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Madison Wright
Professor Peters
Micro Economics
5 December 2018
Project: Analysis of Apple Inc.
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Apple Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California,
that develops, designs, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, and online services.
The company’s hardware products include the iPad tablet computer, the Apple Watch
smartwatch, iPhone smartphone, the iPod portable media player, the Mac personal computer, the
HomePod smart speaker, and the Apple TV digital media player. Apple’s software includes the
iTunes media player, the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites, macOS and iOS
operating systems, and the Safari web browser, as well as professional applications like Logic
Pro, Final Cut Pro, and Xcode. And, its online services include the iOS App Store and Mac App
Store, iTunes Store, iCloud, and Apple Music. Based on revenue, Apple Inc. is the world’s
largest information technology company. Because of Apple’s diverse range of products means it
competes in many different markets, and depending on the particular industry segment (Apple
Inc.).
Apple’s competitors include Samsung, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon (10 Of Apple’s
Biggest Competitors). Among these competitors however, Apple leads in revenue bringing in
$229.2 billion in 2017, double the revenue of Google ($109.6 billion) and Microsoft ($85.3
billion). Google and Apple are in direct competition in the smartphone market with IOS and
Android systems, and in 2016, Google accounted for 85% of smartphone sales compared to
Apple’s 14.3% of smartphone online sales. Apple, however better monetizes their product,
Android has a better market share, but the iPhone brings in more revenue (Google Revenue
Comparison Apple Microsoft 2017). Apple is so successful because of the user-friendly devices.
The layout is simple and easy for everyone to use. If the user cannot use the device because of
the complexity of the device, the product is worthless, and Apple’s layout is very simple and
easy to navigate. Apple’s retail stores and great customer service contributes to the success of the
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company as well (Bajarin). As for a market structure, Apple Inc. has a monopolistic competition
structure because of the large number of computers with a differenced product line. In the
smartphone market however, Apple is has an oligopoly structure.
Apple Inc. was founded in April of 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald
Wayne with the launch of Apple 1, a personal computer sold as an assembled circuit board and
lacked basic features such as a keyboard and monitor. The following is a description of the
historic milestones.
• January 1977, Wayne sold his share of the company to Wozniak and Jobs for $800.
Shortly after, millionaire Mike Markkula provided much needed managerial support and
funding of $250,000, and during the next 5 years the company’s revenue grew quickly,
doubling every 4 months. Between September 1977 and September 1980, yearly sales
Total Revune in Billion US dollars
