Business Innovation: Apple Inc. Strategies and Future Trends Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of innovation management at Apple Inc., focusing on the mobile industry's future and the strategies needed to maintain a competitive edge. It explores the significance of continuous innovation, the latest technologies like AI and AR, and the importance of organizational knowledge and cross-functional cooperation. The report highlights the evolution of the iPhone, including potential future features such as a single slab of glass design, wireless charging, and advanced camera capabilities. It also examines the building of future innovation capabilities, emphasizing the role of organizational knowledge, cross-functional cooperation, and strategic planning for sustainable market success. The report uses examples like Samsung and Huawei to illustrate industry trends and offers a roadmap for Apple Inc. to adapt to the dynamic environment and integrate the latest innovations into its operations.

Managing Innovation
In
Business
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Executive Summary
This project elaborates significance for bringing innovation in organisation. It is one of the
crucial activities which are involved in development of competitive edge within which will
further aid in attainment of sustainability in market. This project is associated with Apple Inc.
that belongs to mobile and technological sector. Due to enhancement in competition as well as
rapid alterations that takes place in industry, it has became important for an organisation to bring
continuous innovation within their operations and functionalities.
This project is segregated in three parts. First part will illustrate future of mobile industry,
second section will illustrate significance of innovation practices at Apple Inc. and latest
technologies must be opted by organisation with respect to future practices. The last part
explicates things which must be taken in consideration with respect to development of future
capabilities for making organisation compatible with alterations or new innovation. Apple Inc. is
one of the strongest firms which emphasise on bringing continuous innovation within their
operations as well as products. Therefore, it is recommended to Apple Inc. that they must bring
standard innovation practices to attain market sustainability as well as maintain a competitive
edge.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
The Future of Industry 2020 and Beyond...................................................................................1
The Innovation Requirements 2020 and Beyond........................................................................2
Building Future Innovation Capabilities.....................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation is defined as a set of activities which works together for conversion of idea into
reality by which high sustainability within market can be attained. This process comprises of
collection of information, manpower and resources for developing innovative products so that
value can be added to customers (Brown and Osborne, 2012). This project explicate about Apple
Incorporation that is an American multinational company. It deals with products such as
computer software & hardware, consumer electronics and many others. Apple Inc. was founded
by Steve Wozniak and Steve Job, they have brought in their commercial computer Apple I
within 1976.
This project comprises of detailed portrayal related with future of mobile industry by year
2020 and beyond that. Furthermore, explanation related with needs of innovation within Apple
Incorporation through which they can deal with future alterations as well as competition. This
section also illustrates different technologies which Apple Inc. can foresee with respect to future.
Along with this capabilities which are needed for development of organisation for
implementation of approaches within future are explicated.
The Future of Industry 2020 and Beyond
Mobile industry is one of the largest growing sectors at present scenario. The
organisation aims at moving forward technologically. This sector includes organisations which
deal with manufacturing of mobiles, design, software and other services by usage of technology.
It comprises of broad range of services or products for businesses and customers. With respect to
business context, products are developed by making use of recent technologies through
formulation of strategic business decisions. Various innovations have been carried out which has
created affirmative impact on overall mobile manufacturing organisations (Carayannis, Sindakis
and Walter, 2015). Along with this, a strong competition has been created among different firms.
This sector is attracting lots of investments in terms of economy as people makes their
contribution in innovative ideas by which they can bring product within market. This sector is
working forward to improvise living standards by furnishing innovative gadgets.
Mobile industry is gaining attention from individuals and makes them dependent on
services which are furnished. This denotes that future of mobile industry is on verge and it has
various options for growth (Damanpour and Aravind, 2012). As technology is changing rapidly,
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this leads multiple players to launch innovative products by the usage of similar applications. In
this sector different alterations have been occurred on continuous basis which are anticipated in
future context also. This provides a great edge for moving from human actions to devices
carrying out maximum of activities. In future aspect, there are different technologies which can
be utilised like artificial intelligence, big data, virtual reality and many others. These
technologies will create an affirmative impact on mobile industry by 2020. It is considered as
one of the largest growing and altering sector along with this high revenue is generated by them.
It renders a clear image with respect to growth of industry within 2020 and even beyond that
(Drucker, 2014).
