Damn, we got some pretty decent answers so far and I'm surprised a lot of points were missed, but i guess we all have different perceptions of Apple. Let me give a little input based on someone who just bought a mac, loves it, but doesn't hardly consider myself as part of the "apple cult"
Strengths
- Strong, reliable eco-system (OS)
- Easy to use, intuitive
- Small product footprints (saves office space)
- Attractive designs (yes, I had to say it)
- Product integrations (all their products connect/work with each other)
Weaknesses
- High Cost: can build a MUCH better spec'd computer for the same price or even hundreds to thousands less in most situations
- Application support is still incredibly limited: most users still will not be able to "only" run Mac OS and will find they still need Windows applications quite a bit.
- Practically zero gaming capabilities (due to parts used in the Mac)
- Non upgradeable. What you buy is pretty much what you're stuck with unless you're looking at the Mac Pro, and even that has its limitations, as it only supports about 4 graphics cards and none of them are the best available.
- Closed off eco-system, while being great for limiting itself to viruses, also means the user has little control of the system for customization.
Opportunities
- Branching out and working with more developers for more application support without the need of Windows.
- Upp'ing the specs in their systems to their PC counterparts. The days of "you're paying for the OS" is getting old when you consider for the cost of the highest end iMac you can buy a Core i7 PC that will outperform any Mac for the same price.
- Featuring a full sized keyboard on the 17" notebooks that also has a number pad. What the hell is up with all that wasted space?
- Providing better warranty support. Apple's warranty purchase plan is pretty horrible and you only get like 90 days standard service compared to everyone else at 1yr.
- Removing HDCP from the newly released iTunes HD Movie Store so that they can actually challenge Netflix and not only provide a service that's only valuable if you have an iPod or iPhone.
Threats
- Economic crisis is all ready seeing Apple's market share dip incredibly fast now that people don't want to spend the excess amounts of cash for a Mac when they can get a better spec'd PC for far less.
- Windows 7 is actually shaping up pretty nice and adding that to the cheaper cost of PC might actually challenge Apple's market share even further, especially for budget shoppers. At the very least, Windows 7 is nice enough to make sure that any PC users that were considering leaving to Mac might consider staying with PC now.
Sorry I couldn't really think of 5 bullets for Threats because I think we're all in agreement that for the most part, Price is really the only thing that's hurting Apple, especially now.
