Fast Company: Open Season on Apple

Fast Company’s lastest cover story paints a picture of Apple in 2008 as a company under attack by numerous enemies.

“In a way the company has never seen, the barbarians are massing at the gates. From hardware to software to services, major competitors with serious R&D and marketing budgets are laying siege to the House of Jobs. As Apple moves into new markets, it has made powerful new enemies, some working in concert.”

I would argue that Apple is the one “massing at the gates.” Apple is seizing new territory from cell phone makers with its iPhone and gaining more ground in the computer market with its OSX and MacBooks. Nokia, Dell, and other companies in these matured markets have been forced into a defensive position. Take, for example, Nokia’s plan to release a touchscreen phone and Michael Dell’s recent promise to create “product lust,” an obvious attempt to copy Apple’s advertising savvy.

The only area in which Apple finds itself on the defensive is with the iPod. Its most deep-pocketed competitor, Microsoft, finally has a product that could seize ground in the contrarian market (people who will not buy an iPod no matter what), but Apple’s innovation has continued to outpace Microsoft and the rest of competition. Based on current product lines (including cell phones that play mp3s), there are no signs the iPod’s market size or market share will shrink in 2008.

In the near future, based on its current product profile, Apple seems unlikely to give ground in any of the markets it currently competes. In fact, Apple has plenty of market share to gain in two of its three core markets (OS/computers and cell phones). It also could be argued that the third market, mp3 players, will continue to grow in overall size as mp3 players begin to catch on in unsaturated markets globally (Asia).

For continued growth in 2008, Apple will need to focus on the affordability of its products and the openness and versatility of its products.