although it was largely a
flop. Apple introduced Macintosh Office the same year with the lemming’s ad, infamous for
insulting potential customers. It was not successful.
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14. Macintosh also spawned the concept of Mac evangelism which was pioneered by Apple
employee, and later Apple Fellow, Guy Kawasaki.
Despite initial marketing difficulties, the Macintosh brand was eventually a success for Apple.
This was due to its introduction of desktop publishing (and later computer animation) through
Apple's partnership with Adobe Systems which introduced the laser printer and Adobe
PageMaker. Indeed, the Macintosh would become known as the de facto platform for many
industries including cinema, music, advertising, publishing and the arts.
1985: Jobs leaves Apple
After an internal power struggle, the board of directors sided with Sculley and Jobs was stripped
of all duties. Jobs, while taking the position of Chairman of the firm had no influence over
Apple's direction and subsequently resigned.[38] In a show of defiance at being set aside by Apple
Computer, Jobs sold all but one of his 6.5 million shares in the company for $70 million. Jobs
then acquired the visual effects house, Pixar for $5M ($10.6 million in present-day terms[11]). He
also went on to found NeXT Inc., a computer company that built machines with futuristic
designs and ran the UNIX-derived NeXTstep operating system. NeXTSTEP would eventually be
developed into Mac OS X. While not a commercial success, due in part to its high price, the
NeXT computer would introduce important concepts to the history of the personal computer
(including serving as the initial platform for Tim Berners-Lee as he was developing the World
Wide Web).
1985–1997: Sculley, Spindler, Amelio
Corporate performance
Under leadership of John Sculley, Apple issued its first corporate stock dividend on May 11,
1987. A month later on June 16, Apple stock split for the first time in a 2:1 split. Apple kept a
quarterly dividend with about 0.3% yield until November 21, 1995. Between March 1988 and
January 1989, Apple undertook five acquisitions, including software companies Network
Innovations, Styleware, Nashoba Systems, and Coral Software, as well as satellite
communications company Orion Network Systems.
Apple continued to sell both lines of its computers, the Apple II and the Macintosh. A few
months after introducing the Mac, Apple released a compact version of the Apple II called the
Apple IIc. And in 1986 Apple introduced the Apple IIgs, an Apple II positioned as something of
a hybrid product with a mouse-driven, Mac-like operating environment. Even with the release of
the first Macintosh, Apple II computers remained the main source of income for Apple for years.
Mac family
At the same time, the Mac was becoming a product family of its own. The original model
evolved into the Mac Plus in 1986 and spawned the Mac SE and the Mac II in 1987 and the Mac
Classic and Mac LC in 1990. Meanwhile, Apple attempted its first portable Macs: the failed
Macintosh Portable in 1989 and then the more popular PowerBook in 1991, a landmark product
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15. that established the modern form and ergonomic layout of the laptop. Popular products and
increasing revenues made this a good time for Apple. MacAddict magazine has called 1989 to
1991 the "first golden age" of the Macintosh.
On February 19, 1987, Apple registered the "Apple.com" domain name, making it one of the
first hundred companies to register a .com address on the nascent Internet.
3. 1990–99: Decline and restructuring
Early-mid-1990s
In the late 1980s, Apple's fiercest technological rivals were the Amiga and Atari ST platforms.
But by the 1990s, computers based on the IBM PC had become more popular than all three; they
finally had a comparable GUI thanks to Windows 3.0, and were out-competing Apple.
Apple's response to the PC threat was a profusion of new Macintosh lines including Quadra,
Centris, and Performa. Unfortunately, these new lines were marketed poorly by what was now
"arguably one of the worst-managed companies in the industry". For one, there were too many
models, differentiated by very minor graduations in their tech specs. The excess of arbitrary
model numbers confused many consumers and hurt Apple's reputation for simplicity. Apple's
retail resellers like Sears and CompUSA often failed to sell or even competently display these
Macs. Compounding matters was the fact that, although the machines were cheaper than a
comparable PC (when taken into account all the components built-in which had to be added to
the 'bare bones PC'), the poor marketing gave the impression that the machines were more
expensive. Inventory grew as Apple consistently underestimated demand for popular models and
overestimated demand for others.
In 1991, Apple partnered with long-time competitor IBM and Motorola to form the AIM
alliance. The ultimate goal was to create a revolutionary new computing platform, known as
PReP, which would use IBM and Motorola hardware and Apple software. As the first step
toward the PReP platform, Apple started the Power Macintosh line in 1994, using PowerPC
processors from Motorola and IBM. These processors used a RISC architecture, which differed
substantially from the Motorola 680X0 series that were used by all previous Macs. Parts of
Apple's operating system software were rewritten so that most software written for older Macs
could run in emulation on the PowerPC series. Apple also refused IBM's offer to purchase the
company, but later unsuccessfully sought another offer from IBM, and at one point was "hours
away" from an acquisition by Sun Microsystems.
