PROJECTREPORTONAPPLEI

NC

I
NTRODUCTI
ON
Apple I nc. i s an Amer ican mul tinational t echnol ogy company
headquar teredi nCuper tino,Calif
ornia,t hatdesi gns,dev elops,andsel l
s
consumerel ectronics,comput ersof t
war e,and onl ine ser vices.Iti s
consider ed one oft he Bi g Five compani es i
nt he U. S.i nf or
mat ion
technology i ndust r
y ,al ong wi t
h Amazon,Googl e,Mi crosof t
,and
Facebook.I t’
shar dwar epr oductsi ncl udet heiPhonesmar t
phone,t he
i
Padt abl etcomput er,theMacper sonalcomput er,t hei Podpor table
medi apl ay er,theAppl eWat chsmar twat ch,theAppl eTVdi gitalmedi a
player,theAi rPodswi r
elessear buds,t heAi rPodsMaxheadphones,and
theHomePodsmar tspeakerl i
ne.Appl e'ssof t
war eincludesi OS, i
PadOS,
macOS, wat chOSoper ati
ngsy stems, thei Tunesmedi apl ayer, theSaf ari
web br owser ,theShazam musi ci dent ifier,and t hei Lifeand i Wor k
creativi
tyandpr oductivi
tysui t
es,aswel laspr ofessi onalappl i
cati
ons
l
ikeFi nalCutPr oX, LogicPr o,andXcode.I tsonli
neser v
icesi ncludet he
i
TunesSt or e,thei OSAppSt ore,MacAppSt ore,Appl eAr cade,Appl e
Musi c,Appl eTV+,Appl eFi t
ness+,iMessage,andi Cloud.Ot herser vices
i
ncludeAppl eStore,Geni usBar ,Appl eCar e,ApplePay ,Appl eCash,and
AppleCar d.
Appl
ewasf oundedby 
SteveJobs,
 St
eveWozniak,and 
Ronal
dWay ne 
i
n
Apri
l1976. 
Itwasincor
poratedas 
AppleComputerI
nc.,
inJanuar
y1977,
andsalesofitscomput
ers,grewqui
ckl
y.
 
Appleist he world'slargesttechnologycompany  
byrevenueandoneof
the 
world'smostv aluablecompani es.Appl eisthe worl
d's4th-largestPC
vendorbyuni tsal es 
asofJanuar y2021.  
Itisalsot hewor l
d'sf ourt
h-
l
argestsmar tphonemanuf act
urer
. I
nAugust2018,Appl ebecamet he
fi
rstpubliclytradedU. S.companyt obev aluedatov er$1 tr
il
li
on  andjust
two year sl at er
,i n August2020 became t he fi
rst$2 t ri
ll
ion U.S.
company . Appl e empl oys 147,000 full-t
ime empl oyees and mai nt
ains
510 r
etailstor es 
in25count ri
esasof2020.  
Itoperat
esthei TunesSt ore,
whichist hewor ld'slargestmusi cr etai
ler.AsofJanuar y 2020,mor e
than 1.5 bill
ion Appl e pr oducts are act i
velyi n use wor ldwi de.
 The
company al so has a hi gh levelof  
brand loyalty 
and isr anked as
the 
world'smostv aluablebrand.
 APPLEPRODUCTSANDI
NNOVATI
ONSTRATEGY

ThesuccessofAppl eisrecogni
zedalloverthewor ld.Infact,expert
s
claimthatiti
soneoft hemostinnovati
vecompani esy oucanf indin
today’
s modern world.Perhaps y
ou’re wonderi
ng whati ttakes to
achievesuchgreat
nessandsuccess. 
ForApple,i
tisallaboutinnovati
on
strat
egy.

Appl
eisver
ypopularforit
siPad,i
Phone,
iTunes,i
Pod,andmanyot
her
s.
A hi
ghl
ysuccessfulcompanywi l
lnotj usthand outit
sinnov
ati
ve
st
rat
egyandsecr
etrecipetotr
iumph.

