Since its arrival in 1976, Apple has allowed the world to watch the technology industry grow and expand, multiple times a year. Founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, a genius in himself, has influenced remarkable devices that have become a common trait within modern day society. Apple is not only a technological brand, but it has also grown to create a fashion trend in itself, ultimately an incredibly beneficial trait to the conglomerate. With its aesthetically pleasing devices, highly sophisticated user friendly systems, and the overall marketing image that the company cares for the customer’s needs, it’s no wonder that Apple has become one of the most successful brands of the 21st century.
Most companies are surrounded by the aura of having their main priority being the profitability factor; however Apple has cleverly avoided this preconception, admittedly adding to its global success. Another preconception that some have of the company is that they only contribute to the technology industry; however, this may not be the case. Apple has contributed greatly to all aspects of society, sometimes not as much as people portray, however it has helped technology advance dramatically over the 30 years that it has been around; for example, Apple gave personal computing a personality, with one of the first Macs being brightly coloured, making the device highly enjoyable to use. It can be said that this is where Apple’s tasteful design addiction began, leading to the iPhone and more. Apple has also created the best multimedia device, confused the music industry - baffling CEO’s across the globe as it became the world’ s no.1 music store, in 2009 selling 8.5 billion songs – making us all app crazy and reinventing consumer technology. Although there is this positive image surrounding Apple from its birth, in recent years, it can be commented that many critics and bloggers have begun to publicise the power that Apple holds; and the public are beginning to notice this.
30 years ago, the public were wowed by Apple’s new outlook on the technology business, transforming it from what everyone believed to be a corporate thing, into a lifestyle factor, that everyone could engage in. In some sense, you could say that the public were quite naïve at this point; because Apple was the first company to create and project this image onto society, it created a fashion trend that many still follow today – myself included. However, some have become less naïve, and are now aware of the marketing techniques that Apple uses to hook its customers in – the advertisements used by the conglomerate appeal to all members of society, yet their devices are extortionately priced, proving that they contradict themselves, and now the public is aware of this. Does this mean that Apple will soon lose its grip on the market? Only time will tell, but it is safe to say that with the numerous devices that Apple have released over the past few decades, it has kick-started the a imitation revolution within the technology business, planting the idea in the brains of other corporations that they could gain from Apple’s success by constructing copies of their products. In recent news, Apple has taken Samsung to court for apparently infringing the patent that concerns the iPad, for creating their own version – the Samsung Galaxy tablet. Unfortunately for Apple, this is something that must be expected when a company has achieved high status, and although it is fair for Apple to take other companies to court for this form of plagiarism, they have taken part in some petty lawsuits in the past. Bloggers and critics are part of the package that comes with being a successful brand; they portray their thoughts and opinions on specific products, which most will look upon as being a form of free criticism, one that Apple won’t have needed to pay more money to instigate – yet they do not look upon this as an advantage to their business, so they instead target these people, and sue them. Is this a plan for Apple to gain more money? Or perhaps this is a way of preserving their clean, untainted image that has proved them well over the years. By looking into this, it is obvious to comment that Apple hold too much power in the business industry – ultimately creating a monopoly situation. With this in mind, it is hard for smaller businesses to emerge and remain a part of society, and in this economic climate, this may be just what we need; but the presence of huge conglomerates, Apple, Sony, Panasonic etc. prevents the smaller companies from growing.
Understandably, Apple needs to remain popular with the masses in order to create profit; but it takes advantage of its status within society and sometimes acts as if it is an invincible company. With the death of Steve Jobs, many believed that the company would struggle to remain on top, and although it is too soon to tell, there have been hiccups in the past few months regarding Siri and the iPhone 5 launch. With these stumbles, competitors of Apple, like Google, have been given the chance to challenge its role in society.
So what does the future hold for Apple? Will it survive without Steve Jobs? Or will we see some Apple crumple in the future, without Job’s genius outlook on the world? It is hard to comment on this; but what can be noticed, is the innovative and early adapter that Apple is. It is constantly churning out new ideas and new devices, helping people in their day-to-day lives – however, whether Apple remains the King of the technology world is a comment too soon to say, but for now we can just sit back and watch as the future plays out.