In addition to computers, Apple has also produced consumer devices. In 1993, Apple released
the Newton, an early personal digital assistant (PDA). It defined and launched the PDA category
and was a forerunner and inspiration of devices such as Palm Pilot and Pocket PC
During 1995, a decision was made to (officially) start licensing the Mac OS and Macintosh
ROMs to 3rd party manufacturers who started producing Macintosh ―clones‖. This was done in
order to achieve deeper market penetration and extra revenue for the company. This decision
lead to Apple having over a 10% market share until 1997 when Steve Jobs was re-hired as
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16. interim CEO to replace Gil Amelio. Jobs promptly found a loophole in the licensing contracts
Apple had with the clone manufacturers and terminated the Macintosh OS licensing program
ending the Macintosh clone era. The result of this action was that Macintosh computer market
share quickly fell from 10% to around 3%.
1996: Return of Steve Jobs
In 1996, the struggling NeXT company beat out Be Inc.'s BeOS in its bid to sell its operating
system to Apple. Apple purchased Steve Jobs' company, NeXT on December 10, 1996, and its
NeXTstep operating system. This would not only bring Steve Jobs back to Apple's management,
but NeXT technology would become the foundation of the Mac OS X operating system.
On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Store, an online retail store based upon the
WebObjects application server the company had acquired in its purchase of NeXT. The new
direct sales outlet was also tied to a new build-to-order manufacturing strategy.
CEO
On July 9, 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted as CEO of Apple by the board of directors. Jobs stepped
in as the interim CEO to begin a critical restructuring of the company's product line.
Microsoft deal
At the 1997 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be entering into a
partnership with Microsoft. Included in this was a five-year commitment from Microsoft to
release Microsoft Office for Macintosh as well as a US$150 million investment in Apple. As part
of the deal Apple and Microsoft agreed to settle a long-standing dispute over whether Microsoft's
Windows operating system infringed on any of Apple's patents. It was also announced that
Internet Explorer would be shipped as the default browser on the Macintosh, with the user being
able to have a preference. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates appeared at the expo on-screen, further
explaining Microsoft's plans for the software they were developing for Mac, and stating that he
was very excited to be helping Apple return to success. After this, Steve Jobs said this to the
audience at the expo:
If we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of a
few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We
have to embrace a notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others
are going to help us that's great, because we need all the help we can get, and if we screw up and
we don't do a good job, it's not somebody else's fault, it's our fault. So I think that is a very
important perspective. If we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we better treat the company that
puts it out with a little bit of gratitude; we like their software.
So, the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I'm
concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy, this is about Apple being able to make incredibly
great contributions to the industry and to get healthy and prosper again.
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17. The day before the announcement Apple had a market cap of $2.46 billion, and had ended its
previous quarter with quarterly revenues of US$1.7 billion and cash reserves of US$1.2 billion,
making the US$150 million amount of the investment largely symbolic. Apple CFO Fred
Anderson stated that Apple would use the additional funds to invest in its core markets of
education and creative content.
4. 1999–2006: Apple's comeback & Return to profitability
iMac, iBook, and Power Mac G4
While discontinuing Apple's licensing of its operating system to third-party computer
manufacturers, one of Jobs's first moves as new acting CEO was to develop the iMac, which
bought Apple time to restructure. The original iMac integrated a CRT display and CPU into a
streamlined, translucent plastic body. The line became a sales smash, moving about one million
units each year. It also helped re-introduce Apple to the media and public, and announced the
company's new emphasis on the design and aesthetics of its products.
In 1999, Apple introduced the Power Mac G4, which utilized the Motorola-made PowerPC 7400
containing a 128-bit instruction unit known as AltiVec, its flagship processor line. Also that year,
Apple unveiled the iBook, its first consumer-oriented laptop that was also the first Macintosh to
support the use of Wireless LAN via the optional AirPort card that was based on the 802.11b
standard; it helped popularize the use of Wireless LAN technology to connect computers to
networks.
Mac OS X
In 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, an operating system based on NeXT's NeXTstep and
incorporating parts of the FreeBSD kernel. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, Mac OS
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18. X married the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of a completely overhauled
user interface. To aid users in transitioning their applications from Mac OS 9, the new operating
system allowed the use of Mac OS 9 applications through the Classic environment. Apple's
Carbon API also allowed developers to adapt their Mac OS 9 software to use Mac OS X's
features.
Retail stores
In May 2001, after much speculation, Apple announced the opening of a line of Apple retail
stores, to be located throughout the major U.S. computer buying markets. The stores were
designed for two primary purposes: to stem the tide of Apple's declining share of the computer
market, as well as a response to poor marketing of Apple products at third-party retail outlets.
IPod
In October 2001, Apple introduced its first iPod portable digital audio player. The iPod started as
a 5 gigabyte player capable of storing around 1000 songs. Since then it has evolved into an array
of products including the Mini (now discontinued), the iPod Touch, the Shuffle, the iPod Classic,
the Nano, the iPhone and the iPad. Since March 2011, the largest storage capacity for an iPod
has been 160 gigabytes.
2002–2007: iTunes, iPods, Intel transition
Moving on from colored plastics and the PowerPC G3
In early 2002, Apple unveiled a completely redesigned iMac, using the G4 processor and LCD
display. The new iMac G4 design had a white hemispherical base and a flat panel all-digital
display supported by a swiveling chrome neck. After several iterations increasing the processing
speed and screen sizes from 15" to 17" to 20" the iMac G4 was discontinued and replaced by the
iMac G5 in the summer of 2004.
