Business Model Canvas: Apple Inc.

Business Model Canvas: Apple Inc.

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Business Model Canvas: Apple Inc.

Description of the Organization

            Official name as registered by the Securities exchange commission (SEC): Apple Inc.       (AAPL.O)

            Date of Origination: 1976 as a personal computer design and manufacturing company

            Location: Silicon Valley

Brief overview: AAPL.O is a multinational company founded in the US that is involved in the design, production, and sale of consumer mobile communication and media devices such as smartphones, portable music players, and personal computers. My role at Apple Inc. was in the quality assurance department as a quality assurance analyst intern, where along with other members of staff we were responsible for the implementation of the company’s quality assurance policy.

Business Canvas Model for Apple Inc. Company

Key Partners

            Apple Inc. outsources manufacturing services for some essential component of its products’ hardware to companies such as Foxconn used in the development of iDevices. The company’s key partners in the telecommunications industry include:

• Manufacturers
• Television, music, and movies industry companies
• Mobile applications software developers, operators, and publishers
• Telecommunication services providers such as Verizon and AT&T

The company partners with music record companies, publishers, and film studios that won the rights of music, movies, and literature that Apple sells on its digital media platforms such as the iTunes store.

Key Activities

            The organization creates and sells associated software programs to run their devices. The company designs software applications to run their mobile communication devices, such as the iPhone operating system (OS), the watch OS, OS X, Apple Pay, iCloud, and a wide range of support accessories and services (Genoni & Desai, 2016).  

• Development of iDevices
• Development of software and information technology infrastructure

The quality assurance department at Apple Inc. was responsible for engaging in activities that project a positive company image (Shahin, 2017).

Key Resources

            The computer company relies on the talents of exceptional software engineers and hardware designers to produce their merchandize. Apple Inc. has over 479 Apple stores in different parts of the world, with the company’s brand image being a valuable resource driving its market capitalization and competitiveness in the telecommunications industry (Shahin, 2017). Apple Inc.’s notable vital resources include

• Physical assets and facilities
• The Apple brand
• Customer loyalty or obsession with its products coupled to an emphatic workforce
• Constant innovation
• Intellectual property rights and product patents

Value Propositions

            Apple Inc.’s value propositions are strengthened by the fact that it was the first company to produce a convenient and powerful smartphone featuring a touchscreen interface (Palmer & Boston, 2014). Apple’s continuous commitment to ensuring that its brand image is associated with high quality, sophisticated, classy, and precision might be attributed to high customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer Relations

            The witnessed customer loyalty and a strong brand image associated with high quality and sophisticated products and services are attributed to have helped the company establish strong customer relations (Mullins et al., 2009). The company offers its customers internet and phone based customer services channels and individualized assistance at its various store outlets worldwide.

Channels

            The company sells its merchandize through electronic retailers and online merchant stores such as Amazon to sell its products to multiple customers, who place their orders via the internet, for example, iTunes is the world’s leading online marketplace for music content (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010).

Customer Segments

            In the 21^st century, the advent of mobile telecommunication devices and mobile computing resulted in the reinvention of Apple Inc.’s business model (Haslam, Tsitsianis, Andersson, & Yin, 2013). They ventured into consumer electronics such as laptop computers and smartphones, with the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod being their flagship products.

Cost Structure

            Apple products are priced based on a premium pricing strategy that requires substantial resources in marketing and sustaining its brand image in the market industry that is highly competitive (Wittner, 2011).

Revenue Streams

            Apple Inc.’s initial revenues after its incorporation emanated mainly from the sale of home personal computers, but it has changed over time to be dominated by the sale of consumer electronics.

• The sale of iPhone smartphones accounts for approximately 30-50% of the firm’s revenue streams in each fiscal quarter
• iPads are regarded as the second most significant sources of revenue for the company
• The sale of Macintosh computers is still considered a viable source of income for the company (Abraham, 2013).
• Other Apple products such as the watches and iPods are attributed to generating an estimated 3-6% of revenues for the company
• The company’s internet sources are attributed to account for 3-6% of the company’s total revenue streams that include iTunes, Apple Pay, and Apple Care.

References

Abraham, S. (2013). Will business model innovation replace strategic analysis? Strategy & Leadership, 41(2), 31-38.

Genoni, T. C., & Desai, A. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,519,624. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Haslam, C., Tsitsianis, N., Andersson, T., & Yin, Y. P. (2013, December). Apple’s financial success: The precariousness of power exercised in global value chains. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 268-279). Elsevier.

Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Mullins, J. W., Mullins, J. W., Mullins, J., & Komisar, R. (2009). Getting to plan B: Breaking through to a better business model. Harvard, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Palmer, B. J., & Boston, L. (2014). U.S. Patent Application No. 13/794,550.

Shahin, S. A. (2017). Some aspects of the use of innovative business models of enterprise development: Foreign experience. У номері, 61.

Wittner, O. J. (2011). HTML5 in the Norwegian Higher Education Institutions.