I
tisi
mpor
tantt
oknowt
hatAppl
einnov
atesont
hef
oll
owi
ngaspect
s:

•Process
•Products
•Businessmodel
•Customerexper
ience
•Leadershi
p

Thecompanyl ev eragesi tsv ari

ousecosy stemswhi chi ncludesAppl e’
s
customer s,empl oy ees,par tners,suppl i
ers,and gl obalnet wor ks.I t
continuouslyanaly sest hemar ketf ornew oppor tuniti
est oensur ethe
exponentialgrowt h oft he company .Appl eis abl et oi ncr ease i t
s
revenues,netpr ofits,andmar ketcapatamazi ngper centagest hatno
othercompanyi sabl etoachi ev e.Thecompany ’
sbat tlewithcompet ing
compani es nev er ends.As ment ioned ear li
er,Appl ef ocuses i t
s
i
nnov ati
onst r
ategyi ndiff
erentaspect sandnotj ustthepr oduct s.Steve
Jobsbel ievesint hekeyl essonwher einyouhav etoant i
cipatef orthe
keyact i
onwhi l
eav oidi
ngl atehi t.Forinstance,itisnotenought haty ou
l
ooki nt
ot heresul tsofamar ketr esearchsur v eyt odet ermi newhat
customer swant.Whati smor ei mpor tantist hatyou’reablet odef i
net he
needsofcust omer st hattheyt hemsel v esareunawar eof. 

Asi
de f r
om i nnovat
ion,Apple al
so gives importance t
o oppor tuni
ty.
Cur
rently,thecompanyi sworkingont hreet r
ends–Asi a,tabl
et s,and
smartphones.Asiancountri
esarebeginningtoboom andt hiscanmean
mil
li
onsofcust omersforthecompany .Applei saimingtoincreaseits
sal
esi nAsi athr
oughhigherproduct
ionofi nnovat
iveproductsforsuch
market.Innovati
onisthekeyandwi t
hAppl e’steam ofbril
li
antmi nds,i
t
wi
llconti
nue to pr
ovi
de the mar ketwit
ht he bestgadget
s.When
i
nnov
ationisdonepr
operl
y,successwill
sur
elyfol
l
ow.

I
NVENTORYMANAGEMENTANDSUPPLYCHAI
N

Backi n2011,acompar isonofhow t echcompani esmanagedt hei

r
i
nv entoryshows Appl e was per f
or ming much bet t
ert han Del l,HP,
Blackber r
y(RIM)andMot orola.Usingt heI nventoryTur nov erformula
thatshowshow manyt imesacompany ’
si nventor
ycanbesol dand
replacedov eraspeci f
ict i
meper iod( so thehi gherthenumbert he
better),i
n2011Appl eperformed2t i
mesbet terthanDell,5t imesbet t
er
thanHP,4. 5timesbet t
ert hanBl ackber r
y,and5. 5ti
mesbet terthan
Mot orola.Appleannualinventorypeakedi n2017,wi thav alueof$4. 8
bil
li
on.I n2018,thecompanysaw a18. 52% decli
ney ear-ov er
-yearbut
theybouncedbackqui cklyandt heyhad$3. 8billi
onininvent oryin2019,
a3. 79%i ncr
easevs.2018. 

Inanut shell
,Applepur chasescomponent sandmat eri
alsf rom var
ious
suppli
er s,thenget st hem shi ppedtot heassembl i
ngpl anti nChi na.
From ther e,productsareshippeddirectl
ytoconsumer s(viaUPS/ Fedex)
whoboughtf rom Apple'
sOnl ineStore.Forotherdistr
ibutionchannel s
suchasr etailstor
esandot herdist
ri
butors,Appl
ekeepspr oductsatEl k
Grove,Cal if
or nia(
wher ecentralwarehouseandcal lcenterar el
ocated)
andshi pspr oductsfrom there.Attheendofpr oduct
'sli
fe,customercan
send pr oduct sbackt o near estAppl eStoresordedi cated recycli
ng
faci
l
iti
es.

