The iPhone, along with the App Store allowed for the development of any app imaginable. New businesses and business models have been created as a result. The on-demand economy is striving, all thanks to mobile devices. We’re familiar with the likes of Uber, Deliveroo and Airbnb, but these are just a few of the many new platforms popping up each and every day. The on-demand market is a convenience we could not have had prior to the iPhone. On your mobile device you can book a place to stay using the Airbnb app, use Uber to get you there and then order a meal on
Deliveroo that will arrive at the doorstep to your Airbnb. You can even get onto Tinder and potentially set up a date for the night. How did we get here? Anything we need, we can have it. This has disrupted established industries, but also developed and created new ones all together.
Apple was an entirely different company before the iPhone. The date iPhone was revealed Apple also dropped ‘Computer’ from their official title to become simply Apple, Inc. With the name change came a number of other changes as well in the next 10 years. Apple was no longer just a computer manufacturer, and it hadn’t been for a while. In 2006, Apple’s revenue sources included the iPod (40%), Macs (38%) and everything else (22%) totalling $19 billion USD. Last year, Apple’s revenue was at $216 billion USD with iPhone pulling in 63% of the total whereas iPod is now a part of the ‘other’ category at a mere 5%. The iPhone cannibalized the sales of the iPod, the once dominant category of Apple’s product line, but in turn helped make Apple the world’s most valuable company.
The iPod, while still alive in the iPod Touch, is dwindling and will eventually disappear entirely from Apple’s lineup. The iPhone however, continues to grow and as does Apple. With the tenth anniversary of the iPhone upon us, what does Apple have in store for its most successful product in its history? And although Apple has recently been criticised for not innovating, we’ll find out in early September where the next generation of iPhone takes us.
It's estimated that Apple has cash reserves exceeding $250 billion USD. With the excess cash, Apple has made its fair share of acquisitions picking up patents and trademarks along the way. They've even built a brand new HQ called Apple Park that cost over $5 billion USD to design and build.
SEPTEMBER 2017 | MANE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | 13
9 Anything We Need
10 Apple