In 2002, Apple also released the Xserve 1U rack mounted server. Originally featuring two G4
chips, the Xserve was unusual for Apple in two ways. It represented an earnest effort to enter the
enterprise computer market and it was also relatively cheaper than similar machines released by
its competitors. This was due, in no small part, to Apple's use of Fast ATA drives as opposed to
the SCSI hard drives used in traditional rack-mounted servers. Apple later released the Xserve
RAID, a 14 drive RAID which was, again, cheaper than competing systems.
In mid-2003, Steve Jobs launched the Power Mac G5, based on IBM's G5 processor. Its all-metal
anodized aluminum chassis finished Apple's transition away from colored plastics in their
computers. Apple claims this was the first 64-bit computer sold to the general public. The Power
Mac G5 was also used by Virginia Tech to build its prototype System X supercomputing cluster,
which at the time garnered the prestigious recognition of the third fastest supercomputer in the
world. It cost only US$5.2 million to build, far less than the previous No. 3 and other ranking
supercomputers. Apple's Xserves were soon updated to use the G5 as well. They replaced the
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19. Power Mac G5 machines as the main building block of Virginia Tech's System X, which was
ranked in November 2004 as the world's seventh fastest supercomputer.
A new iMac based on the G5 processor was unveiled August 31, 2004 and was made available in
mid-September. This model dispensed with the base altogether, placing the CPU and the rest of
the computing hardware behind the flat-panel screen, which is suspended from a streamlined
aluminum foot. This new iMac, dubbed the iMac G5, was the world's thinnest desktop computer,
measuring in at around two inches (around 5 centimeters).
2004, however, was a turning point for Apple. After creating a sizable financial base to work
with, the company began experimenting with new parts from new suppliers. As a result Apple
was able to produce new designs so quickly over a short amount of time, with the release of the
iPod Video, then the iPod Classic, and eventually the iPod touch and iPhone. Each Apple
product thus far has been under equally high demand.
On April 29, 2005, Apple released Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" to the general public.
Apple's wildly successful PowerBook and iBook products relied on Apple's previous generation
G4 architecture which were produced by Freescale Semiconductor, a spin off from Motorola.
Engineers at IBM had minimal success in making their PowerPC G5 processor consume less
power and run cooler but not enough to run in iBook or PowerBook formats. As of the week of
October 24, 2005 Apple released the Power Mac G5 Dual that features a Dual-Core processor.
This processor contains two cores in one rather than have two separate processors. Apple has
also developed the Power Mac G5 Quad that uses two of the Dual-Core processors for enhanced
workstation power and performance. The new Power Mac G5 Dual cores run individually at
2.0 GHz or 2.3 GHz. The Power Mac G5 Quad cores run individually at 2.5 GHz and all
variations have a graphics processor that has 256-bit memory bandwidth.
Retail store expansion
Initially, the Apple Stores were only opened in the United States, but in late 2003, Apple opened
its first Apple Store abroad, in Tokyo's Ginza district. Ginza was followed by a store in Osaka,
Japan in August 2004. In 2005, Apple opened stores in Nagoya, the Shibuya district of Tokyo,
Fukuoka, and Sendai. Another store was opened in Sapporo in 2006. Apple's first European store
opened in London in November 2004, and is currently the largest store. A store in the Bullring
shopping centre in Birmingham opened in April 2005, and the Bluewater shopping centre in
Dartford, Kent opened in July 2005. Apple opened its first store in Canada in the middle of 2005
at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in North York, Toronto. Later on in 2005 Apple opened the
Meadowhall Store in Sheffield and the Trafford Centre Store in Manchester (UK). Recent
additions in the London area include the Brent Cross Apple Store (January 2006) and the Apple
Store in Westfield in Shepherd's Bush (September 2008).
Also, in an effort to court a broader market, Apple opened several "mini" stores in October 2004
in attempt to capture markets where demand does not necessarily dictate a full scale store. The
first of these stores was opened at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. These
stores follow in the footsteps of the successful Apple products: iPod mini and Mac mini. These
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20. stores are only one half the square footage of the smallest "normal" store and thus can be placed
in several smaller markets.
Apple’s International market Structure
According to a report by a Congressional panel, Apple has avoided billions in taxes through the use of
international subsidiaries. Apple has subsidiaries in Ireland where the company has negotiated a special
tax rate of 2 percent. These units contract with manufacturers to assemble Apple products, sell the
products to other subsidiaries for distribution, and return the profits up the chain of companies in the form
of dividends. But some of these subsidiaries do not have a stated tax residence and pay no taxes at all.
Intel transition
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21. In a keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs officially announced that Apple would begin
producing Intel-based Macintosh computers beginning in 2006.[61] Jobs confirmed rumors that
the company had secretly been producing versions of its current operating system Mac OS X for
both PowerPC and Intel processors over the past 5 years, and that the transition to Intel processor
systems would last until the end of 2007. Rumors of cross-platform compatibility had been
spurred by the fact that Mac OS X is based on OpenStep, an operating system that was available
for many platforms. In fact, Apple's own Darwin, the open source underpinnings of Mac OS X,
was also available for Intel's x86 architecture.
