1.

INTRODUCTION

Introduction to Marketing Analysis

A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special

market within a special industry. It is part of the industry analysis and thus in
turn of the global environmental analysis. Through all of these analyses, the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of a company can be
identified. Finally, with the help of a SWOT analysis, adequate business
strategies of a company will be defined.

The market analysis is also known as a documented investigation of a

market that is used to inform a firm's planning activities, particularly around
decisions of inventory, purchase, work force expansion/contraction, facility
expansion, purchases of capital equipment, promotional activities, and many
other aspects of a company.

Introduction to Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may

be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and
business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques,
business communication, and business developments. It is an integrated process
through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value
for their customers and for themselves.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep
the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, marketing
management is one of the major components of business management.
Marketing evolved to meet the stasis in developing new markets caused by
mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries. The adoption of
marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their focus from production to

1
the perceived needs and wants of their customers as the means of staying
profitable.

Definition of Marketing:-

E. F. L. Brech says, “Marketing is the process of determining consumer

demand for a product or service, motivating its sale and distributing it into
ultimate consumption at a profit”

Apple's Marketing Analysis

Apple's aim has been to provide consumers, businesses, students, and

educational institutions with the best personal computing experience. Not only
has Apple Inc. redefined how consumers use computers at home, school, and
work but has also given consumers a whole new perspective on the mobile
phone and music industry all while exemplifying social responsibility and
environmental sustainability for its stakeholders. Apple's worldwide success is
evidence that the company has succeeded in accomplishing its mission in being
one of the world's top innovative companies.

Introduction to Company
523 Apple Inc. is known for its innovative ability to gain competitive
advantage since 3rd Jan 1977. It was called Apple Computers Inc. and as they
have started their penetration in the consumer electronics, they have removed
Computers from their name. With a workforce of 46600 FT employees and
2800 temp staff all over the world and the made the sales of $65 billion in 2010.
(Annual Reports, 2010)

The famous brands offered by the company to the world have been Mac
computers, iPod, iPad, and now the hot selling iPhone. Apart from hardware,
the company has been very successful in software with the introduction of Mac
OS X operating system, and other media software’s like iTunes, iLife and now

2
iWork along with iOS (operating system for mobile phones). (Apple Annual
reports, 2010)
This report will cover their most talked about brand called iPhone, which
has been termed as “Jesus Phone”, “Work like magic” or “your life in your
pocket”
The hype on the internet has made this product a technological savior and
the company is still adding innovative features not to mention the technical
issues and challenges, which come with every product in the market. (Campbell
& LaPastina, 2010)

Market Environment
There is expectation that iPhone users will be 100 million by 2013 and as
in the fig the number is going to be around 450 million in 2013. (Churchill,
2009) The company is facing huge competition from Microsoft and Google
from software point of view and from LG, Samsung, Sony , Blackberry are
already challenging with their innovative brands. Appendix B helps to
understand the market forces as well. The company has gained by the first
mover advantage and their 317 stores with more than 10,000 partner stores are
supporting the sales of the product. The company is highly dependent on
Cingular for their success in USA but the company has made strategic partners
all around the world to grow like T-Mobile, China Unicom etc. The company is
targeting non corporates unlike competitors, although the company has leverage
of Apple’s brand image. The company is able to secure first position in the
consumer satisfaction survey done by J.
Marketing is one of the most crucial aspects of a business venture which
greatly determines its success in the consumer realm. Philip Kotler describes
marketing as “A set of human activities directed at facilitating and
consummating exchanges” (Kumar & Sharma, 1998). American Marketing
Association (AMA) defines marketing in more detail as, “An activity, set of

