Technological Innovation at Apple: A Comprehensive Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of technological innovation at Apple, examining its strategies and impact on the global technology market. The introduction highlights Apple's position as a leading innovator, setting the stage for an exploration of its current innovation strategies, including its focus on customer needs and marketing strategies like empathy. The report delves into Apple's innovation strategies for competitive advantage, contrasting its approach with competitors and highlighting key development and entry strategies, such as ignoring critics, transforming designs, justifying prices, and representing the audience's language. It also covers the collaboration between the product development team and other departments. The report provides an in-depth look at Apple's deployment strategy, customer experience, and overall market performance. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and references.

Running head: TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Technological Innovation at Apple
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

1TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Current innovation strategies of Apple......................................................................................2
Innovation Strategy for the organization’s Competitive Advantage..........................................4
Development and Entry Strategy...............................................................................................4
Collaboration of the different parties regarding the innovation strategies.................................7
Deployment Strategy of Apple...................................................................................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

2TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Introduction
Apple is said to be one of the largest innovative organization in the technological
fields of the overall global technology market. The technological innovative strategies
adapted by the organization had taken it to this great level (Dolata, 2017). This report will
deal with the innovative and effective strategies adapted by Apple that enhanced the
organization to grow at a great level. The steps taken by Apple for its development is also
briefed in the report.
Current innovation strategies of Apple
In the present times, the organization is known as the “Innovation Factory”. This is
due to the cause that the organization has thrived to be the global leader4 in the field of
uncontrolled product creativity. The specialist as well as the technology innovation team of
employees at the organization has always tended to bring innovations at the products as
provided by the organization (Pisano, 2015). The recent trends in the user interface as well as
the hardware advancement had helped the organization to be at the top over all the other
organizations present in the global markets. The technological innovation in the smart phone
products has always grabbed the consumers. Moreover, the innovative strategies regarding
the business model of Apple has also put a positive effect in the sector of the innovations at
the organization. The company mainly focuses on the customer needs and then design the
next strategy to meet up the customer satisfaction.
The marketing strategy is also an important sector in the growth of this organization.
The most important characteristic regarding the marketing strategy that is adapted by eth
organization is said to be as empathy (Yun, Won & Park, 2016). This is simply defined as the
capability by which the organization understands the individual customer’s needs. This
strategy helped the organization to connect with the customers at a much deeper level. This is

3TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
turn provided the organization to understand the desires of the consumers thus facilitating the
consumers with the great benefits. Apple always tends to provide their consumers with an
advanced product that will be rally helpful to them to use in the daily life so that the customer
does not even thinks of any other device as a substitute. They always thrive their product to
be much easy to use, transparent usage as well eases the interaction for the customers to avail
this facility at a much smooth manner.
The brilliant mind-set of Steve Jobs has lead this organization to strategically as well
as effectively grow in such a manner in a big level. He focused mainly on the development of
the consumer values that enhanced to make significant contribution to the technological
industry (Biemans, 2018). The premium products launched by the organization has thrived
the organization to gain a great level of exposure among the customers. The organization
very well dealt with the strategic and effective needs of the customers. This marketing
strategy thrived the organization to develop at such a great level.
The focus of the organization was meeting up the customer’s needs. Hence, the
company did not went to compete with the other present global companies in accordance to
price. The presentation of the products were the most important sector where the company
focused rather to just launch products and make more money (Hanson et al., 2016). This
made the marketing strategy of Apple differ from the other present technological companies
that are dealing with the smart devices.
The marketing team of the organization still thrives to gain the customer needs for the
products they are manufacturing and designs their product accordingly. The simple theory
that the organization adapts is that they firstly educates their customers about the needs they
are trying to gain from the product. In the second place they uses their ease of access methods
with the product and then produces the convenience of the product they are manufacturing

4TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
(Ross, Beath & Sebastian, 2017). This satisfies the customer and hence the organization
becomes the highest used smart products.
The strategy that the organization adapted while designing and manufacturing IPad
was that the product can entertain the customers by facilitating them for playing games
efficiently, read books, listening to music as well as browse the internet from wherever they
want (Frow et al., 2015). Thus, it can be said the customer experience has gained a lot of
focus in the innovative strategies of Apple.
Innovation Strategy for the organization’s Competitive Advantage
The innovation strategies as adapted by the organization has helped them in many
sectors for gaining the competitive advantage with respect to the other competitors in the
technological fields such as Microsoft. Apple never focused on making money via their
products whereas the company thrived to gain the customer’s satisfaction as well as meet the
customer needs, which in turn became very advantageous for the organization’s growth
(Nylén & Holmström, 2015). Moreover, the company always kept their focus away from the
critics of the other organization and continue the process of delivering the enhanced level of
products to their consumers irrespective of their strategies adapted by the other competitors in
the market. The critical analysis of the organization’s development as well as entry to the
market strategy are briefly explained in the next section of the report.
Development and Entry Strategy
There are many strategies adapted by the organization to achieve the position that the
organization possess in the technological market at recent times. The seven most effective
strategies adapted by Apple is stated as follows.
Critic Ignorance: There were many critics in the market that adheres them to be the
one who may decide about the technological innovation, which should be adapted by the

5TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
organizations. However, the organization, Apple changed the overview and concentrated on
the development of the products irrespective of the costs that re required for the development.
Many critics suggested that the manufacture of the iPad by the organization could be big
failure (Hagspiel, Huisman & Nunes, 2015). Nevertheless, from the recent market analysis it
is depicted that the iPad is one of most successful product that has been manufactured by the
organization in recent times. Thus, Apple chose the innovation over the critic’s overview and
are now said to be on of the successful iPad brand in eth global market.
Transformation from ordinary to excellent: For a certain period, the fans associated
with a PC had contented in the market for the innovation. While the other organizations in the
business were busy with the implementation of eth standard hardware specifications Apple
kept their focus straight (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). This organization chose to change
the entire design of the standard hardware regarding the products. This is turn resulted in the
development of the enhanced as well as effective products such as MacBook Air, iMac and
many more. While the other competitors in the market were focusing on a single aspect of the
innovation, Apple focused on the overall aspects through which the organization could
emphasize their growth in the technological market.
Justification of Price: The pricing strategies are adapted by many of the organizations
that are implementing innovation within their products. The organizations are in a sort of
dilemma to set the right price for the products they are innovating. To handle the cost of the
launched products easily it is necessary to implement the strategic pricing of the market.
However, Apple does not follows these strategies as of the present competitors in the market
(Kahn, 2018). This organisation confidently sets the high price of the products they are
developing. This id due to the reason that the organization is well aware of the fact that the
customers will be paying for the product that facilitate effective customer satisfaction to their
reliable customers. Moreover, there is no comparison to the features as well as the innovative

6TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
features that are provide by the organisation in their launched or developing products. This is
turn justifies the charge of the prices regarding the products as offered by the organization
(Babkin, Lipatnikov & Muraveva, 2015). Apple is quite aware of the fact that there is no such
product available in the market that is carrying more features as well as the products are
maintaining the top quality design among the other present companies that are dealing with
the same product.
Representing the Audience’s Language: The organization believes that the
technological jargons that are used regarding the product specifications does not look scary as
well as are not interesting to the customers who are willing to purchase the product. The
technological terms such as the processing speed, the megahertz of the processor or the
sustainable power of the battery is not necessary for the customers to know and judge the
product accordingly (Teece, Peteraf & Leih, 2016). However, the product specifications of
any product at an Apple product page is describe with the interesting features that the
customers are facilitated with. This includes the terms such as LED backlight, the retina
display as well as the edge-to-edge glass and many more. This terminology looks to the
customer very interesting thus increasing the customer’s interest towards the innovative
products.
Experience Extension: The organization has made sure that the product experience of
the consumers is not ceased while they pay a huge amount of money behind the product. The
designing team of Apple continues to put extra focus as well as effort for gaining the enhance
and effective user experience from the overall structure of unboxing till its browsing This is
mainly enhanced by the enhanced features of installation as well as excellent packaging of
the product (Demirkan, Spohrer & Welser, 2016). The organization puts an extra effort
behind the packaging of the product, to make sure that the customers are facilitated with the
same experience when they unbox a particular product as well as from the packing of the box

7TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
itself. This is turn affected the organization in a positive point of aspect for maintain their
customer satisfaction and customer retention.
Tribe Development: There has been a developed customer base for the products
associated with the organization. This customer base are in the focus due to the jealous
behaviour of the other competitors in the market (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). However, in
turn the organization caters to embrace the needs of the elite users thus providing them the
most successful products in modern times.
“The Name” development: Most of the customers go shopping for the technological
products as a generalised form that is customer goes to a shop and asks for a smartphone or
music player. However, in case of the Apple the scenario is opposite. If any customers want
to buy an Apple Smartphone, they ask for iPhone directly, whereas for a music player they
ask for iPod directly (Bereznoi, 2015). This is due to the reason of the trust or the satisfaction
level that the organization is providing to its consumers. This in turn makes the products of
Apple at a premier stage in the overall technological market. The unique features, the
effective technological innovation thrive the organization to maintain its name among the
other products in the market.
Collaboration of the different parties regarding the innovation strategies
The innovation strategies could not have gained so much effective success without the
collaboration of below stated two departments that actually holds the credit for the
advancement of the organization.
The Product development team: It can be easily observed that the strategies adapted
by the product development team of the organization has put an important as well as positive
impact in gaining the customer’s trust and attention towards the product manufactured by the
organization. The most impacted strategies include the innovation of the MacBook with the

8TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
new and advanced processors (Hacklin, Björkdahl & Wallin, 2018). A large number of
changes in the iPod, iPhone has also influenced the users to lean on the usage of the products.
Maintaining the continuous update to the already launched products to enhance the
customer’s usage is an important innovation that has been adapted by Apple regarding the
innovation strategies of the product development as well as the maintenance team associated
with the organization.
The pricing strategy team: The comparison study regarding the shopping of the
products is a well-adapted methodology among the consumers. The best discount is always
focused by the consumers in order to buy a product. Keeping these factors in mind the pricing
team of the organization has set the prices for the customers (Kanagal, 2015). Apart from
this, it can easily be depicted that the costing of the Apple products is a bit high in respect to
the other products available in the market. Thus the development team ensures that the
pricing of the product are standardized in accordance to the products that the customers are
paying for.
Deployment Strategy of Apple
The deployment of a product at the organization of Apple mainly focuses on the four
steps that is environment preparation, developing of the devices, deploying the products as
well as managing the products after being deployed. These strategies are briefly explained
below.
Environment preparation: This strategy is adapted by the organization while carrying
out the development of any product. The evaluation of the infrastructure is the most
important part in this step. The evaluation of a product’s network performances are critically
assessed in this segment. The VPN infrastructure is focused effectively to make the product
an enhanced one. The support of the internal software requirements of an organization is said

9TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
to be the most import factors that this strategy focuses to gain the customers attention as well
as trust on the product that the organization is trying to launch (Kane et al., 2015). The
overall performance, stability as well as the implied features are focused on a great level
before the development procedure in order to assure the customer experience regarding the
product.
Developing of the devices: The development of the products as well as the
configuration of the products is focused effectively by a specific as well as a particular team.
The configuration of the devices with the MDM server is an effective feature adapted by the
organization. The management of the devices are enabled by the usage of specific
configuration profiles that holds the information of an iOS device. The additional capability
implementation of the other features in the development helps the organization to reach in a
much-enhanced manner to the consumers.
Deployment of the products: The deployment of the devices is made easier by the
interface of the iOS. This helps the employees to initiate the usage of the devices right after
the development stage. The distribution of the products is made easier regarding the
customers with the help of the setup assistant as well as the customized features also
enhances the usability of the products among the consumers (Arora et al., 2016). The iCloud
feature is an important deployment strategy provided by approximately every product of the
company to enhance the user experience of the consumers.
Management of the products: The organization provides a great and enhanced level
of support to the consumers even after they had purchased the product. This makes the
organization an extremely caring company regarding the consumer, which further enhances
the customers to gain a trust towards the company.

10TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Conclusion
Thus, the above report clearly depicts the innovation strategies as implemented by the
organization Apple. This in turn facilitates the consumers in various effective ways. The
above report also deals with the deployment strategies that are adapted by the organization to
cope with the customer satisfactions. The competitive advantage of the organization in
respect to the other companies prevailing in the market is well stated in this report. Thus the
possible innovative strategies that makes the products of the organization to be attractive in
respect to the other present products in the market are depicted in the report and it can be well
determined that the organization will thrive to implement more strategies to meet up the
demands of the consumers.

11TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
References
Arora, A., Gittelman, M., Kaplan, S., Lynch, J., Mitchell, W., & Siggelkow, N. (2016).
Question‐based innovations in strategy research methods. Strategic Management
Journal, 37(1), 3-9.
Babkin, A. V., Lipatnikov, V. S., & Muraveva, S. V. (2015). Assessing the impact of
innovation strategies and R&D costs on the performance of IT companies. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 207, 749-758.
Bereznoi, A. (2015). Business model innovation in corporate competitive strategy. Problems
of Economic Transition, 57(8), 14-33.
Biemans, W. (2018). Managing innovation within networks. Routledge.
Demirkan, H., Spohrer, J. C., & Welser, J. J. (2016). Digital innovation and strategic
transformation. IT Professional, 18(6), 14-18.
Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-
competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur
Organisations-und Innovationsforschung, SOI Discussion Paper.
Frow, P., Nenonen, S., Payne, A., & Storbacka, K. (2015). Managing co‐creation design: A
strategic approach to innovation. British Journal of Management, 26(3), 463-483.
Hacklin, F., Björkdahl, J., & Wallin, M. W. (2018). Strategies for business model innovation:
How firms reel in migrating value. Long range planning, 51(1), 82-110.
Hagspiel, V., Huisman, K. J., & Nunes, C. (2015). Optimal technology adoption when the
arrival rate of new technologies changes. European Journal of Operational Research,
243(3), 897-911.

12TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Hanson, D., Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2016). Strategic management:
Competitiveness and globalisation. Cengage AU.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2016). Strategic management: Concepts and
cases: Competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Kahn, K. B. (2018). Understanding innovation. Business Horizons, 61(3), 453-460.
Kanagal, N. B. (2015). Innovation and product innovation in marketing strategy. Journal of
Management and marketing research, 18, 1-25.
Kane, G. C., Palmer, D., Phillips, A. N., Kiron, D., & Buckley, N. (2015). Strategy, not
technology, drives digital transformation. MIT Sloan Management Review and
Deloitte University Press, 14, 1-25.
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external
environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Nylén, D., & Holmström, J. (2015). Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing
and improving digital product and service innovation. Business Horizons, 58(1), 57-
67.
Pisano, G. P. (2015). You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), 44-
54.
Ross, J. W., Beath, C. M., & Sebastian, I. M. (2017). How to develop a great digital strategy.
MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(2), 7.
Teece, D., Peteraf, M., & Leih, S. (2016). Dynamic capabilities and organizational agility:
Risk, uncertainty, and strategy in the innovation economy. California Management
Review, 58(4), 13-35.

13TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AT APPLE
Yun, J., Won, D., & Park, K. (2016). Dynamics from open innovation to evolutionary
change. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2(2), 7.