Apple Inc.: Strengths, Weaknesses And Threats

1. Introduction

SWOT refers to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is a very common tool that used by many companies to develop a marketing strategy. The evaluating of strength helps companies to use their resources more efficiently, the weakness identification help improve companies operation.

In this report, we are going to do the SWOT analysis for Apples; first, we will have a brief introduction of the background of Apple including its operations, products/services offering, financial situation and distribution channel. Then we will analysis its main direct and indirect competitor. Lastly, we will do the SWOT analysis of Apple.

2. Background of Organization

Apple Inc. is an American multifunctional corporation that designs, manufactures and sells personal computers, consumer electronics and

Overdependence on iPhone sales – in 2015, iPhone sales generate US$155.041 billion in revenue, which account for 66% of the company’s total sales, which makes Apple vulnerable to the changes in the smartphone market.

2. Incompatibility of Apple’s IOS – Apple’s IOS is not compatible with other OS like Android and Microsoft OS. So if an App is only available from Google play, then the iPhone users may not able to use it.

3. No major improvement in latest product version – Previously Apple has considered one of the most innovative companies that introduce the new product with new technology. But now Apple’s R&D spending is only 3.4% of the company’s total revenue, one of the lowest rates among its competitor.

4. Higher Price than its competitor – Smart phone competitor like Samsung and Xiaomi are stealing the market share via the lower level price smartphone, however, Apple don’t have the lower price smartphone.

5. Narrow product range – Apple has only 7-8 products in its portfolio compared to the various products that its competitor Microsoft and Google have. So if one of the products failed, it will have a big effect on company’s