3
institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society
at large” (Definition of Marketing, 2012). Marketing is not just limited to
advertising the products and services to the end customers, it also entails the
determination of complete channels through which a product/ service is going to
be introduced in the niche market as well as its promotion throughout the
potential customers in order to encourage them to buy the product/service.
Since the purpose of marketing is to create an awareness of the
product/service, an effective marketing strategy also focuses on developing a
need of the product/service among other market sectors and expanding their
horizon thereon. This is exactly what has been observed in the marketing
strategy of Apple Inc. – a world renowned name of innovation and
breakthrough in the consumer electronics and computer industry. Although
Apple Inc. is not the sole producer/manufacturer and seller of MP3 players but
however when an individual thinks about buying a PMP, the first name that
comes to his/her mind is an “iPod”. This is attributable to the effective branding
and promotion of the product coupled with iTunes music software (helping
Apple Inc. creating a strong brand perception in existing and new arenas.)
Apple Inc. is positioned in the market as the innovators of high-tech
products. Marketing for such products needs to be encompassing in order to
create and redefine new markets in addition to competing in already existing
markets. Apple Inc. has always taken steps to keep their marketing process free
of new market challenges in their attempt to penetrate deeper into the industry.
This report constitutes an in-depth analysis of the marketing strategies
adopted by Apple Inc. It will discuss about Apple’s approach towards the
marketing mix and analyze the strategies utilized by the company in relation to
market segmentation, product segmentation, pricing, distribution, promotion
and social responsibility.

4
 2. Company Profile

Apple Inc.

Formerly Apple Computer Company (1976–1977)

Apple Computer, Inc. (1977–2007)

Type Public

ISIN US0378331005

Industry Computer hardware

Computer software

Consumer electronics

Cloud computing

Digital distribution

Fabless silicon design

Semiconductors

Financial technology

Artificial intelligence

Founded April 1, 1976; 43 years ago

Founders 1. Steve Jobs

2. Steve Wozniak

3. Ronald Wayne

Headquarters 1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California, U.S.

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Number of locations 500+ retail stores (2019)

Area served Worldwide

Key people 1. Arthur D. Levinson (Chairman)

2. Tim Cook (CEO)

3. Jeff Williams (COO)

Products Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple

TV, HomePod, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS,
iLife, iWork, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, GarageBand,
Shazam, Siri.

Services App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, Apple Music

Beats 1, Apple News+, Apple Pay (Cash), Apple Store
(Genius Bar), Apple TV+, iBooks Store, iCloud,
iMessage, iTunes Store, Mac App Store

Revenue US$265.595 billion (2018)

Owner The Vanguard Group (0.0737),

Black Rock (0.0676

Number of employees 132,000 (2018)

Subsidiaries Braeburn Capital, Beats Electronics, Claris, Apple

Energy, LLC, Apple Sales International, Apple
Services, Apple Worldwide Video, Anobit, Beddit

Website www.apple.com

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2.1 Historical Background

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation

that creates consumer electronics, computer software, and commercial servers.
Apple's core product lines are the iPad, iPhone, iPod music player, and
Macintosh computer line-up. Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the
Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino,
California. For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a
manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and
Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the
1990s. Jobs, who had been ousted from the company in 1985, returned to
become Apple's CEO in 1996 after his company NeXT was bought by Apple
Inc., and he brought with him a new corporate philosophy of recognizable
products and simple design.

With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001, Apple
established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics industry, dropping
"Computer" from its name. The latest era of phenomenal success for the
company has been in the iOS (Apple) range of products that began with the
iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad. Today, Apple is the largest technology firm
in the world, with annual revenues of more than $60 billion.

7
 Marketing is one of the most crucial aspects of a business venture which
greatly determines its success in the consumer realm. Philip Kotler describes
marketing as “A set of human activities directed at facilitating and
consummating exchanges” (Kumar & Sharma, 1998). American Marketing
Association (AMA) defines marketing in more detail as, “An activity, set of
institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society
at large” (Definition of Marketing, 2012). Marketing is not just limited to
advertising the products and services to the end customers, it also entails the
determination of complete channels through which a product/ service is going to
be introduced in the niche market as well as its promotion throughout the
potential customers in order to encourage them to buy the product/service.