On January 10, 2006, the first Intel-based machines, the iMac and MacBook Pro, were
introduced. They were based on the Intel Core Duo platform. This introduction came with the
news that Apple would complete the transition to Intel processors on all hardware by the end of
2006, a year ahead of the originally quoted schedule.
Apple and "i" Web services
In 2000, Apple introduced its iTools service, a set of free web-based tools that included an email
account, internet greeting cards called iCards, a service called iReview that gave internet users a
place to read and write reviews of Web sites, and a tool called KidSafe which promised to
prevent children from browsing inappropriate portions of the web. The latter two services were
eventually canceled because of lack of success, while iCards and email became integrated into
Apple's .Mac subscription based service introduced in 2002 and discontinued in mid-2008 to
make way for the release of the new MobileMe service, coinciding with the iPhone 3G release.
MobileMe, which carried the same US$99.00 annual subscription price as its .Mac predecessor,
featured the addition of "push" services to instantly and automatically send emails, contacts and
calendar updates directly to users' iPhone devices. Some controversy surrounded the release of
MobileMe services to users resulting in expected downtime and a significantly longer release
window. As a result of this, Apple extended the subscriptions of existing MobileMe subscribers
by an additional 30 days free-of-charge.[67] At the WWDC event in June 2011, Apple announced
its most up to date cloud service, iCloud, replacing MobileMe. This service kept most of the core
services that MobileMe offered, however dropping iDisk, Gallery, and iWeb. Additionally, it
added a number of other features to the group, including Find my Mac, iTunes Match, Photo
Stream, Documents & Data Backup, and iCloud backup for iOS devices. The service requires
users to be running iOS 5 and OS X 10.7 Lion.
iPod and iTunes store
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22. A 2nd generation iPod
On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a portable digital music player. Its signature
features included an LED, easy to use interface, and a large capacity drive (initially 5 GB) which
was enough to hold approximately 1,000 songs. It was quite large when compared to the 20–30
songs of Flash-based players of the time. Apple has since revised its iPod line several times,
introducing a slimmer, more compact design, Windows compatibility (previous iPods only
interacted with Macintosh computers), AAC compatibility, storage sizes of up to 160 GB, and
easier connectivity with car or home stereo systems. On October 26, 2004, Apple released a
color version of their award winning iPod which can not only play music but also show photos.
In early 2005, Apple unveiled a smaller iPod: the iPod Shuffle, which is about the size of a pack
of gum. Speaking to software developers on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs said the company's share of
the entire portable music device market stood at 76%.
Apple has revolutionized the computer and music industry by signing the five major record
companies to join its new music download service, the successful iTunes Music Store, now
known as iTunes Store. Unlike other fee-based music services, the iTunes Store charges a flat
US$0.99 per song (or US$9.99 per album). Users have more flexibility than on previous on-line
music services. For example, they can burn CDs including the purchased songs (although a
particular playlist containing purchased music may only be burned seven times), share and play
the songs on up to five computers, and, of course, download songs onto an iPod.
The iTunes Music Store commercial model is one-time purchase, which contrasts with other
commercial subscription music services where users are required to pay a regular fee to be able
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23. to access musical content (but are able to access a larger volume of music during the
subscription).
The iTunes Music Store was launched in 2003 with 2 million downloads in only 16 days; all of
which were purchased only on Macintosh computers. Apple has since released a version of
iTunes for Windows, allowing Windows users the ability to access the store as well. Initially, the
music store was only available in the United States due to licensing restrictions, but there were
plans to release the store to many other countries in the future.
In January 2004 Apple released a more compact version of their iPod player, the 4 GB iPod
Mini. Although the Mini held fewer songs than the other iPod models at that time, its smaller
size and multiple colours made it popular with consumers on debut with many stores having
"sold out" their initial inventories of the devices.
In June 2004 Apple opened their iTunes Music Store in the United Kingdom, France, and
Germany. A European Union version opened October 2004 (actually, a Eurozone version; not
initially available in the Republic of Ireland due to the intransigence of the Irish Recorded Music
Association (IRMA) but eventually opened Thursday January 6, 2005.) A version for Canada
opened in December 2004. On May 10, 2005, the iTunes Music Store was expanded to
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
On December 16, 2004, Apple sold its 200 millionth song on the iTunes Music Store to Ryan
Alekman from Belchertown, Massachusetts. The download was The Complete U2, by U2. Just
under three months later Apple sold its 300 millionth song on March 2, 2005. On July 17, 2005,
the iTunes Music Store sold its 500 millionth song. At that point, songs were selling at an
accelerating annualized rate of more than 500 million.
On January 11, 2005, an even smaller version of the iPod was announced, this one based on flash
memory instead of using a miniaturized hard drive. The iPod Shuffle, like its predecessors,
proved so popular that it sold out almost immediately, causing delays of up to four weeks in
obtaining one within a single week of its debut. This is despite the fact that critics had gawked at
the lack of LCD screen in the Shuffle, a norm in almost all current flash memory based mp3
players.
