APPLE INC. SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in a business. It involves identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve an objective. Strengths: Attributes of a company that are helpful to achieve the objective. 1: Apple is a very successful company. Sales of its iPod music player had increased its profits. So iPod gives the company access to a whole new series of segments that buy into other parts of the Apple brand.
Sales of its notebooks products are also very strong and represent a huge contribution to income for Apple. 2: Brand is all-important. Apple is one of the most established and healthy IT brands in the World and has a very loyal set of enthusiastic customers that advocate the brand. Such a powerful loyalty means that Apple not only recruits new customers, it retains them. 3: Simple, easy-to-use and attractive designed, strong brand, reliable, high market share and position, competitive pricing. Weaknesses: Attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieve the objective. : It is reported that the Apple iPod Nano may have a faulty screen. The company has commented that a batch of its product has screens that break under impact, and the company is replacing all faulty items. This is in addition to problems with early iPods that had faulty batteries, whereby the company offered customers free battery cases. 2: Early in 2005 Apple announced that it was to end its long-standing relationship with IBM as a chip supplier and that it was about to switch to Intel. Some industry specialists commented that the swap could confuse Apple’s consumers. 3: Limited product range, Practically very less gaming capabilities.
Opportunities: External conditions that are helpful to achieve the objective. 1: Success of Apple iPhone is a viable stepping stone for Apple to attract new users who previously had not owned an Apple computer. 2: Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format. 3: Export to new markets, strong online presence, entering new markets, growth of the industry of operations. Threats: External conditions which could do damage to the objective. 1: Global economic situation is likely to reduce demand for higher-priced consumer items.
Since Apple offers no lower-end alternatives, consumers will switch to other manufactures in the face of falling incomes. 2: There is also a high product substitution effect in the innovative and fast moving IT consumables market. So iPod and MP3 rule today. Tomorrow’s technology might be completely different. Wireless technologies could replace the need for a physical music player. 3: Increase in taxation, competitor’s actions, new competitors entering the market. http://www. marketingteacher. com/SWOT/apple_swot. htm and http://forums. macrumors. com/showthread. php? t=420550