Lookingbackatt hel astf i

vey ear
s,Apple'sinventoryturnoverhi
ti t
s
l
owestpoi ntinSept ember2018:37. 2x.ThatmeansAppl eturnedtheir
i
nventoryev er
y10day s. 
Keepingasl it
tl
einventor
yonhandaspossi bl
e
i
sv eryi mportant .Why ? Because ofcost s wi t
h war ehouses and
compet i
torspossi blehi ts.Technologymanuf acturerscan’taffor
dt o
keept oomanypr oductsi nstockbecauseasuddenannouncementf r
om
acompet itororanewi nnovati
oncoul dchangeev er
y t
hingandsuddenly
bri
ngdownt hev alueofpr oductsini
nv ent
ory.

Andf orecasti
ngdemanddoesn’ tcomeonl yi nthef orm ofwhatpr oducts
yourcust omerswil
lbuy,butalsoonwhatki ndoft echnologi
eswi llbein
demandf ort
henextcomi ngy ears,all
owingt hecompanyt or educe
costswi t
hsuppli
ersbyplacingor dersforlongert erm.Thisalsoleadst o
creat
ingenoughdemandf orsuppl i
ers,sothatot hercompet i
torscannot
orderthecomponent sandhencel imiti
ngimi t
ations.

Wi
theachl
aunch,
Appl
ehaskepti
tsf
ier
cel
yloy
alcust
omer
sonedgeas
they ant
ici
patethe nextmaj orbreakthr
ough and the nextcreat
ive
upgradestot hei
rdevices.Butsomeanal yst
squest i
on whethert
he
companycankeept hemoment um goingandmai nt
ainitsfooti
ngas
numberone, orwhet
herar i
val
will
eventual
lysurpassi
t.

APPLE’
SGROWTH

Appleissti
l
linthe"vi
rt
uouscycle,
"whichmeansi
thasaposit
ivepat
ter
n
whereasuccessf ulsoluti
onleadsto moreoft hedesi
red r
esul
tor
anothersuccess.I
nt urn,t
hatgeneratesst
il
lmoredesir
edresult
sor
successesinachain.

AslongasAppl econti
nuestoinnovat
e,therewillbeheighteneddemand
for its pr oducts and ser vi
ces. This l eads t o pri
cing power,
expanding prof
itmargi
ns,andimproved cashf l
ow,whi chhel pdr
ivet
he
stock price higherwhil
e also all
owing Applet or etur
n capit
alto
shareholders.

Appleannouncedthatitwoul
dtakeadvantageoft
hecorporatetaxbreak
i
tisgetti
ngunderthenewt axlawstoi nv
est$350bil
l
ionintheU. S.and
creat
easmanyas20, 000newjobs.Thecompanyalsosaiditwillbui
lda
secondcorporat
ecampusi ntheU.S.,
whichshoul
dcreateatleast2,000
ofthosejobs.

i
Phonei
PadANDMACSALES

iPhonesal esarethelargestrevenuegener atorfort

hecompany .In2019,
salesoft heiPhoneaccount edformor et hanhal fofAppl e'
srevenueand
wer e18%hi gherthanthesameper i
odint hepr evi
ousy ear.
  I
ncreasing penetr
ation in currentand new mar ketsresulti
ng i
n
share gains,particul
arl
yi n China and ot heremer ging markets,and
successfullaunchesoft henextgener ationsoft hei Phonewi l
lli
kely
dri
vesal esov ert henext12- 18mont hs.I ncr
easedcompet i
tionfrom
Android phones coul d hurtmar ketshar e and revenue,as wel las
i
ncreasingmar ketpenetrati
onofsmar tphones.  