The iPod is giving an enormous lift to Apple's financial results. In the quarter ending March 26,
2005, Apple earned US$290 million, or 34¢ a share, on sales of US$3.24 billion. The year before
in the same quarter, Apple earned just US$46 million, or 6¢ a share, on revenue of US$1.91
billion.
In July 2005, the iPod was given a color screen, merging the iPod and iPod Photo.
On September 7, 2005, Apple replaced the iPod Mini line with the new iPod Nano. While some
consumers were put off by the high price tag (US$199 for 2 GB), and easily scratchable surface,
the Nano had sold 1 million units in the first 17 days.
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24. A month later, on October 12, 2005 Apple introduced the new 5th generation iPod with video
playback abilities. The device is also 40% thinner than a 4th generation iPod and has a larger
screen.
On October 25, 2005, the iTunes Store went live in Australia, with songs selling for A$1.69
each, albums at (generally) A$16.99 and music videos and Pixar short films at A$3.39. Briefly,
people in New Zealand were able to buy music off the Australian store. However, that loophole
was quickly closed.
On February 23, 2006, the iTunes Music Store sold its 1 billionth song.
The iTunes Music Store changed its name to iTunes Store on September 12, 2006 when it began
offering video content (TV shows and movies) for sale. Since iTunes' inception it has sold over 2
billion songs, 1.2 billion of which were sold in 2006. Since downloadable TV and movie content
was added 50 million TV episodes and 1.3 million movies have been downloaded.
In early 2010, Apple celebrated the 10 billionth song downloaded from the iTunes Music Store.
5. 2007–present: Success with mobile devices (iPhone, iOS, and
iPad), Steve Jobs' death and Acquisitions & expansions
On January 9, 2007, Apple Computer, Inc. shortened its name to simply Apple Inc. In his
Macworld Expo keynote address, Steve Jobs explained that with their current product mix
consisting of the iPod and Apple TV as well as their Macintosh brand, Apple really wasn't just a
computer company anymore. At the same address, Jobs revealed a product that would
revolutionize an industry in which Apple had never previously competed: the Apple iPhone. The
iPhone combined Apple's first widescreen iPod with the world's first mobile device boasting
visual voicemail, and an internet communicator able to run a fully functional version of Apple's
web browser, Safari, on the then-named iPhone OS (later renamed iOS).
iOS evolution: iPhone and iPad
The first version of the iPhone became publicly available on June 29, 2007 in selected
countries/markets. It was another 12 months before the iPhone 3G became available on July 11,
2008. Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on June 8, 2009, along with plans to release it later in
June, July, and August, starting with the U.S., Canada and major European countries on June 19.
This 12-month iteration cycle has continued with the iPhone 4 model arriving in similar fashion
in 2010, a Verizon model was released in February 2011, and a Sprint model in October 2011,
shortly after Jobs' death.
On February 10, 2011, the iPhone 4 was made available on both Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
Now two iPod types are multi-touch: the iPod nano and the iPod touch, a big advance in
technology. Apple TV currently has a 2nd generation model, which is 4 times smaller than the
original Apple TV. Apple has also gone wireless, selling a wireless trackpad, keyboard, mouse,
and external hard drive. Wired accessories are, however, still available.
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25. The Apple iPad was announced on January 27, 2010 with retail availability commencing in April
and systematically growing in markets throughout 2010. The iPad fits into Apple's iOS product
line, being twice the screen size of an iPhone without the phone abilities. While there were initial
fears of product cannibalisation the FY2010 financial results released in Jan 2011 included
commentary of a reverse 'halo' effect, where iPad sales were leading to increased sales of iMacs
and MacBooks.[73] On March 2, 2011, Apple unveiled the iPad's second generation model, the
iPad 2. Like the 4th generation iPod Touch and iPhone, the iPad 2 comes with a front-facing
camera as well as a rear-facing camera, along with three new apps that utilize these new features:
Camera, FaceTime, and Photobooth (only on iPad2).
Steve Jobs' death
Steve Jobs' would eventually become CEO and served in that position until August 2011. On
August 24, 2011 Steve Jobs resigned his position as chief executive officer of Apple before his
long battle with pancreatic cancer took his life on October 5, 2011.
Resurgence compared to Microsoft
Since 2005, Apple's revenues, profits, and stock price have grown significantly. On May 26,
2010 Apple's stock market value overtook Microsoft's, and Apple's revenues surpassed those of
Microsoft in the third quarter of 2010. After giving their results for the first quarter of 2011
Microsoft's net profits of $5.2 billion were lower for the quarter than those of Apple Inc., which
earned $6 billion in net profit for the quarter. The late April announcement of profits by the Five
companies marks the first time in twenty years that Microsoft's profits have been lower than
Apple's., and according to Arstechnica "this would have been 'unimaginable' 10 years before."
The Guardian reported that one of the reasons for the change is because PC software, where
Microsoft dominates, has become less important compared to the tablet PC and smartphone
markets, where Apple has a strong presence. One reason for this was a surprise drop in PC sales
in the quarter. Another issue for Microsoft is that their online search business has lost a lot of
money, with a loss of $700 million in the first quarter of 2010. Although Microsoft's online
division losses were high, even if they had made no loss Apple's profits would have been slightly
higher.
