Bittersweet Apple
Apple is the greatest eyebrow raiser in the tech industry, be it for a newly released product, an advertisement or a lawsuit; no one can elicit a reaction out of the general public quite like the Cupertino based company. People either absolutely love them or its complete detestation towards the company and its products, and there is no middle ground whatsoever. This trend is not starting to, or much less going to change either. So with the recent announcement of iOS 7 putting Apple back on the spotlight again warrants a closer look as to why people have such strong opinions about this tech giant.
The Good
Marketing: Apple has always been miles ahead of its competition when it comes to advertising its products and services – from using terms like 'magical' to describe its products, to bashing the competition through advertises, to making people buy into the hype of its product features – the late Steve Jobs and co must be applauded for their success and unforeseen heights achieved by a tech company. There is innovation in their marketing and it should be a must- know for any marketing student.
Innovating: While many may argue that Apple just steal from the competition, and that argument will hold water, there should be no doubt that Apple has innovated in the way they have implemented some features to near perfection, and set trends for the rest of the tech world to follow. The fluid touch based interface, the premium glass build quality, and the retina screen of the iPhone 4 are just some of the innovations that made it such a success and paved the way for other cell phone companies. Those that did not, like Nokia and Blackberry, suffered.
The developers: Apple has to owe its gratitude for becoming the most valuable company in the world (from 2011-2012) because it always had and has a great base of developers who have worked tirelessly at producing premium apps in quantity, always putting it ahead of the competition. Apps are at the core of the Apple 'ecosystem' that is so highly touted and it's still one of the main selling points for its devices. One of the biggest attractions for iOS app developers has been the significantly higher revenue they can attain from developing for iOS than from other competing OS's.
The Devices: Let's face it, the iPad, iPod, iPhone and iMac are all excellent products in their own right. The iPhone started the touchscreen smartphone revolution while the iPad single-handedly ate into the netbook market; to the point where they are now on the verge of being extinct. It can be said that these products are the perfect marriage between hardware and software complimented with stunning aesthetics.
The Bad
Lawsuits: No one likes an overly litigious company and that is exactly what Apple has been. Claiming something they introduced as something they invented and then suing a competing company, for instance Samsung, for creating a successful product has become the norm in the business ethics for Apple. Even though that trend has somewhat decreased and a new lawsuit from Apple has not been heard of so far in the Tim Cook era, they are already mired so deep in a black hole of lawsuits and counter lawsuits, that it's difficult to ever see that trend changing. Apple already is the richest tech company in the world and has the highest profit margins with their products and still they find it necessary to exploit the flawed patent system and demand even more money via lawsuits from the competition.
Disrespecting competition publicly: When it was found that the iPhone 4 had an antenna that was prone to signal loss as a result of gripping the phone with your left hand, the company, instead of owing up to the defective design, went on to show other phones that had a similar problem, although none of the phones Apple showed had such a significant signal drop as the iPhone's or cost nearly as much. 'Antenna-gate', as it is commonly called is just one of the public stunts it has pulled over the years to demean the competition in order to make up for its own deficiencies.
Apple elitism: Whether it is the lack of proper Bluetooth transfer to other non-Apple branded devices, or having a proprietary port for data transfer instead of a universal one, or the over dependence on a resource heavy, lagging iTunes for simple file transfer, or even having a card slot for storage expansion - Apple has been known to be stubborn with making these changes to allow users more freedom and customisation with monetary gains being strictly in mind. As a result Jail-breaking iOS devices has become mandatory for the tech savvy.
So perhaps having the ire and the adulation of the public isn't entirely what Apple was going for but going by how they have managed to maintain their strict regulatory policies, high profit margins, managed to keep their devices selling and shareholders happy – Apple are living in a space of their own, Applesphere as it could be called, and they are doing things their way. The share prices might have fallen a tad, after reaching record heights, but life is good for the guys over at Cupertino.
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