Custom «Apple Inc. and Competitors» Essay Paper Sample

Apple Inc. began as a genius invention of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, a bunch of college drop outs in 1976. Like many other starter companies of those times, the founders began operations in a family garage in California. Their first breakthrough was a 4 computer circuit board they dubbed as Apple 1 with over 200 units a few months later. Markkula Jr. came in handy after these breakthroughs due to his experience in the business world. Apple Inc. has continued to invent new computer applications and participated greatly in t-he process of miniaturization. In April 2010, the company launched the much awaited iPad that had caused a lot of frenzy in the market. It is good to admit that though any products by Apple inc. are anticipated with much hype long before they are launched, their enthusiasm may be overstated but Apple Inc's history has shown that every market they adorn with their products is bound to take off and prosper.

The competition among Apple Inc., HTC and Blackberry is pushed further higher by the fact that smaller companies are coming up. These companies are mainly in China, India and Japan. These companies are opting to acquire licenses from major companies to come up with clones of the companies' new developments. Compared to the sales made by Apple over the past years, the companies are really ahead. The competition shifted to another field the moment that Jobs, Apple Ceo, opted to enter in to the mobile industry. This was after the company developed the Iphone which became much common by then.

By 1990, Apple introduced other features in mobile phones aside from the communication feature which was the only available feature. By then the dominating companies were Nokia, Samsung and Motorola. They made about 60% of the world's phone market with Nokia being the highest seller. In distribution and marketing, Apple faced competition from powerful cellular carriers like Vodafone which controlled the networks. They also controlled phones that relied on the networks. The networks were also locked and only phones manufactured by the network owners had the access.    

To have an advantage over competitors like Blackberry, Apple has attained high standard of both technological and managerial levels. It also ensured that it held a strong position in the computer market over the years. This has been made possible by maintaining good relationship with customers and constant adding of value to its products. To ensure its services are in excellent conditions the company has put much effort in ensuring it roles with technology. The company has also ensured that its method of product distribution is the best. Efficiency and good delivery have been noted over the years.

Ebusiness Model

The Apple Inc. uses the component model for its ebusines. The component model used by this companies differs from that used by Blackberry in that Apple Inc. hardware do not allow for installation of any Operating System (OS). Though Apple Inc. and Dell use identical hardware and components, Apple Inc. has continually made its channel unusable for Operating Systems manufactured by other companies. The use of the component model differs significantly from 'end to end model' that is used by companies many companies. The company ships products bought by clients online in not more than six months. It is worth noting that Apple Inc. does produce gadgets with collaboration with other companies. This makes their ebusines model closed to itself. It however does supply outsourced hardware but ensures that they locked to run only on Apple Inc. manufactured branded applications.   

On the other hand, Apple Inc. competitors like Blackberry and HCT use the both the base and the brokers ebusiness models. This is done by creating virtual markets that converge sellers and customers together in well facilitated online transactions. This has been possible due to product flexibility and marketing collaborative nature of Blackberry. Most of the hardware is produced through collaborative efforts between third parties. The models allow for the popular B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-customer) or even C2C (consumer-to-consumer) markets thus affording Blackberry and HTC a sharper competitive edge.

A business organization seeking to improve overall performance in ebusiness model must start with a snapshot of the current negative state of affairs of its products. A long other factors that may contribute to such a negative state of affairs products, is the absence of a product management team will emerge as the key factor from which the rest are precipitated. With this as a benchmark, future gains in any organization can be measured and trends can be plotted to show results of product initiatives.

It is important to view the total PC industry in terms of products and applications as a system consisting of drivers, results, and measures for correction and improvement. While many PC industries may have had their own share of problems that come with failed projects, Apple Inc. is in the league of industries whose losses due to this deficiency can only be understated. However for it, all is not lost since a punctual and well-intended product management framework will go a long way in ensuring that PC related failures and problems are put under, once and for all.