"ContentsExecutive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 2Introduction& Background ............................................................................................................. 3Company Performance since 2002 ................................................................................................. 4SAFe Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 5Challenges ....................................................................................................................................... 6Challenges ....................................................................................................................................... 8References…………………………………………………………………………………………91 Executive SummaryApple as a company has become a phenomena in today’s time and age. The company hasbecome a pioneer in the technological advancement in the electronic industry. Thecompany has become the biggest brand in the world on the basis of its products and themarketing strategy associated with them. The company is in line with today’s time andage as it is fashionable as well as durable at the same time. Sony uses an umbrella branding strategy for its brands and leverages on its corporateidentity to introduce new brands and at the same time leverage on its current brandsglobally. Sony had been the behemoth of the electronic Sony is one of the biggestinnovators in the gaming industry with its PlayStation gaming console. It has alsorecently got integration with the Netflix, an online movie portal for the users to have agreater experience through the product(Beamish,1999,p.12-16).. 2 Introduction and BackgroundApplerd Apple Inc. was incorporated on 3 January,1977. The company is engaged in themanufacturing and selling of media devices, personal computers and digital musicplayers. The company is also involved in the selling of the related software services andapplications. Some of the product offerings of the company include iPad, iPod, iPhone,Apple TV and software offerings like the iOS and Mac OS. The company has recentlylaunched the iCloud service offerings that integrates the data for the apple users across avariety of devices and provides a convenient, on the go and easy availability of data tothe users. The iTunes store is an online music library for the apple users that hasrevolutionized the way the music industry functions and has given a breathing space tothe artists and music production companies the world over who were reeling under theburden of piracy. Other offerings like the Appstore which provides the iPhone users todownload apps on their iPhones and iPads have also changed the way mobile deviceswere perceived by the users in the past. Now they have become, more a necessity for theconsumers and not just remained a utility anymore. The company acquired NortelNetwork’s Corporation in 2011 as a part of its consortium and then the app search engineChomp in 2012 (Cheng,1991, p. 161-179). SonySony was founded half a century back in Tokyo in 1946 in the crippled post war Japaneseeconomy. The founders Ibuka and Morita were global thinkers and realized the need for aglobal brand that would cross cultural and global barriers and hence they decided toexpand the business in US and Europe. The first branded Sony product was a TR-55transistor radio that went to sale in 1955 and was a huge success. This was then followedby a pocket transistor radio from Sony that was considered to be the most innovativeproduct of its times. After that the company has been considered a global leader inproduct innovation and technology and not many companies have been able to match upto the high standards that have been set by Sony. The Trinitron color television in 1968,followed by the video cassette player in 1971 and the Betamz VCR in 1975 were some ofthe most path breaking products of their generation. The company has come up with theCD player and a camcorder which have changed the way people use technology and havemade the technology accessible to the common man. The company has grown worldwidewith almost 200, 000 employees in its offices and R&D centers across the world. Sonyhas been very careful in not letting itself being stereotyped as a Japanese company buthas always maintained its image of being a global company (Gershon,2000, p.81-109).3 "