1. Media Company Case
Study
Task 1 Understand the structure
and ownership of the media sector
Ben Holmes

2. Apple
Apple belongs to the Information Technologies Sector,
Media Sector and Telecommunication sector.
Apple is most famous for making the Macintosh, a top of
the range, very successful personal computer which is
still here today through products like the iMac, the
MacBook Pro and the Mac mini. The iPod is also a very
successful product and has been around for over ten
years now. The iPhone and iPad are the most recent
products also made by Apple. However on Jan 9th
2001
Apple released a programme called iTunes which allows
you to listen to music, watch videos and download radio
podcasts. This converted Apple into a multi-sector
industry.

3. Who Owns Apple?
The initial founder of Apple was Steve Jobs.
However Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple
Computer on April/1/1976, with the release of the
Apple I, and incorporated the company on
January/3/1977in California

4. Integration
Apple is a vertically integrated company. This means
that anything with an Apple Logo or any product sold
or advertised by Apple, belongs to them 100% and they
will receive 100% of the profits. This is because they
are not integrated with any other companies and create
their own software, hardware and accessories.
However being vertically integrated is not always the
best way to go, due to the fact that if a product does not
sell, then Apple and Apple only will be the ones that
suffer. Apple is a monopoly and does not need to share
profits with any other company.

5. Competitors
It could be argued that most PC manufacturers are rivals
to Apple, for example Dell Computers, Alienware, Gateway
etc. You can also factor in Microsoft as a rival to Apple’s
Operating System (iOS). But in recent years they have
branched out into online media such as iTunes & iPhones,
so you can factor in Napster and any other legal music
download sites, Hotmail and Gmail, and Nokia, Samsung
and Blackberry.
However regardless of the long list of Apples’ competitors,
As of September/29/2012 Apple had 72,800 permanent
full-time employees and 3,300 temporary full-time
employees. Its worldwide annual revenue in 2012 totalled
$156 billion. This shows that Apple is a monopoly and
regardless of how many competitors it has, they will
always dominate the market due to the quality of their
product and the fact that their software is like no other.

6. Target Audience
Apple is marketing to people who have a few characteristics:
Middle/Upper class income who are willing to pay a bit more for a
better user experience. Paying £500 more for an Apple computer is
not a huge deal if you have a decent income.
People who like to have fun with technology. No other platform
offers as many entry level tools. This includes people who like to
shoot a lot of digital photos or video.
Music enthusiasts and fans ages 12-35.
Professionals in media and design.

7.  One of the most significant change in
organizational structure for Apple was
when the founding farther and CEO,
Steve Jobs, died In October 2011. This
caused many of the leading investors in
apple to become nervous about how
apple will cope without him.

8.  Due to the size of Apple and the amount
of products they sell, they have a very
good history for top quality. There has
been minor glitches with their iOS iPhone
software which have been quickly
addressed and fixed but not many other
issues have been discovered.

9. Bibliography
http://bizdharma.com/blog/what-is-vertical-
and-horizontal-integration/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/1975
38
http://appleinccasestudy.weebly.com/appl
es-target-market.html

10. Bibliography
http://bizdharma.com/blog/what-is-vertical-
and-horizontal-integration/
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/1975
38
http://appleinccasestudy.weebly.com/appl
es-target-market.html