Products and Services Provided by the Apple Inc. (Essay Sample)

Apple Incorporation
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation
Apple Company Incorporation
Introduction
Apple Company was founded in 1976 by Steven Paul Jobs. The company is headquartered in California in the United States of America. This essay will expound on various economical aspects of the Apple Company.
Products and services provided by the Apple Inc.
The Apple Company specializes in designing, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of media and mobile communication devices, portable digital music gadgets and personal computers. Furthermore, it designs and sells a variety of services, related software, networking solutions, third party digital applications and content and peripherals. The products provided by the company include iPod, iPad, Apple TV, iPhone and Mac whereas the services provided include a portfolio of professional and consumer software applications, the OS X and iOS operating systems, accessories and iCloud besides the provision of service and support offerings (O'Grady 2009). Moreover, Apple Inc. also sells digital applications and content through the App Store, Mac App Store, iBook Store and iTunes store.
Apple's current market environment
Major competitors
The corporation provides a variety of products and services as stated above. The company has proved to be fierce competitor in the entertainment media, mobile payment systems, and personal computers industry. Its main competitors in the industry include;
Personal computers: despite the Macintosh personal computers and the Safari operating system being consumer's favorite, its major competitors in the industry include: Lenovo, Acer, Hewlett-Packard and Dell personal computers.
Mobile computers: Apple is the biggest and most profitable mobile selling company due to its iPod that has spurred the entire industry. Its main competitors include Nokia, Samsung, Asus and Google.
Entertainment media and Applications: Google and Apple have dominated this space. The Google Company is the main competitor in this space.
Mobile payments: the company's Apple Pay larger payment system has faced stiff competition from the Google and the PayPal money payment systems (Lüsted 2012).
Nature of the product or service
The nature of the products and services provided by the company as earlier discussed ranges from both computer hardware and software programs. The Macintosh chain of computers hardware product is the most prevalent while the iOS and OS X operating systems are the most known software products.
Ease of entry into or exit from the market.
The company is no doubt a giant when it comes to technological advancements and managed to corner the electronics market. The company successfully got into the entertainment industry due to its unique entry strategies despite the stiff competition in the market. Some of the factors that successfully made the company get into the market include:
The company had a large capital base and used predatory pricing that gave it a competitive advantage over its competitors and from succeeding in the marketplace. Further, the company managed to attract more consumers due to their unique brands. The provision of a variety of products and services and applications like iCloud and iTunes besides the products and services are easy and simple to use. This enabled it to gain customer loyalty and have a larger consumer base.
Due to its current market position, the company has managed to overcome all the barriers and is now steady and constantly growing. The company has a free will to exit the market, however, with its current market share position it just has to be in existence.
Examining the market demand and supply
Pricing: Apple Inc. has managed to create a market demand for its products and services despite the prevailing high competition. Its pricing strategy focuses on the provision of a small number of products that emphasize on quality and high end. They focus on the profits rather a market share and create a halo effect that makes individuals starve for their products. The company's product differentiation strategy, brand loyalty, the launch of new innovative products and innovative advertising has given it power over prices. Its products are relatively expensive since they focus on consumers who are able and willing to pay more and sustaining or maintaining a premium price at the expense of unit volume.
Distribution: The Company distributes and sells its products worldwide through online stores, retail stores, wholesalers, value added resell