Case Study: Apple
Business of Software: Assignment 1 - Apple
Due on Monday, 12.03.2012
Kovacs - Corsaro
Marcello Romanelli
1
Marcello Romanelli
Business of Software (Kovacs - Corsaro): Assignment 1 - Apple
Exercise 1
What is Apples core competence? If this changes over time, discuss Apples core competence in general, and then choose a specific time period and discuss its core competence in that time period. As we can see from Apple’s history we can say that is a company that knows how to adapt to market conditions and thus how to modify its core competence accordingly to the current environment. In fact, in the very beginning Apple started with ”easy-to-use” computers, therefore it’s core competence was that they were providing both hardware and software that normal people could use. After the entry of other companies in to this market, Apple decided to invest more on publishing and education services, providing both optimized software and specialized hardware that leads to a superior experience to their users. From 1997 on, Apple focused also a lot on the design of its product line. In fact its products are not only good from an hardware point of view, but they are also innovative in terms of aesthetics. In the last years, what we can notice is that those products are considered ”status-symbols” and this, in my opinion, is an effect of both company price policy (Apple products are relatively costly compared to its competitors) and marketing decisions (App Store,Keynotes, Products Releases, Advertising).
Ease of use
The core competence of Apple I think is the more important is the creation of ”easy-to-use” products because this competence is spread all over Apple’s life. In fact, if we think about Apple’s nowadays products, we can see that they are very simple to use and therefore can be used by almost everyone. A proof of this is the fact that it’s not uncommon to see either very young customers or old people holding iPads or other touch devices. Building
Due on Monday, 12.03.2012
Kovacs - Corsaro
Marcello Romanelli
1
Marcello Romanelli
Business of Software (Kovacs - Corsaro): Assignment 1 - Apple
Exercise 1
What is Apples core competence? If this changes over time, discuss Apples core competence in general, and then choose a specific time period and discuss its core competence in that time period. As we can see from Apple’s history we can say that is a company that knows how to adapt to market conditions and thus how to modify its core competence accordingly to the current environment. In fact, in the very beginning Apple started with ”easy-to-use” computers, therefore it’s core competence was that they were providing both hardware and software that normal people could use. After the entry of other companies in to this market, Apple decided to invest more on publishing and education services, providing both optimized software and specialized hardware that leads to a superior experience to their users. From 1997 on, Apple focused also a lot on the design of its product line. In fact its products are not only good from an hardware point of view, but they are also innovative in terms of aesthetics. In the last years, what we can notice is that those products are considered ”status-symbols” and this, in my opinion, is an effect of both company price policy (Apple products are relatively costly compared to its competitors) and marketing decisions (App Store,Keynotes, Products Releases, Advertising).
Ease of use
The core competence of Apple I think is the more important is the creation of ”easy-to-use” products because this competence is spread all over Apple’s life. In fact, if we think about Apple’s nowadays products, we can see that they are very simple to use and therefore can be used by almost everyone. A proof of this is the fact that it’s not uncommon to see either very young customers or old people holding iPads or other touch devices. Building