To: Tim Cook, CEO
Date: September 30, 2014
Re: Company strategy advisement

Apple is a very innovative company and will continue to dominate the market. That is if we stay one step ahead of our competitors. As a technology company, Apple must stay innovative and not repeat same design ideas if we want to reassure investors and consumers alike that we haven’t lost our edge, and continue to dominate the market. To remain ahead of the game, you must continue what Steve Jobs has done and continue to push the level of innovation in the Apple product line. In order to do this, you need to look into expanding the product line instead of just renovating the iPad, iPhone, MacBooks, and etc. You need to introduce more models of the iPhone line along with the iPad and MacBooks that are cheaper to capture more market share. Other things you need to focus on are how to capture the Asian markets such as China, and India. Asides from just expanding and innovation, you need to surround yourself with those who share an innovative vision. Apple’s business environment mostly revolves around the tech industry. The tech industry is a very aggressive and competitive industry. Factors such as technology changes, social drivers, economic drivers, and other companies affect Apple’s business environment.
Following the legacy of former CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's technology conference has become the industry's most highly anticipated and observed event. Expanding upon this featured marketing event, the company should host additional conferences in addition to their annual Worldwide Developers Conference that will bring together key technology leaders and insiders, as well as young technology developers from competitive educational institutions. Apple Inc. should aim to maintain its position as the leader in the industry by developing technology and information hubs directly within the world's leading research institutions (i.e. MIT, Texas A&M, Stanford University). By building Apple research infrastructures specifically within educational institutions, in addition to the company's existing R&D Departments, we will benefit from sourcing for the newest innovations amongst bright young technologists. The goal is for Apple to be at the core of a network of technology hubs that produces and shares its research and innovation by providing promising technologists with the relevant resources they need early in their education. These educational hubs ("Apple Labs") will enrich our existing R&D as well as allow us to develop and train a new generation of innovators that will join the company.
Apple can also benefit from such an information network as an addition to the company's marketing strategy. The development of "Apple Labs" at educational and research institutions will build brand loyalty and brand recognition among young people who will appreciate the company's dedication to education and research. Students from these "Apple Labs" can be incentivized in their research by competing to present product ideas and prototypes at the newly proposed annual technology conferences that the company will host. With this technology "incubation" structure in place, Apple can ensure it will have the most direct access to new research and ideas as well as provide a competitive platform on which to share information.
Apple must stay ahead of the game because of the constant technological changes. You should always try to implement the latest technologies before anyone else so that you can increase market shares. Recently, Apple is falling behind Samsung, HTC, and other smartphones because Apple has been holding back on the latest implementation of technologies. For example, with the release of the IPhone 6 and 6 plus, Apple is introducing the NFC payment system, however this technology has already been implemented on phones such as the Nexus 7 and the Samsung Galaxy phones. For the past 3 years, Apple has been releasing phones that have less specifications compared