An instance can be taken to understand this like Samsung have been acknowledged by
CES® 2019 Innovation Awards winners for their uniqueness in cutting edge and having
outstanding designs. Along with this, they have been honorees for broad range of categories such
as visual display, eco-designs, wireless handset accessories and many others. They have invested
a lot of amount on internet of things (IoT), AI and 5G (Samsung Wins 30 CES 2019 Innovation
Awards for Outstanding Design and Engineering, 2019). Another example which can be taken
into consideration is Huawei which mainly focuses mainly on three domains, they include
intelligent computing, connected networks and innovative devices through which they makes
investments within basic research, technologies, improvisation in capabilities and products
through usage of technology (Hall and Wagner, 2012). They have launched their HUAWEI
Mate 20 Series intelligent phones in which they have utilised Huawei's AI driven system on SoC
chip. It has dual NPU designs and chips have been used within core of smartphones which
creates relevant impact on efficiency as well as performance. Along with this, GPU Turbo 2.0
technology has been utilised by them through which overall power consumption can be declined
by 20% and performance which will be delivered is around 60% (Research & Development,
2019). Huawei is making use of Kirin 980 system chip through which processing power of AI
applications can be doubled.
The Innovation Requirements 2020 and Beyond
An American multinational technology organisation, Apple Inc. is headquartered in
California, United State. It is responsible for development, designing, development and selling of
consumer electronics, online services and computer software (Holm, Günzel and Ulhøi, 2013).
They provides products such as iPad tablet computers, iPhone smartphone, Mac pc, media
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player, smart watches and many others. This organisation was established by Steve Wozniak,
Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. The organisation is widely known for their innovative features.
Apple brings new as well as enhanced technologies within their services through which they can
equip high market shares along with this give high competition to other organisations that
renders their services within same sector.
Mobile industry is one of the fastest growing organisation which aims to bring unique
products. Therefore, with enhancement in competition along with altering demands of customers
for unique gadgets (Massa and Tucci, 2013). It leads Apple to develop innovative products with
respect to future growth. Some of the innovative approaches with respect to Apple for attaining
high sustainability within market is illustrated below:
iPhone features by 2020: They are the major products which are being offered by Apple
Inc. and are on demand around the world. As they are highly recognised devices, and the growth
which was attained lead to high competition within market. This caused enchanting competitive
environment for Apple as organisation brought in the features which were given by them and
that also at low prices so that they can capture shares within market. For handling this, Apple
needs to make innovations in their iPhone through which they can maintain their competitive
strength within market. Features such as single slab of glass which is not having charging port,
along with this, wireless charging will catch attention of more customers (Onetti and et. al.,
2012). Within 2020 iPhone will be equipped with features such as 128GB storage and A13
processor. Furthermore, they will retain single-lens rear camera which is identical to design of
iPhone 8. As per Digitimes, Apple's 2020 iPhone will consist of 6.67 in, 6.06in, 5.42in models,
iPhone XS Max sport, XS and XR 6.5in, 6.1in and 5.8in screens respectively. They will be also
making use of OLED screen technology. Along with this, they will be making use of 5-
nanometre (nm) chip which will be manufactured by TSMC. This means that Apple is all set to
make use of AI and AR applications along with improvising the battery life. Through this they
will provide flexible handset design (Apple's 2020 iPhone lineup tipped to include 4.7in iPhone 8
lookalike, 2019).
In context of Apple, it is anticipated that new lenses will be on back of phone as people
use to take most of photos from back (Saebi and Foss, 2015). This 3D camera will provide long
range and that is around 15 feet. Along with this, 2020 will make a tick year in which major
augmented reality camera will be used (Apple's 2020 iPhone may feature an Israeli-made 3D
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camera, 2019). Furthermore, they will be launching their first 5G iPhone by 2020 by making use
of Intel's 8161 5G modem chips. Apple is working with folding display but that point will be
heated up. This will create a problem when phone will be used at cold temperatures (Apple
Patents Crazy Heated Screen For Folding iPhone, 2019). Hologram is a 3D virtual object; it will
appear as either standing nearby desk or table or is floating within air. Apple Inc. is the big tech
company which turns attention into trends as they prepare for post-iPhone world. At present they
have acquired start-ups within holographic sector who are responsible for making lightweight
lenses. They might work on augmented reality which will acts as a potential for a new frontier.
Building Future Innovation Capabilities
Apple Inc. is known for their innovative products, due to this reason they have become
renowned name across the world. It is one of the growing as well as fastest growing industry. In
this competitive environment, organisations are opting for moving faster through which new
innovations can be brought within market. Therefore, it is crucial for Apple to build up
capabilities through which they can deal with future challenges. This will assist organisation to
capture larger market shares by which high customer satisfaction can be attained. Basically, there
are two factors which can be taken into consideration:
Organisational knowledge: The major factor that will assist Apple for carrying out
future capabilities is knowledge within market. It is crucial for an organisation to acquire
relevant knowledge related with customers demand by which future requirements can be
predicted by which customers can be satisfied. Organisational knowledge will aid Apple to bring
innovations which are harder for substitution and sustaining within market for longer duration of
time frame. It will assist in development of strategies which are needed for implementation of
innovative plans within practices for attaining specified goals (Schaltegger, Lüdeke-Freund and
Hansen, 2012).