On November 25, 2013, Apple acquired a company called PrimeSense.
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27. Stock
'AAPL' is the stock symbol under which Apple Inc. trades on the NASDAQ stock market. Apple
originally went public on December 12, 1980, with an initial public offering at US$22.00[85] per
share. The stock has split 2 for 1 three different times on June 15, 1987, June 21, 2000 and
February 28, 2005. Apple initially paid dividends from June 15, 1987 to December 15, 1995. On
March 19, 2012, Apple announced that it would again start paying a dividend of $2.65 per
quarter (beginning in the quarter that starts in July 2012) along a $10 billion share buyback
which would commence September 30, 2012, the start of its fiscal 2013 year.
Gene Munster and Michael Olson of Piper Jaffray are the main analysts who track Apple stock.
Piper Jaffray estimate future stock and revenue of Apple annually, and have been doing so for
several years.
Timeline of Apple Inc. products
See also: Timeline of Apple Inc. products, Timeline of Apple II family, and Timeline of
Macintosh models
Products on this timeline indicate introduction dates only and not necessarily
discontinued dates, as new products begin on a contiguous product line.
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28. Apple's four challenges
For years, Apple has been a popular company, both among consumers and among investors.
Consumers have been raving about Apple’s ―cool‖ touch products that marry art and technology,
fueling WOM and buzz every time the company would come up with a new product. Investors
have been chasing after Apple’s stock, creating enough momentum to propel the stock to new
highs.
In recent weeks, Apple’s buzz and momentum seems to be fading away, however, as both
consumers and investors have showed little enthusiasm for the company’s new product, the
iPhone 4S. What happened? Is the company losing its buzz and momentum?
Though it is too early to say for sure, Apple is facing four immediate challenges that may slowdown its buzz and momentum:
1. Technology challenge. Judging from the features of iPhone 4S, Apple’s radical innovation
machine seems to be running out of steam. The new phone is a marginal rather than a radical
improvement over its predecessor, both in terms of its physical attributes and technological
capabilities.
2. Leadership challenge. The company is in the middle of a leadership transition that casts a cloud
of uncertainty over its future. It will be difficult for Apple to thrive without Steve Jobs, as he was
a leader with a strong vision, a man who knew the technology, the market, and the art, and he
could combine altogether in blockbuster products; and he had the charisma to develop and spread
the message to Apple followers, creating efficient and effective WOM and buzz campaigns.
3. Competition challenge. So far, Apple’s barriers to competitors and innovation magic have been
formidable, and any company — from Nokia (NYSE:NOK) to Research in Motion
(NASDAQ:RIMM) to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ)– that has tried to challenge Apple have
been trashed. In recent months, however, Apple has faced a serious challenge to two of its
blockbuster products, the iPad and the iPhone. On the tablet market, Apple contends with an
unlikely challenger: online seller Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Last week, the company is
expected to announce the release of its new version of the Kindle reader, which some analysts
expect to be a serious challenge to Apple’s iPad. On the iPhone side, Apple faces a new challenge
from Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android phones, especially if Google manages to integrate
Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) successfully to its organization. In fact, according to a Nielsen
Survey, Android phones command a 43 percent market share, compared to 28 percent for
iPhones.
4. Economy challenge. Though Apple enjoys a strong brand among consumers that makes demand
for its products inelastic, its sales are sensitive to an impending down turn, especially in Europe.
The Bottom line: As every rapidly growing company, Apple is facing headwinds that may cool
its buzz and momentum, at least in the immediate future.
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29. The secret of Apple's success:
Apple's success – driven by the vision of Steve Jobs – has been to distil its ideas to their essence.
By contrast, too many companies are overly complicated.
Steve Jobs speaks during an Apple special event in 2010 in Cupertino, California.
Apple's package-design team had just returned from its presentation to Steve Jobs, and the faces
told the story – they had that "things didn't go exactly as we planned" look.
"The suspense is killing me," I said to the project leader. "How'd it go this morning?" "Well," he
said, "Steve hit us with the Simple Stick." Translation: Jobs had rejected their work – not
because it was bad but because, in some way, it failed to distil the idea to its essence.
Think brutal
Clarity propels an organisation. Not occasional clarity but pervasive, 24-hour, in-your-face, takeno-prisoners clarity. Most people never perceive that this is lacking in their organisation, but
90% of the time it is. Just open a few random emails, activate your "brutal-vision", and read. The
muddying messages are rampant. If people were brutally honest in their emails, the time we
spend sorting through our in-boxes would surely decrease by half.
Steve Jobs demanded straightforward communication from others as much as he dished it out
himself. He'd cut you off if you rambled. He ran his business as if there were precious little time
to waste, which well reflected the reality for Apple – as surely it does for any company serious
about competing.
This is probably the one element of Simplicity that's easiest to institute. Just be honest and never
hold back. Demand the same from those you work with. You'll make some people squirm, but
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30. everyone will know where they stand; 100% of your group's time will be focused on forward
progress – no need to decode what people are really saying.
