1. Media Company Case
Study
Task 1 Understand the structure
and ownership of the media sector
Ken Ishii
2. Apple
American multinational corporation that designs
and sells consumer electronics, computer
software, and personal computers. The
company's best-known hardware products are
the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the
iPhone and the iPad.
3. The owner
Apple is now a public company due to Steve Job’s
death but the current CEO of Apple Inc is Tim
Cook and he is part of the board member of Nike.
The founders of Apple Inc are Steve Jobs, Steve
Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
4. How is it organized?
The company is vertically integrated, with
anything done under one roof. Vertical
integration is where everything is produced,
exhibit and distribution.
All Apple profits stay within Apple, but this
increases the risk that if the company fails all the
money will be lost.
5. Who are its competitors?
In recent years, it could be argued that most PC manufacturers were rivals to Apple,
like Dell, Alien ware, Gateway etc. but of course you can also factor in Microsoft as a
rival to their Operating System (OS X/XP).
But in recent years they have branched out considerably, into online media (iTunes,
Mobile Me, iPhone) so you can factor in Napster and other legal music download
sites, Hotmail and Gmail, and Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry and alike.
Also, they rival in the server markets with HP, Sun, SGI and IBM with regards to High
Performance Computing, Web serving, Centralised storage, which also brings further
rivals like Brocade and Sanrad.
There's also networking, the Airport lines now rival Cisco, Net gear etc.
So, they now have a very diverse range of products, and there are many rivals that are
fighting with Apple in those markets.
6. Who are the customers?
1) Middle/Upper income people who are willing to pay a bit more for a
better user experience. paying 500 more for a computer is not a huge deal
if you have a decent income.
2) People who like to have fun with technology. No other platform offers as
many entry level tools (the whole iLife bunch and more). This includes
people who like to shoot a lot of digital photos or video. It's the whole
digital hub concept. People are starting to buy into it.
3) Music enthusiasts and fans ages 12-35.
4) Professionals in media and design.
7. Changes in Apple
SinceSteve Job’s death, Tim cook has
changed the internet Software and
Services and splitting Apple’s education
division into a separate sales arm and
marketing arm. Also more open and
accessible to employees, besides being
“surprisingly candid” with shareholders
which Steve Jobs reportedly wasn’t in his
time.
8. Apples controversies
1. The Newton -- Apple's first foray into the PDA market in 1993 turned out to be a financial flop. Priced at $1000, the
Newton, aka MessagePad, was bulky and an all-around mediocre product. Still, the little Gameboy-esque prototype
paved the way for the Palm Pilot and eventually the company's shining star, the iPhone.
2. The iPad — Women rejoiced when Apple announced the release of a seemingly futuristic sanitary napkin, the iPad,
in 2010. Alas, the iPad turned out to be nothing more than Apple's highly-anticpated tablet PC and a financial
goldmine for the company. Still, Apple's awkward naming of the iPad left many consumers scratching their heads for
a while.
3. iPhone — Apple fanatics swarmed the interwebz and Apple stores following the summer 2010 release of the
iPhone 4, only to find their obligatory first calls to brag to family and friends dropped just moments later. Apple
responded to the consumer outrage just weeks later, offering a free case to all of the disheartened iPhone 4 owners.
More on GlobalPost: Foxconn promises raises as rights group finds ‘tons of issues’
4. Toxicity — In 2003, Greenpeace campaigned to put an end to the use of potential toxins polyvinyl chloride and
brominated flame retardents in Apple products, citing Apple as one of the "least green" tech companies in the world.
The late Apple founder Steve Jobs announced plans to cut out the harmful materials in 2008, making Apple the first
electronics maker to do so.
5. Working conditions — When news broke in early 2012 of a planned mass suicide of workers at Foxconn, the
company manufacturing most Apple products, many Apple consumers were up in arms. Accusations of severe
working conditions and instances of child labor recently has since prompted Apple to allow inspectors from the Fair
Labor Association to access and report on the factories.
