Problem Statement: You have been hired by the ghost of Steve Jobs as the senior technical officer. Your first assignment is to: 1. Determine Apple’s business/technology strengths & weaknesses. [2 points]
Strengths
* They have differentiated themselves from their competition by offering unique products. In addition they were one of the first companies that spend a lot of time on the physical design of their products. * They are a billion dollar business that has managed to make a famous name for them, and most of their products are globally recognized. * Loyal customers, meaning that they will most likely continue to buy apple products in the future. * They have been and are still a very fast growing company with a very good and accepted price to earnings ratio.
Weaknesses * They have compatibility issues with regard to iso standards such as HDMI and Display port. In addition the connector port they are using now presents a problem for Apple, because this port are too big and needs to be changed in order to make smaller and more efficient smart phones. This present yet again a compatibility issue with existing apple docking devises. * In the last few years apple have been locking down their products by for example integrating the battery so you can’t change it. * They have stopped developing their growing pro video editing software. * They have lost their genius leader Steve Jobs, * Operates in one of the most competitive sector, which means that they have to stay innovation to keep an competitive advantage. * They are competing in both software and hardware sector against many Big companies that can make the life hard for apple.
2. What are Apple’s products and the corresponding Core and Enabling technologies comprising Apple’s technology platform(s)? Identify at least 5 technologies? [4 points ] You must use one of the formal processes we learned to identify Core competencies.
Apple has a wide range of products covering many customer needs. Listed are the ones I think are of most relevance to this assignment. * Mac * I pad * I phone * I pod * I tunes * OS X * I OS * Safari
By first dividing these products into families and then breaking those down we can determine their corresponding core products:
* System on a chip (SoC) * Processors * Touch displays * Software
These core products can be further broken down to show the corresponding core technology:
3. Classify each technology according to its potential for proprietary competitive advantage .You can rate these as low, med. high.
* Multi touch technologies: Med * Automatic rotation (gyro): Med * Virtual keyboard: Med * Ambient light sensor: Med * Software: High * Production technology: Med * Design: High * Customized Processor’s: Med
4. What strategies (business & technical) did Apple pursue to ensure a competitive advantage in the MP3 Player business? [2 points]
Apple found the need for a new way of listening to music while on the road. So the existing products where Walkman,