Since the purpose of marketing is to create an awareness of the

product/service, an effective marketing strategy also focuses on developing a
need of the product/service among other market sectors and expanding their
horizon thereon. This is exactly what has been observed in the marketing
strategy of Apple Inc. – a world renowned name of innovation and
breakthrough in the consumer electronics and computer industry. Although
Apple Inc. is not the sole producer/manufacturer and seller of MP3 players but
however when an individual thinks about buying a PMP, the first name that
comes to his/her mind is an “iPod”. This is attributable to the effective branding
and promotion of the product coupled with iTunes music software (helping
Apple Inc. creating a strong brand perception in existing and new arenas.)

Apple Inc. is positioned in the market as the innovators of high-tech

products. Marketing for such products needs to be encompassing in order to
create and redefine new markets in addition to competing in already existing
markets. Apple Inc. has always taken steps to keep their marketing process free
of new market challenges in their attempt to penetrate deeper into the industry.

8
 This report constitutes an in-depth analysis of the marketing strategies
adopted by Apple Inc. It will discuss about Apple’s approach towards the
marketing mix and analyze the strategies utilized by the company in relation to
market segmentation, product segmentation, pricing, distribution, promotion
and social responsibility.

Apple Inc. History

Apple Inc. (an American MNC incorporated in 1977 by Steve Jobs) is a

company successfully operating in the consumer electronics and personal
computer sector. It was formerly known as Apple Computers Inc. but the word
‘computers’ from the name was removed in 2007, as the company entered into
the business of designing, producing and selling consumer electronic products
in addition to (the former business operations) developing personal computers
and computer software. Apple Inc. remained a predominant manufacturer of
personal computers for the early thirty years of its corporate life. Its early
products included Apple I, Apple II and Apple III, with Apple III being the
conservative machine for the computers of that era; however Apple I and Apple
II generated quite huge revenues for the company.

By 1980, Apple Inc. went public and declared its Initial Public Offering.
The investor’s confidence in the future prospects of the company was reflected
through the fact that Apple generated highest capital financing through IPO in
the history. In 1983, Apple introduced its first GUI operating system computer
named Apple Lisa which somehow failed to penetrate into the business market
due to being overpriced and underpowered, lacking the interoperability and
software. For this reason Apple Lisa couldn’t break the IBM’s dominance in the
corporate world and was considered as a marketing disaster.

The next breakthrough product for Apple was Macintosh which created
hype in the market with a famous television commercial in 1984. The

9
advertisement was aired in the right way and at the right time i.e. during the
third quarter of Super Bowl. This ad served as a radical spot and was termed as
‘the best super bowl ad’ hence it caught the attention of many potential
customers. The President of BCCI, Bob Circosta commented on the success of
the ad, saying “The commercial, which aired only once, was the best on the
basis of impact, sales and viewer memorability” (Apple’s ‘1984’ commercial
named best Super Bowl ad ever, 2012)

In 1987, Apple registered itself under Apple.com domain name on the

Internet. After introducing iMac, iBook and Mac OS, it revised its promotional
strategy and came up with the idea of opening Apple retail stores throughout the
US computer based markets, since selling through third party retail outlets was
not translating the Apple’s brand image to the customers appropriately.

The following invention of iPod, iPhone and iPad along with the iTools
and their growing desirability among the customers around the globe have
raised Apple Inc’s revenues and share price considerably.

The Marketing Mix analysis of Apple Inc.

The term marketing mix was coined by Neil H. Bordon in his article titled
as “The concept of the marketing mix” (The Marketing Mix, 2010). Marketing
mix is a concept which is used by businesses in the marketing process. It is
known as a set of controllable tools that can be utilized by the firms to generate
the desired demand levels of their products in the market. Basically it
constitutes 4 P’s of marketing but in some cases they do extend to 10 P’s of
marketing. However, in this report, marketing mix analysis of Apple Inc.
revolves around six most crucial P’s of marketing i.e. Product, People, Price,
Placement, Promotion and Personality- each of which is briefly analyzed below:

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Product/ Service

A product can be defined as an item produced and made available in

response to a gap in the market. This gap is originated from the need or want of
a tangible product or an intangible service by the potential customers. The key
element here is to identify the need and address it by delivering the exact item.
In response to the growing tech-savvy society, Apple responded by offering
high-tech products including personal computers, Servers, iPod, iPhone, Wi-Fi
based stations, Accessories, software developing service, iTunes and peripheral
equipments etc. The full range of products offered along with their key features
will be discussed later in the report.

