Group+4

Group 4: Carla, Silvia N y
Activity 1: Apple

Activity 2: Pictures



Activity 3: History

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak first met in 1971 when a mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced Wozniak, who was 21 years old, to Jobs, then 16 years old. After relatively unsuccessful attempts, finally his efforts resulted in what would become Apple I. Following the presentation of their computer in the computer club Homebrew Computer Club and after amazing participants, Jobs quickly saw a business opportunity. Finally, Jobs met Mike Markkula, who agreed to invest, creating, Apple Computer on April 1 1976. The features of Apple I were limited by the little money available to Jobs and Wozniak. In fact, to build the prototype, Jobs had to sell his truck and Woz his HP programmable calculator.

Activity 4: Current situation Current situation

In January 2010 a new device called Ipad was presented to the public. It was announced that Apple had sold over 250 million iPod's since 2001. In a conference, Apple introduced its new IPhone 4, which received some criticism for its problems with the design of the antenna.

In 2010, record Mac sales, IPhone and IPad leads to increased turnover and profit of the company. The sales grew 71% and profits 78% In 2010, the IPad was launched in the US and sold more than 300,000 units on that day and reaching 500,000 by the end of the first week. In May of the same year, Apple's [|market cap] exceeded that of its competitor [|Microsoft] for the first time since 1989. On January 17, 2011, an internal Apple memo from Jobs announced that he will once again take a medical leave of absence, for an indefinite period, to allow him to focus on his health. Chief operating officer [|Timothy D. Cook] will take up Jobs' day-to-day operations at Apple, although Jobs will still remain "involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

Activity 5: Análisis SWOT

Strengths.

 * Apple is a very successful company. Sales of its iPod music player had increased its second quarter profits to $320 (June 2005).
 * The favourable brand perception had also increased sales of Macintosh computers. So iPod gave the company access to a whole new series of segments which buy into other parts of the Apple brand. Sales of its notebooks products are also very strong, and represent a huge contribution to income for Apple.

Weaknesses.

 * It is reported that the Apple iPod Nano may have a faulty screen.
 * The company has commented that a batch of its product has screens that break under impact, and the company is replacing all faulty items. This is in addition to problems with early iPods that had faulty batteries, whereby the company offered customers free battery cases.
 * Early in 2005 Apple announced that it was to ending its long-standing relationship with IBM as a chip supplier, and that it was about to switch to Intel. Some industry specialists commented that the swap could confuse Apple's consumers.

Opportunities.

 * Apple has the opportunity to develop its iTunes and music player technology into a mobile phone format.
 * A version of Apple's iTunes music store has been developed for the phone so users can manage the tracks they store on it.
 * Downloads are available via a USB cable, and software on the handset pauses music if a phone call comes in.
 * New technologies and strategic alliances offer opportunities for Apple.

Threats.
- They should continue investing in IT to increase their market share. - They should lower their prices so that more target customers could access its products. - They should make alliances with most companies to better support its programs in various systems. - They should use less polluting materials in the manufacture of its products for greater public recognition.
 * The biggest threat to IT (Information Technology) companies such as Apple is the very high level of competition in the technology markets.
 * The popularity of iPod and Apple Mac are subject to demand, and will be affected if economies begin to falter and demand falls for their products.
 * There is also a high product substitution effect in the innovative and fast moving IT consumables market.
 * In 2005 Apple won a legal case that forced Bloggers to name the sources of information that pre-empted the launch of new Apple products.
 * __ Strategies: __**