Topsy turvy goes the road for Apple as it steps down from its lead position in the global market. Google leaps up to be the leading brand in the world. Apple lacks innovation in its pipeline. Slipping down to the 2nd global position in the list of most valuable global brands it has brought the brand value of Apple Inc. way down.
Google, the leader in the market GOOGL,-0.60%, has shown considerable growth of 24%. The growth in its brand value ranged from $88.2 billion in 2016 to $109.5 billion in 2017. It was last in 2011 when Google was in the 1st position, stated by a strategy and valuation consultancy, ‘Brand Finance’. Its own search operating business is the focal point of advertising income. It has got no competition when it comes to search over the internet.
2017 VS Apple!
2017 has not begun with a bright sun for Apple. With a brand worth $107.1 billion in 2017, Apple AAPL, +6.10% manage to be in the 2nd spot. Although the market is growing, the company’s share is getting reduced month by month. Apple is down by 27% from that in 2016. Brand Finance reports that customers’ goodwill has been overexploited. Apple has failed in producing revenues from products that are new like the Apple watch. The company is unable to present the innovation in the technical pipeline of the brand in the market.
One of the key profitability sources reveals that lustre of Apple has vanished. It needs to compete on a higher level. Other than conventional rivals like Samsung, it should run the race with Chinese brands such as OnePlus and Huawei in the Smartphone sector.
The determination of brand value is done using calculations involving a score of brand strength ranging from 0 to 100, a rate of royalty that is used to charge for the brand usage, the rebated revenue of the brand after tax and future sales.
Apple Share in Decline Mode!
The Smartphone shares of iPhone are continuing to decline every month in the market. Most of the decline in shares is observed for last 8 months in the Chinese market. The share of Apple has been declining for months in Japan, France, the United States, Great Britain and Spain. In Germany, the market shares have increased but remained constant in Italy.
Most of the high-profile investors have left the stock of Apple due to these adverse factors. However, the forthcoming of iPhone 7 release is expected to boost up some sales in the new Smartphone pipeline. Apple should provide new designs of hardware in the Smartphones. Certainly, new features should also be installed. According to the Fortune, Apple is not expected by most analysts to improve in performance.
The thing to be assured of is that Microsoft and Samsung are in equivalent position as that of Apple. The shares in the market for both the brands reduced considerably throughout the same time period. In the software sector, Android of Google kept strengthening with time increasing its share in the market to 84.1 percent from 78.8 percent. The share in the market of Apple iOS reduced to 14.8 percent to 17.9 percent.
After the review of the declines in the revenue of past two-quarters, it is concluded that Apple has its revenue declining in 13 years. This is giving opportunities for its competitors to gain momentum.
Market Share: iOS VS Android
The natural rivals of the iPhone are the phones that are android powered in the western countries. The market share of android phones in the second quarter of 2015 was 82.8% while phones that were iOS powered occupied 14%. In the first quarter of 2016, Samsung had a global market share as 23.2%. At the same time, the share of Apple in the global market reduced to 14.8% right in the first quarter from about 18% in the beginning of the year. In the latest quarter, this further decreased to 12%. This has been the smallest market share since before the year 2009, the time when Smartphones hit the market.
The first and third party sales of Amazon.com and Amazon Prime Now generated sales that occupied 43% of the entire revenue that was generated in the online market of the United States. The E-commerce increased by 24% last year. It is expected to be 10% of the sales to the consumers as stated by Slice Intelligence blog in a post.
Consumers reviewing Apple give opinions that the phone of Apple are being overrated as well as overpriced. The computers are also very expensive stating that the glorious days of Apple are approaching end.
Google at its Best
On the other hand, Google has been held high to provide valuable and quality service which is called as locating information. Most users find the Chromebook to work according to the purpose. However, there is no issue even if products of Google are not defined as those of Apple.
Google happens to be among the two internet brands and it deserves the value it is given. Apple, for obvious reasons, is not one of them. Apple earned 14.8 percent of the market share in 2016 by selling 51.6 million of iPhones. This made Apple as the second-largest manufacturer of Smartphones. On comparing the market shares of the previous year, the figures of the sales are not attractive. The previous year 60.2 million handsets were sold by Apple. The market share in the global market back then was at high of 17.9 percent.
Apple, Inc. deals with the manufacturing, design, and marketing of communication through mobiles, personal computers, media devices and digital music players that are portable. The company also provides services and products under the series iPad, iPhone, Mac, iPod, Apple TV brands and Apple Watch; professional and consumer software applications. These applications come under the OS, iOS, X and the brands of watchOS. It also extends its facilities of Operating Systems which categorize under Apple Pay brands and iCloud. Apple operates through segments such Europe, Greater China, America, Rest of Asia Pacific and Japan.