Tabl
et,l
apt
op,andcomputersal
estobothcorpor
ateandconsumer
user
sareanessent
ialel
ementofAppl
e’
srevenuesandst
ockprices.
Salesofi PadsandMaccomput erscombi nedtotalof 18% ofAppl e'
s
revenuei n2019. Howev er
,thei PadandMacl aptopsanddeskt ops
havel ostmar ketshar
er ecentl
yt odev i
cesf r
om ot hercompanies,and
sawdecl i
nesin2018.In2019gr owt himprovedforiPads. InOctober
2018,Appl eannouncednew v ersionsofsome  dev i
ces:the 
i
PadPr o,
the MacBook Ai r 
and t
he Mac Mi ni 
athigherpr i
ce point
st han their
previousv er
sions.Lookf orincreasedcompet i
ti
oni nthiscategoryto
continuetoimpactsalesandmar gins.

SERVI
CES
Servi
cescont ri
but ednearly18%ofAppl e'srevenuein2019, t
hesameas
2
i
PadandMacsal es,anda16% i ncreasef rom 2018. Somei ndustry
expert
s,includingCookhi mself,havet alkedaboutser v
icesbeingt he
newf oundationf orApplemov ingforwar d.Othersarguethatforthatto
happen,though, Appl eneedstoincreaseitsnumberofuser sandlicense
i
tsiOSt oothercompani es. 

NEW PRODUCTS
Among Appl e'
sl at
estproductl aunches isthe Home Pod,l aunched
i
n Febr uary2018. 
It
'sasmar thomehubandspeakersett ocompet e
witht helikesoftheAmazonEchoandGoogl eHome.  AsofOct ober
2018, ithasstr
uggledtogainmar ketsharefrom competi
tors.The 
Apple
Wat ch,launchedinApril2015,hasmanagedt ostayatt hetopoft he
wear ablesmarketasofOct ober2018. Howev er
,noneofAppl e'
snew
product shavereachedthesuccessoft heiPhone.

Appl
eint
he20s
Apple'
s mar ketcapital
i
zati
on reached new hi ghs i
n 2020,as t he
companyenj oyedsomesuccessesandsetnewgoal sforthefutur
e.The
company'
sr evenuefrom wearabl
etechnology
,suchast heAppleWat ch,
setnew records. Apple'
srevenuefrom servi
cesalsor osetor ecord
highsdur
ingt hecoronavi
ruspandemic,ascontactl
esspay mentoptions
l
i
ke 
Appl
ePay
 becamemor
epopul
ar.

Appl
eal soannouncedt womajorchangestot heMaci n2020.  Fi
rst
,
Appl
ei stransit
ioni
ngt heMacawayf r
om Intelprocessorstoi t
sown
cust
om-designedchi ps.Apple'
snewpr ocessorsarebasedont heones
usediniPhonesandi Pads, makingt
hem mor eenergy-
effi
ci
ent.Thenew
chi
pshav ethepot entialtogiveApple'
slaptopslongerbatter
yl i
feand
moreprocessingpowert hanPCs.

Secondl
y,Appleischangingt
hemacOSsot hatdev
eloperscanmake
i
OSandi PadOSappsr unontheMacwit
houtmodifi
cati
ons.Thatwi
l
l
dramati
call
yexpandt
henumberofappsavai
l
ableontheMacandmake
i
tmor ecompeti
tiv
ewithPCs.

FI
NANCI
ALANALYSI
S

REVENUE

Apple annualrevenue hi
storyand growthrat
ef r
om 2012 to 2020.
Revenuecanbedef i
nedast heamountofmoneyacompanyr eceives
fr
om itscust omersinexchangefort hesalesofgoodsorser vi
ces.
Revenueist hetopl i
neit
em onani ncomestatementfrom whichall
costsandexpensesaresubtract
edtoarri
veatnetincome.

 Applerevenueforthet welv
emont hsendi
ngDecember31,2020
was $294.135B,a 
9.88%increase 
year-
over
-year
.
 Apple annual r evenue f or 2020 was  $274.515B, a 
5.51%
i
ncrease f
rom 2019.
 Apple annual r evenue f or 2019 was  $260.174B, a 
2.04%
decl
ine 
from 2018.
 Apple annual r evenue for 2018 was  $265.595B, a 
15.86%
i
ncrease f
rom 2017.
EBI
TDA

Appl
eannualEBITDAhistor
yfrom 2012to2020.EBI
TDAcanbedefi
ned
asear
ningsbef
oreint
erest,
taxes,
depreci
ati
onandamort
izat
ion.

