A Report on Apple Inc.'s Competition in the Mobile and IT Industry

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Apple Inc.'s competitive landscape in the mobile and IT industry. It includes a SWOT analysis highlighting Apple's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, followed by an IE matrix assessing the company's internal and external factors. The report also uses the QSM (Quantitative Software Management) approach to evaluate Apple's software development and the BCG matrix to analyze its product portfolio, identifying stars, question marks, cash cows, and dogs. Furthermore, it addresses financial issues such as low current ratio and dwindling capital generation, alongside policy concerns related to IPR and ethics. The report concludes by examining Apple's product positioning strategies and recommending the development of more affordable product variants to expand its customer base. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study tools for students.

Running head: COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
Competition in the Mobile and IT Industry
Name of the Student:
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1COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
Table of Contents
SWOT of Apple Inc.:.......................................................................................................................1
IE matrix (Internal-External matrix):...............................................................................................2
QSM (Quantitative software management):....................................................................................2
BCG matrix:.....................................................................................................................................3
Financial issues:...............................................................................................................................3
Low current ratio:........................................................................................................................3
Dwindling capital generation:......................................................................................................4
Policy issues:...................................................................................................................................4
Product position:..............................................................................................................................4
Development of product at Apple:..................................................................................................4
References:......................................................................................................................................5
Appendices:.....................................................................................................................................6

2COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
SWOT of Apple Inc.:
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Revenue strength: Apple is financially
strong generating high revenue (Appendix 1).
2. Listing: Listing on top stock exchanges
like NASDAQ.
3. Product line: The company has an
immense product line of smart phones, tablets
and software.
4. Global presence: Apple is located in
several countries in Asia, Africa, North
America, South America, Europe and
Australia (Apple.com. 2019).
5. Leads the smart phone market: Apple’s
iconic smart phone iphone leads the smart
phone market globally.
1. Low liquidity: The current assets as on
September 30, 2018 is 131339(USD mn)
against 116866(USD mn) which means that
the current ratio is not adequate (Appendix 2).
2. Weak stock positions predicted: The
stock chart of the company shows that the
stock prices of Apple is predicted to fall in
mid-2019 (Appendix 3).
4. Limited presence: Apple has direct
operations in mostly developed and
developing markets.
5. Dependent on its biggest competitor
Samsung: The major parts used in Apple
products are made by Samsung (Forbes.com.
2019). Thus, Apple is dependent on Samsung.
Opportunities Threats
1. Making its own parts: Apple should make
its own parts.
2. Expansion into new markets: Apple must
enter new markets in form of wholly owned
subsidiaries.
1. Ethical issues with supply chain: The
suppliers of Apple follow unethical ways of
production methods of Apple parts
(Chicagotribune.com. 2018).

3COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
3. Introducing more affordable products:
Apple should introduce more affordable
products.
2. Threats from strong competitors: Apple
faces competition from strong rivals like
Samsung, Nokia and HTC.
IE matrix (Internal-External matrix):
Business strength(Iinternal factor evaluation total weighted score
Industry
attractiveness(External
factor evaluation total
weighted score)
Strong Average Weak
High Winner(High
brand value)
Winner(Capital
generation)
Question
mark(Supplier
issues)
Medium Winner(Global
presence)
Average(Adaptation
to different market
conditions)
Loser
(Dependence on
competitors like
Samsung for
parts of its
flagship products
like iphone.)
low
Profit
producer(Brand
s like iPhone)
Loser(Dependent
on third party firms
in a big way to offer
products in most of
the countries)
Loser(failure to
introduce low
price products to
serve a huge
base of
customers)
QSM (Quantitative software management):
Apple, being a leading software and hardware manufacturing company, follows a
stringent quantitative software management or QSM. The company keeps on updating the
software versions embedded in the products manufactured by it. The QSM of Apple is an
integral part of its product mix. The highly advanced products enable the company to establish
its products as leading products in the market. Thus, it can be inferred from the diagram that the

4COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
stringent QSM has enabled Apple to established itself as marketer of high-end technological
products (Tamir, Mueller and Kandel 2016).
BCG matrix:
Relative market share
market
growth
rate
High Low
High star(iphone,
smart watch) ? (Music)
Low Cash cow Dog(TV)
The Boston Group Matrix of Apple Inc shown above takes into account four products
marketed by the American IT giant namely, iphone, smart watch, music and TV. iPhone and
smart watches made by Apple occupy high place in the global market. Thus, these products
occupy star positions on the BCG matrix. The music software marketed by Apple faces
competition from different companies like Amazon and Google. The market growth rate is fast
but the share of Apple is low, thus earning the product question mark position on the matrix. The
TV products of the company occupy the ‘dog’ quadrant. This is because compared to mobile
phones, the app based TV industry is less dynamic and Apple holds a low market share.
Financial issues:
The following are the financial issues faced by Apple:
Low current ratio:
An analysis of the balance sheet of Apple for the period September 29, 2018 shows that
the current ratio of the company is not sufficient (Appendix 2). The current ratio is less than 2

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which means that the company has insufficient current assets to pay of its current liabilities, thus
posing a serious financial issue.
Dwindling capital generation:
Apple is heading towards a bearish trend which means the company would be able to
generate lower amount of capital (Appendix 3). This generation of lower amount of capital
would hit the financial base of the company and affect its global operations.
Policy issues:
Apple suffers from several policy issues pertaining to IPR and ethics. The company has
to bear immense amount legal expenditure to protect its IPRs.
Product position tool:
Apple Inc. uses promotion and pricing as product positioning tools to position its
products as leading products in the global market. The products of Apple like iPhone and iPad
hold high positions in the global market. This enables the company to generate high revenue as
shown in the financial statements (Appendix 1).
Development of product at Apple:
Apple should develop more affordable variants of its highly expensive products. This
would enable the company to serve the middle class consumers and generate higher revenue.

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References:
Apple.com. 2019. Apple.com. [online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/choose-country-
region/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].
Chicagotribune.com. 2018. Chicagotribune.com. [online] Available at:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/technology/ct-apple-china-workers-20180116-
story.html [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].
Forbes.com. 2019. Forbes.com. [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkang/2016/12/16/samsung-will-be-apples-top-supplier-for-
iphones-again-in-2017/#2a43e62b1fb0 [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].
Investor.apple.com. 2019. Investor.apple.com. [online] Available at:
https://investor.apple.com/investor-relations/financial-information/default.aspx [Accessed 23
Feb. 2019].
Nasdaq.com. 2019. Nasdaq.com. [online] Available at:
https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/aapl/stock-chart [Accessed 23 Feb. 2019].
Tamir, D.E., Mueller, C.J. and Kandel, A., 2016. Complex Fuzzy Logic Reasoning-Based
Methodologies for Quantitative Software Requirements Specifications. In Computational
Intelligence and Quantitative Software Engineering (pp. 153-172). Springer, Cham.

7COMPETITION IN THE MOBILE AND IT INDUSTRY
Appendices:
Appendix 1: Consolidated Statements of Operations:

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Appendix 2: Consolidated balance sheet:
Appendix 3: Historical stock chart of Apple Inc on NASDAQ:

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