Apple's Digital Music Player Market
There are two main key issues when dealing with Apple's digital music player market. The first issue consists of Apple maintaining its digital music player market share. The second issue pertains to whether or not Apple has a niche music player by not licensing its technology. Apple has a substantial market share consisting of 60% of the digital music player market when only 11% of the U.S. population owns digital devices. In order for Apple to maintain its major role in the digital player market it must consistently maintain its innovativeness over other digital music players in the industry. Apple not licensing their technology and creating a niche music player could hurt them in a market where consumers may want to use their device to its full potential.
Analysis
When analyzing the Apple industry on of the main tools that was used was the five forces analysis. The first force looked at was the barrier to entry, in which capital, brand loyalty and economies of scale were the main components. In an industry where technology plays such a major role capital is a must in order to stay innovative and ahead of the competition in the research and development department. Capital is also needed because there are so many major names in the music player industry already that a major advertising campaign as well as some type of niche in the market to set you apart would be needed. When it comes to brand loyalty, companies like Apple, Dell, Creative Labs, iRiver, RCA and SanDisk already play a major role by producing music players that are reliable and cost efficient depending on the technology that you are looking for in a music player. Economies of scale would play a major role in deciding whether or not to enter the music player market because Apple controls 60 percent of the music player market in which only 11 percent of the population owns a player. This would make one believe that since Apple owns such a major percentage of the market that they have sold enough of their products that economies of scale doesn't really pertain to them. In order for you to get to the point where you can sell your product at low enough prices to compete you would have to sale a large amount and with only 40 percent of the market open to smaller less technological companies this would be a difficult task.
Having a large market share can be very helpful because companies earn more money to produce more. They also create brand loyalties even if they increase their prices. However, companies who have large market shares often times do not provide a lot of innovation. These companies usually feel they don’t need to get ahead because they hold such a big share in the market. This sometimes hurts their brand because when new products enter the market with cool features, consumer are likely to be engaged and
At this point and time, I do not see anyone that can force Apple to do otherwise. Yes, Amazon, Google, Pandora and other media service have come about, but in my opinion Apple has total control of the market at this time. Apple dominated the market for downloaded music. Maybe in time their market power will decline, but at this time I do not see it. The competition has to offer better or more than what is currently being offered.
• There is pressure on Apple to increase the price of its music download file, from the music industry itself. Many of these companies make more money from iTunes (i.e. downloadable music files) than from their original CD sales. Apple has sold about 22 million iPod digital music players and more than 500 million songs though its iTunes music store. It accounts for 82% of all legally downloaded music in the US. The company is resolute, but if it gives in to the music producers, it may be perceived as a commercial weakness.
It’s probably not feasible to avoid streaming music services nowadays. Every smart phone on the market is able to operate numerous music streaming applications, ranging from radio-style streaming, on-demand streaming, and even cloud-streaming. Smart TVs come equipped with Spotify, Pandora, or Rdio. AT&T partners with Beats music to offer a unique on-demand music streaming service with playlists complied by DJs. It seams that with the advent of Wifi hotspots and high-speed mobile Internet services, music streaming is becoming more and more a part of mainstream life. Spotify has been in the spotlight within this particular segment of the streaming industry ever since its introduction to the United States in 2011. (Roose, n.d.)
What trends in networking in the 1990’s and early 2000’s drove the popularity of Napster? What other technologies contributed to Napster’s success?
...e tends to use it’s technological marketing and expertise to create markets for products. Experts claim that Apple creates the products that people do not know they yet want. Third, the Apple business model dominates others in the market. The aggressiveness towards new innovation does not give competitors a chance to gain grown. Finally, consumers of Apple products are drawn to the uniqueness and the experience of Apple products. Apple sticks to a few quality products offering little confusion for the customer for selecting the product that fits their needs.