 AppleEBITDAforthetwelvemont hsendi ngDecember31,2020

was $85.
159B,
a 9.
01%increase 
year-over-
year.
 Apple2020annualEBITDAwas  $77.344B,a 1.13% i
ncrease 
fr
om
2019.
 Apple2019annualEBI TDA was $76.477B,a 6.51% decl
ine 
fr
om
2018.
 Apple2018annualEBI
TDAwas  $81.801B,a 14.41%increase 
fr
om
2017.
NETI
NCOME

Appl
eannual
neti
ncomehi st
oryandgrowt
hratefrom 2012to2020.Net
i
ncomecanbedefi
nedascompany '
snetprofi
torlossaft
eral
lrevenues,
i
ncomeit
ems,andexpenseshavebeenaccountedfor.

 Appleneti
ncomef orthet
welv
emont hsendi
ngDecember31,
2020was $63.930B, a 
11.
13%incr
ease y
ear-
over
-year.
 Appleannualnetincomefor2020was $57.
411B,a 3.
9%
i
ncrease 
from 2019.
 Appleannualnetincomefor2019was $55.
256B,a 7.
18%
decl
ine 
fr
om 2018.
 Appleannualnetincomefor2018was $59.
531B,a 23.
12%
i
ncrease 
from 2017.
 COMPETI
TORANALYSI
SOFAPPLE
Appl
eisthesecondlargestsmart
phonecompanyi ntheworl
d.i
Phoneis
oneofi tsmain products.However
,itfacesa numberofpower f
ul
competi
torsint he gl
obalsmar t
phone markets.Accordi
ng to St
at
Count
er( 2021),it
s globalmarketsharei s 26.91% and i
ts main
competi
torsandthei
rglobalmar
ketshar
esareasf ol
lows:
Samsung:
29.
14%
Xi
aomi
:10.
02%
Huawei
:09.
83%
Oppo:
5.02%
I
tiswort
hmenti
oningthatAppl
eisthemar
ketleaderi
ntheUSAwi
th
61.
07% mar
ketshare,whi
leSamsungisi
nt hesecondposi
ti
onwi
th
24.12%marketshare.Apple’
sotherthreebigcompeti
torsinthecount
ry
areLG,Motorol
a,andGoogl e.Appl
ei salsothemarketleaderi
ntheUK
with50.
85%mar ketshare,
anditstwonear estcompet
it
orsareSamsung,
andHuawei.
Needlesstosayt hatanepicwari satplaybetweenAppleandSamsung.
Longago,Samsungwasasuppl i
erofAppl e;however,itdecidedt o
chall
engethel att
er.Thisi
nfur
iat
edt hethenApplebossSt eveJobswho
announced launching ‘t
hermonuclearwar ’on Androi
d,t he operat
ing
system usedi nSamsungphones( Cain,2020).However,itseemst hat
Samsung i s undeterr
ed and it
sr emar kabl
e abi
l
ityand effici
encyt o
produce superiorhardware extr
emelyswi f
tl
yhas played a bigr ole
behindit
ssuccess.
Apple’
smaincompet i
tor
si nt hi
sglobalper
sonalcomputermarketare
Lenovo,HPI
nc,Dell
,AsusandAcerwi t
h24.9%,21.2%,16.
2%,16.
4%,6%
and5.9% marketsharer especti
vel
y(Holst
,2021).ThoughApplehas
madegoodprogressinthismar ket,
iti
sunli
kel
ythatitwil
lbeoneofthe
topthr
eeint
henearfuture.
Absenceofi nnovati
oni sabi gpr oblem i nthewor ldofinfor
mat i
on
technol
ogy ,and this maygi ve Apple’s compet i
tor
s an upperhand.
 
