THE IPHONE AND ITS ANTECEDENTS: RE-THINKING ENTRY AND THE EVOLUTION OF PLATFORM STRATEGIES AT APPLE INC

Abstract

Apple's successful entry into the music and smartphone market has made it the undisputed leader in the field of platforms. This article, which starts from the 1990s and the first platform product (the iPod), brings two main elements compared to current analyzes. It shows that Apple ultimately built its platform strategy on specific competitive advantages in semiconductor design. It explains how to deal with the unknown of external expertise and internal can be mobilized to adjust or redefine platform strategies through relational and continuous processes