Apple Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apple Corporation - Essay Example But there comes a stage of stagnation in every industry; electronics industry is not an exception to it, considering how the leading electronics company, Apple Corp. and its former CEO Steve Job have been striving hard to maintain the competitive edge through cost-cutting made possible only by launching of better versions of their electronic products. Title Page Former CEO, Jobs, led Apple on the path of innovation. Although still the Company has been working with the same batch of product innovation people, but things are not happening like when Jobs was at the helm of Apple’s functions. The bungling of Apple Maps is a proof of the fact that after the death of Jobs, the product innovation team at Apple has caused losses than just not succeeding in innovating new products. Cohan has enumerated many reasons for the approaching doom for Apple, disagreeing with Blodget for presenting Apple as a buy. It is a wrong notion that stock of Apple is cheap while traded as a P/E of 9, whi ch is below the market average of 15. Actually, Apple is becoming costlier with its income reducing at the rate of 17% in the first quarter of 2013; it is heading for a reduction of 1% in overall for the whole year of 2013. Product innovation had been boosting and sustaining Apple amid competition but lately, innovation has taken the back seat, as there are no new products in the offing. Samsung has been giving tough time, inspiring customers to go for new products of Samsung rather than buying latest versions of iPhone 5S and iPad Mini. At the times of Jobs, innovation was used as a strategic tool to develop a better version of the products, helping at the same time in reducing cost. Product differentiation was the key during the management of Jobs; products were either cheaper than leading competitors or better than what the market offered, such as Apple’s MP3 players, smart phones, and tablets, resulting in investors and customers lining up for its products – that created Apple’s appeal for investors and customers soaring (Cohan â€Å"7 Reasons Apple is More Doomed Than You Think† 1-2). Apple Corp. needs to position itself strategically because of not launching any new product and remaining for too long with its super-premium pricing strategy. Apple led the market under the command of Jobs through differentiation in product offering, which is evident from the fact that customers were willing to buy iPhone4 at 44% premium, ensuring a gross profit of 71% (Cohan â€Å"7 Reasons Apple is M ore Doomed Than You Think† 2). In the present scenario, if Apple is to remain and lead in competition, it has to cut down on cost, relatively lower to the competitors’ product offerings. It is also true at the same time that former CEO, Jobs charisma was the leading force behind the brilliant performance of Apple Corp. for developing products like iPhone and iPad. Competition is presently causing reduction in profits due to competition, as gross margins have come down in the latest quarter from 47.4% to 37.5% year-on-year along with shrinking net profits for the first time in the past 10 years from $11.6