The company name which is highly distinguished by customers worldwide, the logo which is recognized at the first sight of it, a legendary story of the first computer created in the garage, the genius of Steve Jobs as the soul of Apple and the company's unconditional success – all of this is by far just the tip of an iceberg. The 40-year company history definitely has its pitfalls and breaking points, catastrophic downs and a considerable number of strenuous efforts taken to achieve the desired results, which will be revealed and analyzed in the given essay.
Apple was founded in 1976 with the creation of the first computer Apple I, created by Steve Wozniak. The next year, Apple II was released and, thanks to the color graphics, it became the instant hit right away, turning two young developers into the millionaires. While the Apple I and II were tremendous successes, two next released products, Apple III (1980) and Lisa (1983) turned to be the commercial fiasco (Linzmayer, 2004) because of the simple fact that most people would prefer more financially attractive options.
Apple entered the year 1984 with a groundbreaking and intriguing Mackintosh ad which portrayed the company as humanity’s only hope for the future and, considered one of the greatest commercial ever made. Together with Jobs’ now legendary keynote and such innovations as a disk drive, built-in monitor, and a mouse, Mackintosh managed to reclaim the Apple's success and secured the company's future (Rawlinson). In 1985, however, Steve Jobs resigned, and for the rest of the 1980s Apple “lived on” the prior plans of Steve (such as the creation of a desktop publishing in collaboration with the Adobe Company). Thus in 1990 it reached the highest profits which the company has ever had yet. (Richardson, Terrell, 2008).
The fourth quarter of 1989, however, marked the first time Apple had seen a drop in sales, and through several following years, Apple's market share suffered gradually so that by 1996, experts believed “the company to be doomed” (Rawlinson, 2016). Apple had many products (far too many, from digital cameras and TV appliances up to CD players and video consoles), but too little customers. It seemed that the company was losing its way (Rawlinson, 2016).
The year 1997changed it all as Apple bought out NeXT Software (the one designed by Steve Jobs) and assigned Steve as an interim CEO: Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, was returning to it after 12 years away, and so was the Apple's philosophy returning to its roots. Thus, according to Adam Lashinsky, “as Jobs entered the last and mind-bogglingly productive phase of his career, the many paradoxes of his personality became the management systems of the company” (Lashinsky, 2012, p.22). As a result, Apple started concentrating on a narrower selection of products and set collaboration with Microsoft in order to create their software version for a Mac.
So what is it about Apple which made it so special and so successful? The Lashinsky's book “Inside Apple” describes some unique tactics of the company. The first strategy was rethinking leadership - Steve Jobs always used to play the role of omnipresent micromanager, being in control of even the smallest details. The second one used to be an obsessive focusing on details, and the approach to products as to the works of art, together with a great value of design and packaging. One more obsession was with the user experience, and a peculiar as for the corporate company idea that the products should evoke feelings, affect customers in a certain planned way, and raise great impressions. What is more, anything Apple employees create, they want to have it themselves (Bajarin, 2012). As one of Apple's slogan stated, “We like the dog food so much we eat it ourselves. You won't get disappointed”. Another trick with selling breakthrough products was to keep it simple and explain them clearly, and that is exactly what Apple did, as well. This list is by far not extensive
On the verge of the new century the company kept introducing new products and services: the iBook (a mobile iMac) in 1999, the iPod pocket digital music player in 2001, online music store iTunes in 2003, touchscreen iPhone in 2007 (which came to begin a new era of smartphones), iPad tablet computer in 2010 (which became a huge hit as well), Apple's free online storage hub iCloud in 2011 (Beattie, 2015). Since 2011, its main focus was restructuring and introducing the new product – Apple Watch (a smartwatch incorporating health-oriented activities, such as fitness tracking, with integration with other Apple products and services).
For now, Apple stays at least two years ahead of its competitors. (6 factors) Apple Inc. “has pioneered its way through the computer industry—not once, but multiple times throughout its existence” (Richardson, 2008). Its impact on the world of technology and the lives of people can be hardly overestimated (Richardson, 2008). Apple's
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