People

People include the target market of the business. It is imperative for any
organization to identify its potential target audience if it wishes to address its
needs effectively. The target market of Apple includes the businesses and
individuals who demand highly innovative yet user-friendly experience of
computer and consumer electronic products. Apple targets those people who are
willing to adopt the exquisite technological lifestyle.

Price

Price is one of the most sensitive and important P’s of the marketing mix
which involves adjusting the cost to the market in order to reasonably cater the
solution by adding value to both the customer relationship and the business.
Companies need to ensure that the products are correctly priced i.e. not
overpriced enough that no one buys it or underpriced enough that might raise
quality concerns in the customer’s mind. The pricing strategy adopted by Apple
differs considerably from its competitors in the market, since it is known as a
premium brand and has witnessed an ever growing iLegacy over a period.
Apple charges high prices, targeting middle to upper level income groups
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because it is not just selling a product rather it is selling a differential
technological lifestyle to its customers which they are willing to trade in return
for a handsome amount.

Placement

Placement means the distribution channels through which the product

reaches the end-user from the point of production. Placement strategy must be
well thought of because it greatly impacts the costs attributable to distribution of
products and successive sales made to the customers. The customers are willing
to buy products that are conveniently available to them. The best strategy is to
provide the customers with the products at a location where they can easily
access them along with the requisite support. Apple has a powerful retailing
activity. In the late 1990s, Apple Inc. was relying on the big box retailers to
deliver its products to the end users. Not much value was being added to the
business and company-customer relationship. Apple decided to innovate its
distribution channels while competitors tied themselves to big box retailers.

By early 2000s, Apple started a chain of independent stores where staff

was focused more on customer needs rather than simply selling a product.
These retail stores have gone global and are now seen in major cities of the
countries where Apple is available including Asia/ Pacific, Middle East, Africa
and Latin America. Through its independent retail stores, Apple has penetrated
deeper into the target market creating awareness, need, promising a benefit and
then effectively delivering that benefit through innovatory products. Apple’s
retail outlets are contributing to its revenues increasingly. Peter Oppenheimer,
CFO said that Apple’s 372 stores yielded collective revenue of about $4.2
billion which is a vast contribution to the company’s earnings (Paczkowski,
2012).

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Promotion

Five important areas are covered under promotion namely, personal

selling, direct marketing, sales promotions, advertising and publicity. A
promotional plan serves three basic objectives i.e. to create awareness about the
product in the market, to create or increase the demand of the product and to
communicate the differentiating factor(s) of the product over the competitor’s.
Other objectives may include increasing the sales of the company to a certain
level or developing brand equity.

Apple has been quite actively participating in promotional endeavors. It

has tailored the promotional strategies according to how potential customers
desire to be benefitted from and informed about Apple’s products. For this,
Apple pursues two primary promotional methods including advertising and
personal selling. Apple believes in heavily investing in the televised, print and
online advertising. The apple logo is now amongst the most recognizable logos
around the globe and it reflects a stylish and modern lifestyle. It promotes its
USP mostly through comparative advertising. It highlights the key benefits of
the products in a way that hits the right perception spot of the viewer,
convincing them that they will actually be delivered that benefit.

Apple’s promotional strategies are however, hype centric. The market is

typically boosted with enthusiasm before the launch of a new product. Apple’s
products are usually high priced as compared to the competitors however; they
add value to them by offering a three year warranty.

Another promotional strategy extensively used by Apple is the personal

selling. Within the independent stores, a customer driven approach is adopted
by the sales representatives, who instead of paying attention to selling products,
focus keenly on turning the visitor into a compulsive buyer. These
representatives are well abreast of the newest technologies springing out in the

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market. Moreover they are trained to provide the customer care service in an
excellent manner. Change is often perceived as intimidating and Apple is
always on the go whether it concerns launching innovatory products or
upgrading the existing ones. For this reason particularly, personal selling
strategy is pursued in order to instill ease and convenience with the newer
technologies in the customers’ minds.