There is a general perception that Jobs was the nasty tyrant who demanded allegiance, barked
commands, and instilled the fear of God in those around him. While Jobs certainly did exhibit
these behaviours, this portrait is incomplete. The man could also be funny, warm, and even
charming. There is a huge difference between being brutally honest and simply being brutal.
You can't let yourself be talked into going along with something when you know it can be better.
Ever. To settle for second best is a violation of the rules of simplicity, and it plants the seeds for
disappointment, extra work, and more meetings. Most disturbing, it puts you in the worst
possible business position: having to defend an idea you never believed in.
Your challenge is to become unbending when it comes to enforcing your standards. Mercilessly
so. If you submit only the work you believe in 100% and approve only the work you believe in
100%, you own something that no one can take away from you: integrity.
As often happens in life, one must often suffer the consequences of doubting before becoming a
believer. I'm not proud of it, but that's the way I learned my lesson about standards.
First came the uncomfortable pause. The offending comment would reverberate in the air, and it
would seem as if the entire world went into slow motion as Jobs's internal sensors fixed on the
origin of the sound wave.
You could almost hear the meshing of gears as his "turret" slowly turned toward the guilty party.
Everyone knew what was coming—but was powerless to stop it.
Finally, the turret would lock on to its target. In a split second Jobs would activate his firing
mechanism, and without a second thought he'd unload all his ammunition. It was uncomfortable
to watch and even more uncomfortable to experience, but at Apple it was just a fact of life.
Think small
How many overpopulated meetings do you sit through in a year? How many of those meetings
get sidetracked or lose focus in a way that would never occur if the group were half the size? The
small group rule requires enforcement, but it's worth the cost.
Out in the real world, when I talk about small groups of smart people, I rarely get any pushback.
That's because common sense tells us it's the right way to go. Most people know from experience
that the fastest way to lose focus, squander valuable time, and water down great ideas is to
entrust them to a larger group. Just as we know that there is equal danger in putting ideas at the
mercy of a large group of approvers.
One reason why large, unwieldy groups tend to be created in many companies is that the culture
of a company is bigger than any one person. It's hard to change "the way we do things here".
This is where the zealots of simplicity need to step in and overcome the inertia.
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31. One must be judicious and realistic about applying the small-group principle. Simply making
groups smaller will obviously not solve all problems, and "small" is a relative term. Only you
know your business and the nature of your projects, so only you can draw the line between too
few people and too many. You need to be the enforcer and be prepared to hit the process with the
Simple Stick when the group is threatened with unnecessary expansion.
In one iconic technology company with which I worked I found a framed sign in every
conference room designed to nudge the employees toward greater productivity. The headline on
the sign was how to have a successful meeting. The content read like it came right out of a
corporate manual, which it likely did. It featured a bullet-pointed list of things like: "State the
agenda at the start of your meeting," "Encourage participation by all attendees," and "Conclude
your meeting with agreement on next steps".
What these signs really said, though, was: "Welcome to a very big company! Just follow these
signs and you'll fit in well." It's not hard to imagine Jobs, who actively fought big-company
behaviour, gleefully ripping these signs off the wall and replacing them with Ansel Adams prints
that might provide a moment of reflection or inspiration.
If you ever work at Apple there will be no signs on the wall telling you how to run a meeting.
Likewise, there will be no signs telling you how to tie your shoes or fill a glass of water. The
assumption is that you are well equipped with brains and common sense and that you're a fully
functioning adult. If you're not already a disciple of simplicity, you'll become one soon. Either
that, or you'll decide you'd rather not be part of such a thing, which is okay too. Simplicity
prefers not having to train a bucking bronco.
If big companies really feel compelled to put something on their walls, a better sign might read:
How to Have a Great Meeting
1. Throw out the least necessary person at the table.
2. Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes.
3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here.
Think clarity
This is an area where just about every business needs more work. Words are powerful, but more
words are not more powerful – they're often just confusing. Understand that in your company's
internal business and in communications with your customers, dissertations tend to drive people
away.
Though many writers never seem to grasp the point, using intelligent words does not necessarily
make you appear smarter. The best way to make yourself or your company look smart is to
express an idea simply and with perfect clarity. No matter who your audience is, it's more
effective to communicate as people do naturally. In simple sentences. Using simple words.
Simplicity is its own form of cleverness – saying a great deal by saying little.
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32. Think human
Unless you're in the business of sterilising things, business is no place to be sterile. Have the
boldness to look beyond numbers and spreadsheets and allow your heart to have a say in the
matter. Bear in mind that the intangibles are every bit as real as the metrics – are often even more
important. The simplest and most effective way to connect with human beings is to speak with a
human voice. It may be necessary in your business to market to specific target groups, but bear
in mind that every target is a human being, and human beings respond to simplicity. Best advice:
Just be true to your species.
Doing business the Steve Jobs way
It's natural for people to be resistant to change, large or small, so trying to change attitudes
within an organisation can be difficult. But when you spread the word about the value of
simplicity you are not spreading some oddball theory, you're echoing one of the most successful
people in business history, Steve Jobs (right). If you refer to the benefits Apple has enjoyed by
embracing simplicity, and make the appropriate parallels to your own business, you'll build a
compelling case.
You can spread the religion of simplicity project by project, by interacting with people and
groups one at a time. Getting people to buy into a concept to the point where they start
contributing their own ideas can literally create a movement within an organisation.
