Introduction
As at the end of 2009, Apple’s generic strategy involved the introduction of innovative, high quality consumer electronics to the mass. Apple should continue to compete in the personal computer industry.
Since the release of iPod, iTunes, iPhones, and Mac PCs, Apple positioned itself as one of the most innovative technology company in the world.
Justification
In 2001, the iPod changed Apple and the digital music player industry. In 2003, the company launched iTunes, which was an innovative online music store where users could purchase and download songs.
iTunes acquired 70 percent of the online market share when consumers downloaded 100 million songs by July 2004. Both iPod and iTunes were responsible for Apple’s continued success.
In 2009 under the leadership of Cook, Apple recorded the best performance ever in the third quarter of 2009 financial year with $8.34 billion revenues as compared to $7.46 billion for the same quarter in the previous year.
This resulted from massive sales of PCs, iPods, iPhones, and downloaded iTunes. The company managed to ship 2.6 million Macintosh PCs, 10.2 million iPods, and 5.2 million iPhones. These figures represented impressive growth in sales of Apple products relative to the same quarter of the previous year.
In addition, within three days of the launch of the new iPhone 3GS, it sold over one million units. As the App Store launch marked its first anniversary, users had downloaded over 1.5 billion iPhone apps (Marino, Hattaway and Jackson 353-368).
Conclusion
Apple’s generic strategy of introducing innovative, high quality products had proved successful. Moreover, the company must continue to compete in the personal computer industry despite low-cost products from competitors because it is an innovative company, which can operate in competitive environments.
Works Cited
Marino, Lou, John Hattaway and Katy Jackson. “A pple Inc. in 2009.” Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage. 2nd ed. Ed. John E. Gamble and Arthur A. Thompson, Jr. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. 353- 368. Print.