In the world of technology, we are habituated to hearing numerous brand names. Those brands have developed various flagship products that are useful in our daily lives. But have you ever given thought to who were the initial brands that revolutionized the way we use gadgets today? Well, Apple is one such example.
Apple History
Apple Inc., currently headquartered in Cupertino, California, US, was founded in 1976 by founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
Initially started as an Apple Computer company, the company’s first product was the legendary Apple Computer I, created by the self-taught electronic engineer Steve Wozniak in a garage. But Apple Computer I consisted of only the motherboard and lacked the basic peripherals such as mouse and keyboard.
- Apple Computers, Inc. Was Founded on April 1, 1976, by College Dropouts Steve Jobs
The first ever sell-off
Their product was sold at $666.66 in July 1976. On January 3rd, 1977, Apple Inc. was incorporated without Ronald Wayne. Twelve days after having co-founded Apple Inc., Wayne, before leaving, sold his share of the company to Steve Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Then Mike Markkula stepped in and provided funding of $250,000 during the initial days of Apple.
After five years after the initiation of the company, the revenues doubled every four months. From the initial year 1977 to the year 1980, the annual sales saw a rise from the initial $775,000 to $120 million with an average growth rate (annual) of 540%.
The change of hands and breakthrough
After that, Apple II was invented in 1977, and Apple III in 1980. After the success of the company in the following years, Jobs began with the idea of implementing GUI(Graphical User interface) in the future computers and began developing Apple Lisa.
Then came Macintosh, and one button mouse revolutionized the personal computer industry for good. Former PepsiCo CEO John Sculley became the CEO of Apple in 1983, and Steve Jobs left the company.
Sudden decline
Apple saw a gradual decline after Jobs left the panel, and stocks began declining with time. In 1997, Steve Jobs took hold of his founded company, and his aim was to make the company profitable again.
Under his leadership, Apple released its bestselling trademark products: Mac OS X, iPad, iPhone, iMac, MacBook, and iTunes. In 2011, Steve Jobs announced his retirement, and Tim Cook took over the CEO position.
Apple Brand Value
During 2016–2017, the net sales increased by 6%. As per the statistics report for 2019, Apple has generated a revenue of approximately $260,000 billion.
It has an operating income of around $63.930 billion and a net income of around $55.256 billion. Apple has 137,000 employees working under the umbrella.
The retail chains
It has opened up more than 500 retail outlets worldwide and established a strong global presence. Apple has been credited as one of the most valuable companies and highly profitable giants in the tech industry. It is highly known for brand loyalty and high-standard hardware and software support. After Samsung and Huawei, Apple is third in smartphone manufacturing.
In the US market, Apple became the first company to have surpassed the valuation of $ 1 trillion and the first publicly traded US company in 2018. It has been estimated that more than 1.4 billion products have been sold and used worldwide.
Apple was ranked in 4th position on Fortune 500 ranking scheme. Apple has the highest market value, $ 960 billion, among the top 100 largest companies in the world and the ultimate brand value of Apple in 2019 was $ 310 billion.
The Apple SKUs
Apple iOS: As per Apple, there are currently 1.4 billion iOS users globally.
iPhone: There are 950 million iPhone users currently globally.
MacBook: There were 19.50 million units sold globally, as per the 2017 report. There was an increase in revenue to $26 billion.
Mac OS X: Mac OS X accounted for 8 percent of the global computer operating systems market as of September 2017.
Apple First: Apple Watch captured 50% of the market for wearables in 2018.
Apple Brand Strategies
Apple’s branding strategies focus on human emotions and customer preferences. Apple believes in innovation and creative inputs and has proven to be a visionary in the tech industry.
Customer and brand loyalty are very strong, and customers prefer using Apple products due to various facilities. One of the topmost features is Apple’s security and seamless service. From a brand architecture viewpoint, the company maintains a master brand identity.
The Halo Effect
Apple was earning substantial profits from their flagship products, such as iPhones and MacBooks, but they thought of expanding their company and ventures to gain a better hold in the tech market. Then came up with the iPod Halo effect.
The brand wanted to accumulate and drag customers into products like iPods and Mac OS and create a different market segment that would entice them to venture into other Apple products. This strategy proved to be an effective one.
The benefit
The benefit of this strategy was that people became more interested in other Apple products and the sale of iPhones and MacBooks rose dramatically. As a part of the branding strategy, Apple renamed its flagship, Mac OS X, to OS X.
Siri (Virtual Assistant)
Siri was one such creation of Apple in speech processing and voice modulation. In mid-October 2011, Siri was enabled with features such as interactive inputs and outputs and voice recognition features, and it was first introduced in iPhone 4S smartphone.
In 2012, Siri was introduced to iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, and macOS Sierra. Siri then became a household name and started gaining immense popularity.
The way Siri has been marketed by Apple paved the way for more brands to develop similar technologies. Later Google came up with Google Assistant for Android phones which has the same features as Siri.
Voice modulation and AI interactivity have been furthermore researched and developed after that. Siri was a marketing hit, and one of a tech company’s best advertising and marketing campaigns ever run.
Green Energy
Apple is now powered by green energy, and the company has invested a huge sum in deploying and using green energy. The usage of solar panels and the Fort Churchill solar project has contributed largely to the usage of green renewable energy and helped the giant reduce its carbon footprint gradually.
Apple also issued a $ 1.6 billion climate bond which will help other climate-related projects by financing them and helping them thrive in the future.
- According to Walter Isaacson’s Biography of Steve Jobs, Jobs Came up With the Name Simply Because He Liked Apples
Conclusion
The tech industry giant has made some remarkable inventions and positively changed the tech industry’s ecosystem. Since its inception, Apple has been through a lot of internal and external changes, but the one thing that made Apple a giant is customer loyalty to the brand.
This is an inspiration for other brands in the same industry, and Steve Jobs has been regarded as the idol of many budding entrepreneurs. The way Apple functions is expected to rise in the future, and many innovations are yet to be unfolded by this magic brand.
Marketing | Branding | Blogging. These Three Words Describe Me in The Best Way. I Am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, a Self-Taught Marketer with 10 Years of Experience. Helping Startups/ Companies/ and Small Businesses to Enhance Their Business Through Branding and Marketing. On A Mission to Help Small Businesses to Be a Brand.
