How the iPhone Saved Apple
Apple has managed to make up lost ground to Microsoft since the release of personal computers (PC) back in the mid 80s. In the early 80s, one of Apple’s geeks decided to leave the company and started his own. The geek that left was Bill Gates. Bill Gates believed in open technology, allowing his computer systems to be compatible with programs developed by third party vendors. That gave way to the technology revolution that has shaken up the world since the beginning of the 90s when the Internet was first released for public consumption. As PCs users rose by the millions, Apple just watched from the corners unable to stop the rise of a giant by the name of Microsoft.
It’s now 2009 and although Microsoft still dominates the personal computer markets, Apple has managed to become relevant again.
Apple is now the synonymous of stylish, reliability and coolness.
Apple’s Comeback
Millions of consumers world wide now own an apple product and is not a personal computer. For Apple it was obvious that trying to compete with mighty Microsoft for personal computer supremacy was not working. And in 2001, Apple’s strategy was re-designed to come up with a new product where the market was not well defined. Portable music player was the bet and in 2001 the first iPod was born.
The birth of the iPod
At a mere 5GB hard-drive based, Apple unveils the first iPod that sold for $399.00
The market strategy changed from marketing personal computers to how cool it is to have your “Whole CD Library with you all the time” Steve Jobs (Apple’s CEO) tells reporters in a press conference in 2001. As the iPod hits the stores in November 2001, Apple sells 125,000 iPods during the holiday season. And although Apple was first seen as a potential threat to digital multimedia products such as music, for it’s “Rip, Mix, Burn” slogan, Steve Jobs assured the music giants that the iPod will not violate any laws because it was developed to “legally acquire music” and he added, “you have the right to manage it in all other devices you own”
During the Mac Expoworld Expo, Jobs notes that Apple has sold more than 600,000 iPods in the 14 months since it’s launch.
