Competitive Strategy

Apple swot analysis

S

Closed ecosystem gives total control of user experience from R&D to retail sale. Competitors have to fight for shelf-space and use whatever Microsoft OS and Intel reference designs come out, which leads to a lot of $499 junk laptops loaded with crapware, on a shelf at OfficeDepot where the main user purchase assistance is "LetmeseeifIhaveoneinthebackstillinthebox". Apple gets to set the specs in detail, and deliver to the customer through a controlled retail experience (Apple Store, Apple On-line Store) that helps them explain the value to the customer and extract a premium for that value.

W

Higher R&D costs than Dell etc. due to above. Slightly higher channel costs due to above. Can't be distracted by every dead-end niche (headless iMac) though vocal minorities will attempt to draw Apple into these traps. Will never compete at the bottom "junk" end of the market and that will limit unit sales.

O

iPhone, bootcamp, and virtualization can be re-entries into corporate sales if Apple stakes out a premium position rather than chasing the beige box market. iPhone is already phenomenally successful and can be leveraged to much higher levels with attention to corporate market and by developing multiple price points. Set top box market has a dominant player, Tivo, with many weaknesses that could be exploited by Apple TV 3.0 or 4.0.

T

Highly dependent on consumer purchases which are more likely to contract during slow economic periods compared to business purchases. Record/Television/Movie content providers are key suppliers and act as if they were sole sources, giving them considerable power to impact Apple earnings. Slim chance that open source operating