Who are Apple’s biggest competitors? Well, the markets are constantly valuing Apple and Google as the most valuable company on earth, with it switching between them. Apple is widely considered the most valuable company in real terms, as Apple create physical products as the main part of their business model, but google is more virtual based. In total, Apple is worth over 700 billion dollars, with a net income of over 50 billion dollars last year alone. With all that money to be made, there is aggressive competition in each are Apple operate in. The main battlegrounds are emerging markets, where no company is well established. This gives smaller businesses the opportunity to compete with Apple for a market share. Here are ten of apple’s biggest competitors.
Samsung
Samsung has long been a major tech corporation. It’s a meme on the internet that Samsung steal all of Apple’s ideas, reproduce them, and sell them for less than Apple sell the original product. I’m sure Samsung would deny this claim, but we know for sure that they are a strong competitor to Apple in the smart phone industry. Samsung also operate in industries like ship construction and financial services, but the only concern of Apple is their hardware production. Samsung produce tablets and televisions at a lower standard price than Ipads and Apple TVs. Their electronics tend to host Android operating systems, which are licensed by Google. Many of apple’s biggest competitors work together to weaken Apple’s market share.
PayPal
A lot of people have no idea that Apple is in the online payment business, but they have been for almost 2 years now. Being worth over 46 billion dollars, PayPal is among the biggest online payment services, and it’s the most recognizable brand in the business. But Apple’s online payment service is actually bigger than Paypal, having more users and seeing more growth than others. It is likely Apple will see further growth as they can easily integrate Apple Pay into the mobile and tablet devices they constantly sell. Apple pay is still only available in a handful of nations, so it’s growth is only just getting started.
Tesla Motors
Tesla is the leading producer of electric cars; any corporation wanting to move into the industry would be in direct competition with them. For several years we’ve been hearing rumors that Apple is running a secret project to develop electric cars. Prospects of the iCar seems inevitable at this point, Steve Jobs wanted to develop a brand of car, and it seems like that dream didn’t die. It’s been reported that Apple has hired over a thousand engineers with experience necessary to create an electric car. It’s reportedly known as “Project Titan” by those involves, and is treated with incredible secrecy. Elon Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla, has made it clear that he believes Apple will be a strong competitor in the electric car business.
Amazon
With devices like the Kindle fire, Amazon has slowly been encroaching on Apple’s territory. Amazon’s video streaming service in in competition with iTunes, so Apple tv’s stopped enabling the service. This caused Amazon simply stopped selling Apple tv. So Amazon now sell their own brand of tv. This is nothing compared to what’s coming next, with Amazon now selling smartphone applications. One of Apple’s biggest assets is their smartphone applications market. It seems likely that Amazon will soon develop their own smartphone and jump into the market with full force. Amazon seems to also be expanding more into the software industry, which may further threaten Apple’s dominance.
Dell
Dell isn’t just a 1990s relic that we remember fondly, it’s a corporation still operating in the electronic industry. Much of Dell’s current operation is their brand of laptop, which they are marketing against Apple computers. Dell hasn’t been hurt by the characteristics most other PC companies have (the others are known as having bad operating systems compared to Apple). This gives Dell the opportunity to challenge Apple’s market share. They are currently attempting a re-brand of the PC, to make it more popular among millennials. They literally want to “make the PC cool again”. I really don’t think they can succeed.
Sony Mobile
I remember having a Sony Mobile cell phone back when they were known as Sony Ericsson. A few years and a name change later, Sony Mobile is a tough competitor to Apple iPhones. In 2012, they were the 4th largest producer of cell phones. Today, they are up against the iPhone with their Sony Xperia smartphone, which has the advantage of being waterproof and shockproof. Their market share has been gradually fading since their peak in 2007, but Sony remains a big player in the smartphone business. The company was founded when two companies came together: Sony and Ericsson, hence the name.
Fitbit
Fitbit is a leading producer of wearable technology. They are known for their devices people wear on their arm to track their performance when it comes to exercise. They have a firm grip of the wearable technology market even before Apple announced the iWatch. In response to the Apple iWatch, Fitbit has released a smart watch of their own. Theirs costs less money. This is more than to just make more money, it’s development was an insult to Apple. It’s the first product that stands any chance of competing with the iWatch, as all others lack capability. Wearable technology is still a pretty young industry so it’s anyone’s guess who will win this one.
Bose
Bose is one of the world’s largest producers of headphones. So how is Bose in competition with Apple? Well, Apple purchased Beats electronics 2 years ago in a 3 billion dollar deal. So Apple is now in direct competition with Bose as they both produce similar models of electronics, and to a similar target audience. This alone is nothing special, but the two companies have met in the court room. This was after Bose accused Beats of infringing some kind of patent they held. Bose has lost the marketing battle against Beats, as Beats used visual branding very efficiently. But that doesn’t mean you should count Bose out of the market yet. Bose is still valued as a multi billion dollar corporation.
Google is an obvious competitor to Apple in so many ways. First of all, Google own the smartphone operating system Android, which indirectly competes with Apple phones through being licenced to companies like Samsung. GooglePlay is their own version of iTunes, which is big enough to worry the executives at Apple. Google also one of apple’s biggest competitors when it comes to online payment services. The main battleground between Google and Apple is India and China, which are emerging markets. Each nation have over a billion people, with an ever increasing number of such being able to afford smartphones. Will Android or Apple be the established provider for them? Time will tell.
Microsoft
Microsoft and Apple were once clients. But their relationship turned bad when they went into direct competition with each other. Since then, Microsoft has been among Apple’s biggest competitors. They were both offering home computers, with Microsoft outselling Apple due to them having lower prices. Microsoft computers were a lot less well made, but no one seemed to mind as long as they were cheaper. Apple raced ahead of Microsoft when they moved into the smartphone market. Recognizing this, Microsoft now have their own brand of smart phone. There are many other ways in which Microsoft competes with Apple.