“If there’s any competitive advantage that investors continually underestimate for Apple, it’s the company’s operations,” Daniel Sparks writes for The Motley Fool. “Nowhere is this more evident than in Apple’s increasingly rapid product rollouts. Case in point: Apple’s new iPhone 5s. Despite a broader global rollout, it’s already reached nearly 100% availability in the U.S., Apple’s most important market.”
“Two years ago, the iPhone rollout was much smaller and slower,” Sparks writes. “Today, Apple has improved its iPhone rollout by leaps and bounds… Going into Christmas, Apple has managed to reach near 100% availability of the two new iPhone models in the U.S. (despite the much faster rollout), according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s latest research on iPhone availability at Apple retail stores.”
Sparks writes. “It’s no secret that Apple CEO Tim Cook is the company’s former chief operating officer — and a very successful one at that. Given Cook’s operational background, it’s not surprising that the company seems to rely heavily on operational tactics to stay ahead. For years, Apple has been known for its operational keenness. And now, as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, Apple can use its size — a weapon that no other smaller company can match — as a weapon, too. The result is a first-class operation all the way from outsourced suppliers to product delivery.”
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