Though Apple may have made a lot of money on their iPhones, there are many problems they face. Apple's sales for the iPad has turned out to be surprisingly low, 14 million units have only been sold as opposed to 26.9 units sold for their iPhones. Research by the research firm Strategy Analytics states that 41% of the global shipments for tablets came from Google's Android operating systems (29% the previous year). Apple's iPad global exports throughout the world has dropped from 64% to 57%, so does this mean that Apple needs to step up it's game in order to increase its profits?
With all of the new competitions that Apple must face, the prices for previous models of their gadgets have been reduced whenever a new model comes out. With the reduction of the prices for these items, Apple has lost a lot of profit, their gross margin during the fourth quarter 40% down compared to previous years. In class we talked about the supply and demand of items, when the demand for the item is high but the quantity for that item is low the price increases but when the demand is low, the price is decreased. Apple shows this because the demand for the lower generations of their models are low therefore the price of these items decrease.
Don't worry Apple lovers, this competition won't harm you, in fact it is great because Apple must step up their game in order to attract money.... I mean your business. With that my opinion of Apple in the world of business is simply that they are currently one of the biggest technology based businesses and are one of the most popular.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/apples-dominance-challenged/article4662062/
Apple's reach it's highest peak. In my opinion I don't think Apple will be able to go any higher from here, I guess its time for Apple to start going downhill much like RIM. However, in RIM's case, they went down because of their lack of technology and keeping up with the latest trends. I think Apple's major downfall here will be that they are releasing newer versions of their products too soon. I mean, really?!? Just one year after the release of the iPhone 4s they release the iPhone 5?!? Don't you think that's too soon? The price also has to go into consideration, 699$ for an iPhone 5? That's way too much to pay for a phone in my opinion. I think if Apple started releasing their products every two years instead of one and made the prices more consumer friendly then they might be able to keep their customers, making them more anticipated and excited for the newer model.
ReplyDeleteGreat points Adiel. I like how you mentioned "in fact it is great because Apple must step up their game in order to attract money." Tasha also alluded to this - the long-term success of Apple will all depend on their R&D and their ability to continue to innovate in order to peak consumers' interest (something RIM did not do a good job of). Tasha - you made an interesting observation with respect to Apple releasing new generation upon new generation - you are def right (the difference in quality and more importantly the COST is probably a bit ridiculous. However if people are willing to pay... As for the quick release of new gens, this is obviously a clear strategy on Apple's end to strike while the iron is hot!
ReplyDeleteApple needs to step up its game to increase its profits. I think that Apple needs to keep the prices of its products high and releases new products more quicker to increase its profits. Although some customers may not like the high prices of Apple products, at least the company will earn a lot of profit. Some customers may like paying the high prices. I think that if Apple releases new products early, provided that they are better than the previous ones, customers will like them. Therefore, more customers will buy from Apple, increasing Apple's profits.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Tasha! I think apple reached it's peak already, there is really no new product to create. They've done it all and stretched some things to the limits. You can see that from the new products they create. Every new product is more than 100 dollars more than the previous model and there is always only a slight change. Bug fixes, one new feature, slightly different programs. Nothing worth the price. Not only that, Apple comes out with a new model so often that people jsut can't keep up. Only a few months after the 4s came out the Iphone 5 came out. What is that? Obviously no one will buy the Iphone 5 if they just bought the 4s. I think Apple is completely done at this point, people are already switching to Samsung.
ReplyDeleteI think apple has to do something different and innovative. they should make something totally original or make current apple products better with more features so that they can gain more profit and face the competition well.In my opinion apple is just selling the same things every year and so they got to do something different so it will bring in more revenue. Also apple is pretty expensive and they should do something about that because that might be one of the factors that they are not selling as much .
ReplyDeleteI personally think that Apple needs to come up with something new in order to for sales to rise back up. This is no surprise to me, especially with all the problems is has and how the reviews weren't up to par with what Apple expected.
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