Ther ef
ore,Applemustnowf ocusonbr i
ngingaboutinnovat
ivepr
oduct s
and addi ng fundamental
ly new feat ur
es t o some ofi t
s products.
Otherwise,t
hepr ospectofl
osingfurthermar ketsharei
sreal
.

I
MPACTONAPPLEDUETOCOVI
D19

 
Dei r
dreO’ Bri
anknew how badt henov elcoronavi
ruswasbef orethe
restofus.AsAppl e’
sheadofr et ai
l,shewaspr i
vyinJanuaryt othe
newsofav i
rusinChi na—andhowser i
ousi twas.“I
twast r
ulyamazing
to see Appl e go intoj usta crisis managementmode, ”she say s,
describi
nghowAppl epul l
edtogetheritst eamsinsecurit
y,heal
th,and
safety,aswel lasout si
deexper t
si nsubj ect
ssuchasepi demiology.
“Wequi cklydeterminedt hatwedi dnothav eenoughgoodknowl edge
to continue tof eelcomf or
tabl
e oper ating ourstores.And so we
decidedt oshutourst oresdown.Andweal socloseddownourof fi
ces.”
Thecompanyannouncedi t
sChinashutdownFebr uary1;CEOTi m Cook
madet hef i
nalcall
.ThoughAppl ewasn’ texact l
yanout l
i
er—factori
es
and busi nesses in China were widely shutti
ng down by t hen—the
experiencewoul di
nform Apple’
sr etai
lstrategythroughoutthecr i
sis.
“Thosel earni
ngsi nChina,weappl i
edar oundt hewor l
d,”O’Br
iensay s,
“andy ousawt hatwewer eoneoft hefi
rstretail
erstocloseourdoor s
acrosst heUni tedStatesandEur opeandot herpartsofAsi awheni t
wast her i
ghttimetodoso. ”

APPLE’
SRESPONSE
Appl
e’scommi t
teddonat
ionstothegl
obalCOVID-19response— both
tohel
pt r
eatthosewhoar esi
ckandtohelplessentheeconomi cand
communityimpactsoft hepandemic— todayr eached $15 mil
li
on
worl
dwide.

AllofAppl e’shour
lyworker swi l
lcontinuetoreceivepayinal ignment
withbusinessasusualoper ations.Appl ehasexpandedt heirleave
poli
cies to accommodat e per sonalorf amil
yheal th ci
rcumst ances
creat
edbyCOVI D-
19— includingr ecoveri
ngfrom anil
lness,car i
ngfor
asickl ov
edone,mandat oryquar anti
ning,orchil
dcarechallengesdue
toschoolcl osur
es.Appl
eNewshasl aunchedanewCOVI D-19sect i
on,
whereuser scanbesur et hattheycanf i
ndthelatestveri
fi
edr eport
ing
fr
om t r
ustednewsout l
ets.

Appl
ehas 
l
aunchedanew app 
andawebsi
tewi
thr
esour
cest
ohel
p
peopl
est
ayi
nfor
med,andt
aket
hepr
operst
epst
opr
otectt
hei
rheal
th
dur
ingt
hespr
eadofCOVI
D-19.Theappi
scal
l
ed"
Appl
eCOVI
D-19"and
wi
l
lwal
kuser
sthr
oughaquest
ionnai
reandof
fergui
del
i
nespr
ovi
dedby
t
heCDC.

Anupdat
e t
otheCOVI
D-19appaddedst
atedepar
tmenti
nfor
mat
ionand
addi
ti
onal
sel
f-
car
eti
ps.

Nott
oleav
efi
rstr
esponder
soutofAppl
e'
sef
for
ts,
 
Appl
erel
eased 
a
secondapp,"
Fir
stResponderCOVI
D-19,
"inpar
tner
shi
pwi
thSt
anf
ord
Medi
cine.Theappcanbeusedbyf
ir
str
esponder
stodet
ermi
net
he
needf
oraCOVI
D-19t
est
,andt
heni
ftheyneedone,
cont
actSt
anf
ordf
or
t
est
ing.

Whi
l
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