Entering a new decade raises all sorts of questions and reflections on the past ten years. The Noughties brought us a whole host of new technology fads that have come and gone, but when reflecting, there is one company that seems to stand out like a sore thumb. The super-company that everyone around the world has invested in, in some way or another, Apple.
The Apple Craze
Wandering through the January sales, a well known department store, I found myself, as always, drawn towards the technical department and more specifically the Apple section. They aren’t in the sale, and they are far from cheap but they are the desirable products that everyone wants. In the past ten years we have seen the rise of the iPod, the Macbook, the iMac and Apple’s computer whizz-kids don’t seem to be able to stop churning out exciting, new products.
Of course the largest technological phenomenon to come from the Apple machine in the past few years is the iPhone. The latest top of the range design, the iMac – a desktop computer and monitor all in one – is set to make the company some enormous profits. The question that seems to arise from the sheer popularity of Apple products is ‘what is their secret?’ What sets them apart and has people all over the world desiring their designs and forking out for their computers?
While most of the world has been battling the financial recession for the past couple of years, Apple have been doing better than ever. Their profits are continually rising, at the end of the last quarter their net profit was $1.67billion, a huge increase compared to the $1.14billion in the previous quarter. It’s not hard to believe they are doing so well, when they sold over 7.4million iPhones in that last quarter, representing 7% growth on the same quarter in 2008.
It’s also a hard task to try and find someone who doesn’t own at least one of the Apple products. When looking further into the question of Apple’s success I asked a sample of ten friends and out of the ten only one of them doesn’t have an iPod. When I asked her why she had a different brand of MP3 player, she said it was because she had purchased three iPods and they broke consecutively. Was this just bad luck on my friend’s part? It does become hard to decipher whether Apple dominate the market because they produce the best quality products or because the brand has become so fashionable.
I also asked my friends why they liked the Apple computers. As expected they all liked and wanted one if they didn’t already own one. The main reason they gave was because they found them accessible and simpler to use than other computers. Personally I have never used a Mac and yet for some reason I still wish I could afford one.
What really seems strange is the fact that no other company has yet managed to compete with Apple’s success. Microsoft is competitive in terms of computer servers but no company can touch Apple in terms of all-round success. Other companies have tried to match the success of the iPhone but it never seems quite as good. In terms of MP3 players there are almost no companies out there trying to match the success of the iPod, perhaps because they see it as a useless battle?
When asking the same sample of friends why they didn’t own other Apple products the main response was because they couldn’t afford them. It does appear that this is one of the only reasons people don’t buy Apple products. On the other hand one a high quality product comes at a higher price, and this makes the products all the more alluring.
All of the evidence seems to show that the secret to Apple’s success is indeed quality. As they become better at creating unique, desirable products other companies drift further away from ever matching them. Apple captures and dominates all the markets they participate in and why other companies can touch them I do not entirely know. All I can put it down to is exquisite timing. There are no other desktop computers at the moment that can match the quality of the new iMac. The design and technology are unique to the Apple machine. By the time other companies have caught on it will be too late and yet again apple have another untouchable product on the market that has the whole world yearning.
If there were an official award for most successful company of the decade, it would surely have to go to Apple. Unless another company comes up with something special I imagine it will be yet another successful decade for the company who don’t seem to stop winning.