Personality

Apple has maintained a minimalist personality of its brand. It is

marketing its image largely through its retail outlets which reflects their
minimalist philosophy. Its stores are clutter free and staff is trained to deal with
customer needs in the most helpful and informative manner. Potential customers
are allowed to learn about the Apple’s products, try them and obtain practical
help about using the technology. Apple’s brand personality is about delivering
power to the customers through technological, user friendly masterpieces which
enhances the lifestyle.

Apple reinvigorated its brand personality by creating an iPod halo effect.

Catering to the consumer want of great musical experience, iPod and iTunes
were created which have earned Apple the most brand loyalty.

Customer Segmentation at Apple Inc.

Customer segmentation is best described by Kotler as, “Dividing a market into

distinct groups of buyers who have distinct needs, characteristics or behavior
and who might require separate products or marketing mixes” (Market
segmentation according to Sir Philip Kotler, 2011) The target market is
segmented considering various factors such as demographics which include age,
race, gender, religion, occupation, education and income brackets. The customer
segmentation could also be carried out geographically, behaviorally or psycho-
graphically. Geographic segmentation is carried out by dividing the target
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market according to geographic area. A business that has created a niche in
different cities or countries is said to be utilizing geographic method to segment
its customers. When segmenting the market psycho-graphically, businesses base
the process on factors like values and lifestyle of the potential customers. The
behavioral segmentation is carried out in accordance with the behaviors that
consumers display to the product and the patterns in which they spend their time
and money.

Apple uses multiple successful customer segmentation strategies. It

divides its global market into four geographic segments including America &
Latin America, Asia/Pacific, UAE and Africa. Apple has retail stores operating
in all of these regions that sell products catered specifically for those markets.

Moreover, what makes Apple’s segmentation process even more

successful and profitable for the company as a whole, is its vertical product
segmentation strategy. Apple, instead of focusing on manufacturing a single
product with multiple features for all customers, it rather manufactures its
products with specific use case, highlighting a key benefit that overweighs all
other aspects of a competitor’s product. Targeting specific user’s experience and
desirability, Apple manufactures a product around that accordingly. With the
help of right segmentation, Apple (despite of not generating as much sales as
competitor’s e.g. Nokia in case of smart phones) is the lead contributor to the
industry profits. This is because it has vertically segmented its products for
specific user experiences. For instance iPod for exquisite music experience and
iPhone for myriad user-friendly applications and then sells these products at the
right price (Apple’s a case study of segmentation strategy, 2007). Customers are
willing to pay premium for products that address their needs and wants and this
is how Apple is generating sizable revenues.

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 Instead of targeting a diverse market, Apple believes in targeting a
specific consumer market, providing all they desire and thus taking over that
segment with quality products and high-tech experience. Following this
philosophy, it has segmented its market into Business, Creative Professionals,
Education and Students or High-end users. With this 3D market profile, it has
secured a high demand for Apple’s consumer digital devices.

Market Research at Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is known as a premium brand that does not get engaged in
extensive market research programs to determine their customer’s needs and
wants rather they believe in dictating their customers about what they need and
desire in the form of their new products. Steve Jobs, the CEO and co-founder of
Apple Inc. commented about the market research at Apple, saying “We do no
market research. We don’t hire consultants. The only consultants I’ve ever hired
in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway’s retail strategy so I would not
make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple’s retail
stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great
products” (Heisler, 2012). Since Apple is largely associated with bringing about
innovations, so according to their view it is pointless to learn about customer’s
needs and wants especially when they have never seen anything remotely
similar to what Apple can offer them.

