Issue identified in the scenario that is also facing the company
Apple Inc., also known as Apple Computer Inc. before changed its name in the beginning of 2007, is an American consumer electronics corporation with worldwide annual sales in its fiscal year 2006 of US$19.3 billion (Edgar Online, 2006.) Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs out of Silicon Valley founded Apple Computer in the 1976 (Ehrenfried, 2004.) From the Apple II microcomputer introduced in 1977 to the Macintosh introduced in 1984, Apple Computer has became one of the leading computer makers in the world (Ehrenfried, 2004.) However, Apple¡¯s market share fell as competition from Microsoft Windows and the comparatively inexpensive IBM PC compatible computers that dominated the market in 1990s. This was the turning point for Apple from a profitable company to an enterprise with crippling financial losses (Ehrenfried, 2004.)
How the company responded to the issue
Apple made some changes to turn the business around again. In May 2001, Apple announced the opening of the Apple retail stores in major US consumer locations. These stores were designed to stem the tide of Apple¡¯s declining share of the computer market and to counter a poor record of marketing Apple products by their-party retail outlets. In addition, Apple introduced its first iPod portable digital audio player later that year. It was an entirely new product line from its computer business. Soon after the introducing of iPod, Itunes Store was established to offer online music downloads for US 99 cents a song for its iPod lines. Besides music, more than 2200 television shows, in addition to full-length films from Disney, are also available on iTunes (Scientific American, 2007.)
Outcomes of the company¡¯s respons ...