Apple - Technological Dominance
The Apple brand is globally known for luxury, sleekness and having a fantastic yet simple operating system. But not many people would have predicted in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, that the Apple brand would grow so exponentially in the next 15 years, compared to the previous 31 years.
In his presentation where Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 15 years ago, the original operating system, iOS 1, featured visual voicemail, multi-touch gestures, HTML email, Apple’s Safari web browser, threaded text messaging, an ‘iPod’ music and video player app, a dedicated YouTube app and Maps, powered by Google Maps. Whilst these were still miraculous and ground-breaking options and features at the time, and like that of the iPod, now this seems like just the basics.
Now, with the latest edition (at the time of writing), the iPhone 13 is also our way of using social media, our calculator, our calendar, our reminders, our music player, our entertainment source (Netflix etc), our tape measure, and has a camera better than a large portion of the market. With the Apple event due to be Wednesday 7th September (the day after writing), they are due to announce the brand-new iPhone 14. This is due to feature a whopping 8K camera and 1TB of storage. The technological feats of this are better than many upmarket cameras and the same storage levels as a £40 hard drive (Source; Amazon). The way that Apple has scaled the iPhone over many years has certainly been something to behold.
It also transitioned the early editions of the iPod to be now surplus to requirements. There were five separate iPods available on the market: classic, nano, shuffle, mini and touch. They became obsolete as a product when they were practically replaced by the iPhone. They first came on the market in October 2001 and have since been discontinued in May 2022 due to a lack of demand.
Apple’s birth in 1976 saw them named ‘Apple Computer Company’ and for the next 25 years, the only products they focused on making were computers, and in 1998 the iMac was born. This move put Apple on the map, as it was aimed at the lower end of the market. The product has been growing ever since and is many people’s first choice and desire in terms of a computer for work and/or pleasure.
They also revolutionised the technology market with inventions such as AirPods (wireless earphones) which are given plaudits for their sound quality rivalling competitors such as Beats and their superb portability. The iPad is Apple’s answer to the tablet that was dominating the market, and recently with the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, the iPad is lightyears ahead of its competitors in terms of quality. The Apple Watch has rivalled Fitbit and co with its sleek design, calorie tracker, step tracking abilities and much more. It takes the edge over its competitors due to the apple ecosystem being implemented, the links to the Apple ’Health’ app and more. The Macbook is also extremely popular as people who prefer the Apple ecosystem benefit hugely, as features such as AirDrop allow customers to transport files across their Apple devices with extreme ease.
Even people’s finances are being reborn. Apple Pay allows users to pay for contactless payments and a host of other online purchases with their touch and face ID, with no need to have their physical card on their person, which is an extreme benefit if you were in an emergency or had just forgotten your wallet. The Apple wallet is there to save you.
There is nearly no sphere where Apple is revolutionising the market. Apple TV is fighting with Netflix, Disney Plus and co. with their streaming platform for ease of use and having a physical item adds to people’s materialistic needs that Apple consistently exploit with their sleek and clean packaging. Apple Music has been born out of iTunes, similar yet different. It is still the place to listen to all your favourite tracks, but it is now a streaming service rather than paying for all your music. Apple fitness links to their other products such as TV and Watch as you can watch specific workout videos from Apple on your Apple TV and track your calories burnt etc from your Watch. Along with Apple Books and News, it seems as if Apple has planned out their way to slowly infiltrate every single market possible and monetise every product it can to grow out of the Apple ecosystem.
In terms of marketing, Apple usually focus on big launch events, like the one Steve Jobs hosted in 2007 where he launched the iPhone, and the next one is the day after writing, so it will have happened when this has released, so we can look back on how many exciting new products, updates and features have been released. On social media, Apple follows a limited number of people, 0 on Twitter to be exact. On Instagram, they promote their products with user-generated content to show the sheer potential of their products. This method seems to be working as in 2022 Apple iOS officially broke more than 50% of the market share in the UK.
Do you own an Apple product?