Cross-functional cooperation: This is the other crucial function that will assist Apple
Inc. in development of innovation capabilities. This organisation focusses on implementation of
new technologies in future context; this will aid them to develop an expertise team which
belongs to heterogeneous departments. By making use of cross-functional approach organisation
can have better innovative ideas through which every aspect related with plan can be examined.
It will aid them to implement innovative plan in efficacious manner and bring affirmative
outcome (Schiuma, 2012).
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For building up future capabilities, Apple must utilise strategic planning by which they
will be able to determine actions which are to be carried out in this direction. Furthermore, it aids
in monitoring of activities through which feasibility can be analysed of these practices. This will
further make sure that operations which are carried out are as per plan and will render affirmative
outcomes. It will furnish road map that will enlist step by step implementation of tasks which
must be carried out for attaining desired results for establishment of future capabilities. The road
map for Apple Inc. can is shown below through which future capabilities can be built up:
Suggest: For dealing and attaining sustainability within dynamic environment, it is
crucial for Apple Inc. to include latest innovations within their operations (Seebode, Jeanrenaud
and Bessant, 2012). Mobile industry is developing sectors, which can make use of technology
which is rapidly changing and results which can be attained by this are outstanding before their
services or products goes outdated. It is one of the major challenges for Apple Inc. through
which they can build up future capabilities by which new innovations can be brought within
offerings. It will bring mobiles with enhance4d features within their series. This may comprise of
transferring data and charging cellphones without usage of wire.
Reason: The major cause for bringing innovations within activities as well as operations
enhances competitions within marketplace. Apple Inc. tries to offer new functionalities to
customers who act as major cause for brand recognition as well as within success of
organisation. Apple Inc. is always a first organisation which is responsible for introducing new
services or products within mobile industry. As competition is increasing, organisations are
copying the features which are furnished by Apple through which high success can be attained.
This will lead to decline within market shares of Apple, as other organisations are giving same
features at low prices. Therefore, it is necessary for Apple Inc. to deal with situation be which
new innovative products can be brought within market through desired outcomes. By adding new
features such as wireless portable mobile, it will become difficult for other people to copy this.
Thus, through this market sustainability can be attained within stipulated duration of time
(Smith, 2014).
Impact of changes: For bringing changes within mobile phones within market by 2020
or beyond that, it is crucial for Apple to make alterations within their current processes. Through
anticipation of alterations, organisation can set up their resources as well as employees who are
needed for development and introduction of innovation within market by 2020. Various factors
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must be assessed for improvisation and development with respect to future alterations (Trimi and
Berbegal-Mirabent, 2012).
 Research & development: It is one of the mandatory for which is required for
implementation of innovation. This has important role while implementation of
innovation practices in organisation for identification of opportunities for developing
capabilities with respect to future. For execution of innovations, different alterations are
needed to carry out operations within R&D. With respect to this, experienced employees
are needed who possess thorough knowledge associated with innovation practices. It will
assist in determination of best practices which must be followed for implementation of
plan efficaciously.
 Required resources: The innovation plan implication needs resources through which
innovation can be brought within future opportunities. So, Apple needs to bring
alterations in their current resources for arranging resources by which further capabilities
can be developed (Yoo and et. al., 2012). As Apple Inc. is not working over recent
technologies such as cognitive connector for this they need implementation of them
through which new products can be brought within. The main resources which are needed
to carry out these processes are manpower as well as capital. For this more number of
employees is required to join who possess relevant knowledge and skills related with
technologies, by this plan can be executed within required manner along with this there
are less chances of failure. Furthermore, capital is crucial for development of iPhone, for
which Apple needs to invest more in operations and R&D.
 Technological skills: For bringing innovation capabilities to handle future challenges,
Apple needs to alter and improvise their latest technological skills. By this organisation
can develop capabilities along with this they can manage future innovation. For this they
need to have highly skilled as well as competent employees by which they can develop
their mobile phones through elimination of risk of failure through determination of every
aspect related with process (Brown and Osborne, 2012).
 Legal aspects: Apart from this, innovation plan creates a strong impact on legal aspects
which are amended by Apple for introduction of new technologies without any kind of
legal compliances. The organisation must compel with all legal practices while furnishing
new technologies that are needed for security of customers as well as company.
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 Cost of changes: It will bring a lot of influence over the cost which is needed by Apple
for implementation of new innovation practices. They are planning to launch future
technologies in which it is crucial to invest more within R&D, by this they can acquire
resources as well as recruit and train employees (Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter, 2015).
Around 3000 pound capital is needed for development and launching of wireless portable
iPhone.
 Feasibility: After carrying out process of planning, it is crucial to analyse and anticipate
feasibility of plan. It will aid in identification of facts with respect to whether the
formulated plan will work with future innovations and attain desired results.
