The Broadening Business Footprint Of Apple

In his address to Apple employees, Steve Jobs says that the iPhone will change the mobile space forever. He said that when the Mac first came out, people talked about how some day, every computer would work that way, and the same would be true of the iPhone. The iPhone was driven by the fact that everyone hates their phones, and it's all about "core competence"—making all of the features easy-to-use and self-discoverable.
The next part makes interesting reading : The iPhone, as per him is the third leg of Apple’s business. The first leg is the Mac business, which Steve addressed by saying that they have the "best Macs" in the new product pipeline ever right now, and that the stuff coming out in the next year is "off the charts." Wow, sounds juicy. The second leg is the iPod and iTunes marketplace, which we all know has been wildly successful. The third leg of the chair, Steve hopes, will be the iPhone business, which he hopes to grow into something as strong as the iPod. He added that he hopes for the fourth leg to become the Apple TV, but focus is on the iPhone for now.

Businessweek notes that the Apple ecosystem has morphed from a sad little high-tech shell into a global empire. Once known for defining the digital future but never fully capitalizing on it, Apple has been transformed into tech's most influential hit-maker.
Steve - the real test will be whether Apple can change the way consumers think about a phone. Apple is for the first time entering a mass market, and incumbent players won’t leave the playing field empty – they will definitely come back at Apple – more aggressively and with more focus. A Broadened business model may not mean that the business will be strong across the board.

Labels: Apple, Emerging Technologies, Emerging Trends