Simplicity is a way of looking at every part of your job, the jobs of those around you, and the
way your company operates. Once you start seeing the world through the lens of simplicity you'll
be astounded at how many opportunities exist to improve the way your business works.
Keep things simple
I was in Paris in the past two weeks and had talks with various French telecommunications
officials about many mobile-computing issues. But one conversation I had in particular
emphasizes this keep-it-simple point. We were discussing how to compete with Apple — a
major pastime for all Apple competitors and carriers these days — when the question of why
Apple is really successful came up. And one exec nailed it when he said he felt that the real
reason Apple is successful is because it has one product; in this case the iPhone. It minimizes the
decision-making process for the consumer by making things simple. The person speaking was
with a carrier in France, and he said that in their stores, they have to have as many as 25 different
models of phones available. That makes it hard for his staff to be really knowledgeable about all
of them all of the time, and their customers just have too many options to choose from.
But Apple only has one iPhone model, and anyone who has gone into an Apple store understands
that every staff member there knows a great deal about each of the four major products carried in
its stores. Apple doesn’t have five iPhone models to choose from; it has only one. While this
may seem limiting given the amount of smart phones available to users, the truth is the reverse.
Our company has done consumer research for over 30 years, and consumers constantly tell us
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33. that while choice is nice, in reality they want the process of choosing a tech product to be simple
and not complicated by a plethora of choices.
Yes, there are tech-savvy people who like more choices and sometimes even like complexity, but
from years of experience as a market researcher, I can tell you that in the end, the majority of
users are not tech-savvy, and keeping things simple for them is a plus. Apple understands this in
spades and is never tempted to add multiple versions of an iPhone, iPad or even more than one or
two types of iPods. This makes buying an Apple product simple.
Conclusion:
Of course, the last ten years tell a completely different story. Starting with the iPod, Apple has
introduced a string of very successful products. Over the past five years, Apple’s market
capitalization has increased $422 billion compared with an increase of Google of $13 billion.
As Thomas Hazlett points out in this Wall Street Journal post, the iPhone is the single most
popular smart phone commanding 73% of the mobile phone industry’s profits. He also points out
that the iPad has a 68% share of the tablet market. Taken together, this success record has given
Apple the world’s largest market capitalization. A recent article in Forbes even predicts that
Apple may be the world’s first trillion-dollar company. What has created Apple’s record of
success if it isn’t the reasons typically given by the pundits? There are many factors, and of
course, I believe the most important is they have been doing better marketing than their rivals. I
know, ―better marketing‖ is too general, so I will break it down according to what I call the
seven building blocks of marketing. Beginning with the success of the iPod, Apple changed its
name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. to reflect its shift to products that go beyond
computers. With its string of successes and escalating stock price, its corporate image continues
to rise. During his wandering, Steve Jobs learned how to create effective branding platforms.
Gone are the numbers and letters that caused confusion from the Apple II and III days. Instead
there are the i-Platform products that are neatly designed in an attractive package to hook up with
the Internet. They all begin with ―i‖ and end with a single syllable word (with the exception of
iTV) – iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac, iBook, iTunes, iBooks, and iCloud. For higher-end computers,
Apple uses platform names such as the MacPro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacbookPro. For
OSX operating systems, Apple has been using the names of ferocious cats. Apple has become
very proficient at coordinating and integrated these marketing strategies for optimum
effectiveness. Unlike the old days when rivals positioned Apple advantages as negatives, Apple
has learned to communicate its unique advantages as benefits to customers. Platform control for
a better user experience
Better Design for ease of use and superior aesthetics .Vertical integration of production processes
to insure quality and meet demand. Fastidious attention to detail to exceed customer
expectations. Ability to mass-produce a superior quality product.
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34. References:
1. The Movie Jobs-2013
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples/AppleInc.-Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia
3. http://betanews.com/ Apples/Apple's modern success story began with four investments
made 10 years ago
4. http://slideshare.net/Apples/Apple's International Business Management Concept
5. http://news.cnet.com/ /Apples/Apple's success formula Wash, rinse, repeat, reinvent _
Apple - CNET News
6. http://www.entrepreneur.com/ Apples/Steve Jobs
An Extraordinary Career _
Entrepreneur.com
7. http://appleinnovation.blogspot.com/
8. http://blog.ogoing.com/post/2013/10/26/Free-Download-Apples-Innovation-StrategyLearn-How-Apple-Innovates.aspx
9. http://www.newyorker.com/ Apples/Steve Jobs’s Perfectionism and Apple’s Success
10. http://www.global-strategy.net/ Apples/Strategic Management Case plus Case Answer Apple's Profitable but Risky Strategy _ Global Strategy
11. http://mtvanhelder.tumblr.com/ Apples/Strategic Management
12. http://www.academia.edu/ Apples/The Analysis of Apple Inc. Marketing Mix. _ Kamal
Lamido
13. http://www.theatlantic.com/ The Secret to Apple's Marketing Genius (Hint It's Not
Marketing) - Nigel Hollis
14. http://switchtoamac.com/
15. http://www.ibtimes.com
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