The Apple iPhone has perhaps become the most widely accepted mobile Technology product of our time, and turned the technology into essential tool of our daily lives. (O'gredy 2009). An iPhone is a Smartphone (mobile phone) is a handheld computer, equipped with web browsing, email, music playback and the ability to run applications, Apple Incorporated is the producer of iPhone and well as iPod, iPad and Mac computers (Buckley and Clark 2012). Apple touched various sectors of human live in many positive ways and has a variety of customers ranging from multinational, small and medium enterprises, education, government, etc. The idea for the original iPhone came from Steve Job, the founder and CEO at Apple Inc. The iPhone invention started in 2005 as project purple 2, within two years, Apple Incorporated in partnership with AT&T created the iPhone. The release of the iPhone was made on June 29, 2007.
Apple Incorporated is among the few most influential companies in Information Technology today which started from living room to one of the most successful computer companies in history. Apple Inc is the corporation that designs and manufacturers' computer hardware, software and other consumer electronics. (Micheal, 2010). Apple went into networking solutions, content and application in partnership with third-party companies (AT&T), According to Stan Sigman " iPhone owners will be Cingular and AT&T customers - they will get the best network and service in the business. Apple - Cingular and AT&T have come a long ways" (Block, 2007). Apple Inc has different types of products that crossed professional, consumer and generational boundaries with the iPod, currently the worlds best-selling digital audio player. According to experts, Apple provided three signature product innovations; the Apple II, the Macintosh, and the iPod, yet Apple has also delivered a broad range of product line extensions and cutting-edge applications. In hardware, Apple unleashed the trend-setting iMac desktop computer and produced the world's thinnest notebook, MacBook air, Apple's programming effort gave consumers the OS X operating system, complete with award-winning stability and speedy "leopard" interface. Applications like iTunes, iMovie, GarageBand and iWeb, with their point - and -click simplicity, transformed even novice computer users into multimedia wizards. (Gitman & McDaniel, 2008). The tight integration of its own operating system, hardware and applications, has been a strategy followed diligently by Apple. According to Steve Job "one of our biggest insights (years ago) was that we didn't want to get into any business we didn't own or control the primary technology, because you'll get your head handed to you, and we realized that for almost all future consumer electronics, the primary technology was going to be software, and we were pretty good at software" (De wit and Meyer, 2010).
Apple has a strong business network carriers which includes retail, wholesales, direct sales and third - party. Apple deals with third - party as one of their strategic to outsource one or more of its own value creation functions on its behalf. ( Hill and Jones, 2011). As part of the strategy used by the Apple, is the continuing expanding its platform for the innovation and delivering of third - party digital content and applications by the use of iTunes store. iTunes store, iBookstore and the company's App store allow customers to discover and download applications and books through either a window-based or Mac computer or through "iOS devices" like iPhone, iPad iPod touch.
Apple believes that, investments in Research and Development are critical factors for its future growth and competitiveness in the information technology market and are directly related to the development of new and improved products that are vital to the company's business strategy; as such , with that, Apple has to make more investments in Research and Development to remain competitive.( shivo, 2012). And also it focused on investing in a new software and hardware products, and enhanced developing its products, including iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac hardware; OS X operating systems and iOS; and online services and various application software (Shilov, 2012).
THE APPLE iPHONE HARDWARE
The iPhone is one of the mobile device that is accepted globally in Information and Communication Technology market. It was invented and manufactured by Apple Incorporated and has numerous exotic features beside the normal phone features like messaging, number dialing, camera and so on. iPhone has the ability to handle various types wireless signal; GSM used for phone calls; while GPRS, 3G and EDGE are for mobile internet access; Wi-Fi is for public hotspots and houses internet access. The Apple iPhone is one of the mobile handset that has a virtual keyboard in place of physical keyboard and touchscreen. (Buckley, 2012)
The Apple iPhone has an attractive liquid crystal display with 9.0cm (3.5") screen size, clear touch screen and single button architecture on the surface make the iPhone to have a more competitive advantage over its competitors. The features of this touch screen of the iPhone were originated by fingerworks, in which the capacitive styli were used to prevent electric conductivity and a fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating . The Apple iPhone has a multiple high-resolution color screen which made it to supersede the simple handset features. Apple name iPhone 4 screen as the "Retina Display" due to it's high pixel density which makes it very difficult for the human eye to notice or differentiate individual pixels. The screen has 326 PPI ( Pixel per inch) pixel density and 960x640 pixel dimensions within 3.5inch display. (Hanson, 2011). iPhone touch screen is designed to allow a bare finger to be used on the screen to perform multitask or multiple functions and is more resistant to day-to-day wear and scratches due to usage. (Buckley, 2012)
The Apple iPhone has a few hardware interfaces of about four to five buttons depending on types of iPhone used; home button is a rounded square button and is the only physical menu button which is placed directly below the iPhone display. Multifunction button situated on the top of the iPhone is for sleep and wake up mode, power unit button and controlling for phone calls. On the left spine of the phone are for volume adjustment. Ring/silent switch button is located above the volume controls for muting various functions sound such as alert sounds, text messages and so on. The buttons of newer version of iPhone were made of metal except for the home button. (McFedries, 2012).
The bottom panel of iPhone has four features: Headset jack; situated at the left of the bottom panel side of the phone for connecting a headset or headphones. Microphone which is on the right side of the head jack is for voice conversation and recording. While lightning connector is located between microphone and speaker for connecting a charging cord or for hooking it up to a computer. Finally, speaker is on the right side of lightning connector. (McFedries, 2012).