 Economical: In this the analysis will be carried out in context of financial capabilities for
opting innovation approaches which are needed for raising funds for acknowledgment of
changes. It will also aid them to determine the fact that whether cost will be reasonable
for people. High cost might lead to decline in market share of Apple that can cause high
loss (Damanpour and Aravind, 2012).
 Legal: Before implementation of plan, it is crucial for organisation to determine plans
which are developed are as per legal regulations and rules. It will aid them to keep
organisation secure from any kind of legal hazards which may lead to big loss.
 Operational: Other major factor, which must be analysed by Apple for identification of
feasibility of project. For execution of innovation plan, organisation needs to analyse
their operational abilities for determination of whether employees have capabilities and
skills which are needed to implement innovation practices with respect to innovation.
 Technological: This factor will lead to identification of feasibility in respect of
technological resources and staff. It is crucial for determining technological resources for
development of planned services as well as products. Apart from this certain factors are
identified to bring technological viability.
4P's of Innovation : This model has been developed and created by Joe Tidd and John
Bessant for providing a powerful tool for conducting analysis. Apple can make use of this model
to identify certain aspects associated with their creativity they are illustrated further. Products
which are being offered by Apple are in wide range like at present scenario they are furnishing
hardware as well as software services but they have made a mark within Mobile industry by the
name iPhone and in terms of technology it is cloud computing. They can make use of different
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technologies or bring their own technology so that they can always stay ahead from their
competitors. For carrying out their processes, R&D needs to evaluate the entire market through
which they can acknowledge what there customers expect and what their competition are
furnishing. This aids them to bring their own innovative products within market. In terms of
position, market segment is identified by them means there potential customers. This assist them
to have entire knowledge of their customers so that they can identify which segment they need to
focus on. Basically, due to the high prices professionals or people who have high earning opt for
their products. But as per the services which are provided by their products renders value for
money. Paradigm reflects alterations in their working processes means the ways in which they
furnish their services like advertising strategies, how people are reached out, etc. are taken into
consideration. If effectual strategies are formulated then it will aid them to reach maximum
number of people and attain their desired goals.
Approval process: Before implementation of any alterations in organisation, approval is needed
from higher authorities (Drucker, 2014). For this board meetings can be carried out to convey the
innovation plan for getting consent from with respect to implication of changes.
Apply the changes: After attaining authorization from board of directors, Apple can proceed to
execute modifications within their organisational practices by which future capabilities can be
developed. For attaining success accurate implications of innovation plan is crucial. This will
create a significant impact on brand image of Apple.
Review the impact of changes: It is one of the mandatory steps within road map as it will
portray progress of innovation plan after execution of changes for development of future
capabilities (Hall and Wagner, 2012).
CONCLUSION
From above it has been analysed that innovation has important role for development of
organisation and their success within market. Through continuous execution of innovation
process Apple can attain competitive edge. For implementation of innovative projects,
organisation needs to build up capabilities by which they can adopt future technologies. These
capabilities can be developed by acquiring ample knowledge about demands of customers and
trends which exists within market with respect to future innovation ideas. Furthermore, leader
has crucial role in development of capabilities among employees by which skills can completely
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utilised to attain required results. Mobile industry is one of the largest growing sectors which
bring innovation for remaining competitive. Apart from this, it is most developing area which
will render high success both in terms of revenue and brand recognition. Along with this, various
factors exist which fosters Apple for bringing innovation in functionalities and products i.e.
competitors, demand of customers, etc. By maintaining innovative approach Apple can sustain
market shares for longer time frame.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Brown, K. and Osborne, S.P., 2012. Managing change and innovation in public service
organizations. Routledge.
Carayannis, E. G., Sindakis, S. and Walter, C., 2015. Business model innovation as lever of
organizational sustainability. The Journal of Technology Transfer. 40(1). pp.85-104.
Damanpour, F. and Aravind, D., 2012. Managerial innovation: Conceptions, processes and
antecedents. Management and organization review. 8(2). pp.423-454.
Drucker, P., 2014. Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Hall, J. and Wagner, M., 2012. Integrating sustainability into firms' processes: Performance
effects and the moderating role of business models and innovation. Business Strategy
and the Environment. 21(3). pp.183-196.
Holm, A. B., Günzel, F. and Ulhøi, J.P., 2013. Openness in innovation and business models:
lessons from the newspaper industry. International Journal of Technology
Management. 61(3/4). pp.324-348.
Massa, L. and Tucci, C.L., 2013. Business model innovation. The Oxford handbook of
innovation management. 20(18). pp.420-441.
Onetti, A., and et. al., 2012. Internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship: business
models for new technology-based firms. Journal of Management & Governance. 16(3).
pp.337-368.
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