Win Through Product Innovation

Apple entered the 1990s well aware that the conditions that made the company an industry giant in the previous decade had changed dramatically. The mere fact that Apple Computers could stay afloat was attributed to the fact that when the company first began, they were able to gain a small but loyal group of Apple supporters. Apple had soared through the 1980’s on the backs of its large, expensive computers, which earned the company a committed, yet relatively small following. Change was needed and that brought co-founder Steve Jobs in for his second stint at being the Chief Executive Officer for Apple.

Jobs assumed his responsibilities with the same passion and understanding that had made Apple one of the greatest success stories in business history. Jobs has been able to resurrect the company and bring many of the strong qualities that first help make Apple successful and integrate them with his own modern business philosophies and strategies to bring Apple computers back to where they are today.

At its current state, Apple is widely known for dominating the music industry consumer market. It has been able to bolster its brand equity to make it one of the most recognizable brands in the world. They are enjoying tremendous success all on the coattails of their innovative revolutionary iPod. For the past 5 years, no other product has been able to compete with this one of a kind gem that has become a must have entity in mainstream culture. Their sale of iPods has greatly succeeded all expectations and now puts Apple at a somewhat difficult position. They must decide whether or not they want to continue to milk their current star product or revert back to the origins and refocus their energy on their computer system and software. The iPod life cycle will come to an end eventually and they will need to reinvent themselves yet again to keep them succeeding in the future. Many feel that now, more than ever Apple has such a strong following that if they deicide to shift their focus of products, they would have enough support and a strong enough reputation to endeavor back into the office computer business industry that they failed at doing in their developmental years.

After 30 years of developing since it was first found in 1976, Apple has been one of the most famous and powerful technology companies. Innovation takes a very important part of the company’s strategy. Therefore, company uses a huge amount of money for development of new products. We can see that by reviewing the history of the company, Apple has been a major player in the evolution of personal computing since its founding in 1976. The Apple II microcomputer, introduced in 1977, was a hit with home users. In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, the first commercial personal computer to employ a graphical user interface (GUI), which was influenced in part by the Xerox Alto. In 1984, the Macintosh was introduced, furthering the concept of a user-friendly graphical user interface, and also introducing the mouse for the first time to a personal computer. Apple's success with the Macintosh became a major influence in the development of graphical interfaces elsewhere, with major computer operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST, all appearing on the market within two years of the introduction of the Macintosh.

In 1991, Apple introduced the PowerBook line of portable computers, establishing the modern ergonomic form and design that has since become visible everywhere in the portable market. The 1990s also saw Apple's market share fall as competition from Microsoft Windows and the comparatively inexpensive IBM PC compatible computers that would eventually dominate the market. In the 2000s, Apple expanded their focus on software to include professional and presumed video, music, and photo production solutions, with a view to promoting their computers as a "digital hub". It also introduced the iPod, the most popular digital music player in the world as of August 2006.

The company’s best known products include the iPod portable music player, the iTunes Store, the Macintosh line of personal computers, and the Mac OS X operating system.