Cutting costs by competitors is the most logical way for competitors to be more competitive in the market. By cutting costs, there are more profits to be made and to gain market share by offering lower cost substitute products. The industry is flooded by competition, but no other competitor of Apple really focuses on creating great technical upport or brand loyalty. (Elliot, 2014)Apple’s primary focus is to develop innovative products and create a unique product that consumers can depend on the being the most highly anticipated technological device while offering great service and support for these new products. Apple uses business model innovation which introduces new products that are compatible with each other such as iTunes and the iPhone or ipod. This has proven to be a very effective business model and competitors are trying to replicate the same model to their advantage. (Jakab, 2015) By being an innovator and first mover on this type of technology, it gave Apple the competitive advantage in the market. In order for competitors to be more effective in the industry, they must attempt to gain customer loyalty and offer a simliar business strategy to that of Apple if they are to be the industry
has a competitive advantage over their competitors. One of the methods that Apple uses to maintain a competitive advantage in international markets is tying their hardware and applications together with an integrated operating system. This means that one of their devices, such as the iPad works very much like the iPhone and many of the apps run one device just as they do on the other. The only difference would be the size of the product. Apples laptop is larger than the iPad which is larger than the iPhone. Otherwise these products share the same functionality and information through connectivity. They share functionality and information seamlessly through connectivity, constantly updating customer’s lives through simple plug-in. I think this is the number one reason why Apple has an edge over their
Apple’s market consists of few characteristics. The first one is the Upper/ Middle market, which market shows that customers are willing to pay a bit more for a better user experience. The people who are from an upper/middle class market do not find it a huge deal to pay that difference if they have a decent income. Another characteristic is the people who like to have fun with technology. No other manufacturing firm offers as many options as the Apple Inc. The third characteristic of Apple’s target market is the Media and Design that are 2 groups that make part of a huge market. Apple’s market share and success will increase in the next decade because our Generation X and Y who have been exposed to the internet...
The technology field is constantly transforming. In spite of near limitless opportunity for growth, there are still numerous obstacles which threaten the continued success and stability of the technology industry as a whole. Even with its current standing as a media and technological front-runner, Apple still faces threats not only from competitors within the technology field, but like every corporation, market forces as well.
Along with the development of a file format (MP3) to store digital audio recordings, came one of the new millennium’s most continuous debates – peer-to-peer piracy – file sharing. Internet companies such as Napster and Grokster became involved in notable legal cases in regards to copyright laws in cyberspace. These two cases are similar in nature, yet decidedly different. In order to understand the differences and similarities, one should have an understanding of each case as well as the court’s ruling.
Computers and technology makes it easier for entrepreneurs to enter this market. Not only are major tech companies competing against one another, but they are also competing against little programmers that know how to code. In our time you will never know with certainty when a small group of engineers or computer scientists are going to create, “next big thing”. Apple has been able to have a competitive advantage over its competitor by creating the highest quality products and services. Some of Apple’s current competitors are Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, and a few other tech companies as well. Most people strongly people Apple is one of the stronger company its industry, but then again some other people have biased views. Financially, they are the strongest company in the world. Also people are always willing to pay a premium for their products because of their durability, quality, and prior experiences with Apple products. Apple is always on the look at for new innovative ideas and concept that are being produced by self-motivated entrepreneurs. They are always looking to hire bright minds and let them develop within the company. A lot of entrepreneurs, programmers and engineers do not have a problem working for Apple because of their well-established perks. Apple offers its employees of the best benefits in the world. They also fairly compensate their employees that work in the front-end store as
So the options are much more limited and the decision is more likely to be based on the dollar amount spent on an iPhone. The App Store iPhones use is like a library that only holds bestselling authors. There are limitations set on the apps so the variety is much smaller than the Google Play Store and the diversity of applications is nothing compared to the Android market. Along with being limited on applications, music is much more limited on iPhones.
From 1980 to 1996, Apple’s competitive range in the PC industry was rocky. Although Apples products were unique and well built, they were overpriced compared to competing products from IBM and others. As competitor prices dropped, Apple prices stayed the same and the company saw a decline in sales as customers opted to purchase from its competitors. John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, took many steps to improve the company’s competitive advantage. One of those steps was to compete with price by producing a low-cost computers that appealed to a mass-market. The second step was to form an alliance with rivals IBM and Novel in order to create new operating systems and applications...
Music piracy is a developing problem that it affects the music industry in many different ways including being responsible for the unemployment of 750,000 workers, as well as a loss of $2,5 billion; therefore, I want to explore ‘To what extent has music piracy affected the music industry market in the United States over the last 10 years?’