However, Apple Inc. does not completely ignore market research and
instead of engaging potential customers in surveys, they focus on the existing
Apple users to draw information considered essential for the development of
new Apple products. In this regard, Apple began a market research campaign,
namely “Apple Customer Pulse” which targeted selective existing Apple
customers to fill up periodic surveys. An online community for Apple Customer

16
Pulse has been established on their official website to communicate issues and
suggestions about Apple products.

Apple Inc. also conducts similar surveys with iPhone and iPad buyers to
learn about the famous and most used features and level of satisfaction with the
product from different demographics. These surveys are then used extensively
by the company. However, it does not get engaged in market research in the
product development stage since the Apple Inc. family figures out what they
want and project it onto the market customers. For iTunes and iPod, Apple Inc.
said that they wished to own the best portable jukebox and this desire could
definitely be projected to potential customers as well.

Apple’s Products and key features

Apple’s products are well sought after around the globe. These products
have distinctive features that make them stand out as compared to the
competitors’ products. The products run on the Apple developed operating
systems (iOS) which sets them apart from the competitors, for instance Dell
computers usually run on Microsoft operating systems. Apple Inc. has
segmented its products as follows:

Mac Products

MacBook Air

MacBook Pro

Mac mini

Mac mini server

iMac

Mac Pro

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 Apple laptops are known as MacBooks which come in varieties like
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. MacBooks are equipped with the capability to
run different software types including the Microsoft Office to facilitate the
media rich student and business customers. It frees the user from virus attack
worries since the operating system has been designed keeping in view the
security concerns. A very distinguishing benefit includes the parental control
feature, thus allowing parents to filter the activities of their children. They
include high quality built in camera and battery testing results are far better than
competitors. They are typically light weighted. All these features have resulted
in high end customer satisfaction.

The Mac desktop computers lineup include Mac mini, iMac and Mac Pro.
Mac mini’s smaller size and capability to be used for creating networks and for
home theatre entertainment makes it popular among the targeted segment. The
iMac is ultrathin and is designed to cater the minimalist philosophy spreading
among the customers. The state of the art design and incorporation of highly
innovative technologies like thunderbolt and groundbreaking storage options
instantly created a niche among tech savvy consumers. Mac Pro workstation has
an astonishing processing power of up to 12 cores and allows the installation of
up to 512 GB state drive options. It is not only a technological innovation but an
environmental innovation as well since it significantly reduces the energy
consumption.

iPod and iTunes

iPod created a new market when launched in 2001 rather than displacing
the existing market segment. It allowed the customers to carry 1000 songs in
their pocket with initial memory of 5GB but later it was upgraded to 10GB. The
iPod family was extended in 2005 to iPod nano and iPod shuffle. The iPod nano
had a key feature named ‘shake’ where you could shuffle songs by merely

18
shaking the iPod. It could also play videos. iPod shuffle allows you to play a
music with single click, being sleek and small in size, it also allows you to set
your listening order. Flip this little device to right and you can listen to
randomly played sons, flip to middle if you wish to play the songs in order and
flip to right to turn it off. The voiceover feature tells you the name of the artist,
song and the playlist. Apple later launched iPod touch with bigger screen and
lighter weight. The incorporation of 5 mega pixel camera made it a panorama
featured product.

iTunes music store was launched in 2003, which made it much easier to
access and download music and this resulted in phenomenal increase in the sale
of iPods.

iPhone

iPhone is a line of smart phones manufactured and marketed by the Apple

Inc. Six generations of iPhone have been sold until now, the latest being iPhone
5 which was launched on Sept 21st , 2012. Each generation provided extended
benefits and enhanced features for the smart phone consumers. The phone runs
on iPhone Operating System. The iPhone 4S has an advanced operating system
named ‘Siri’, that could perform numerous functions on receiving voice
commands, for example sending text messages and doing assortment tasks, thus
making life easier with user friendly, simple yet innovative features. The iPhone
5 is 1cm bigger than the previous generation phone. The A6 processor is the
iPhone 5’s main attraction.

iPad

iPad is a tablet PC that has no predecessors. It has all the features of a

laptop including browsing the web, reading e books, sending emails, capturing
photos, playing games, watching videos and creating documents etc. All
features in one small tablet with high resolution responsive multi touch screen
19
allowing the users to interact with the numerous applications physically. iPad is
a revolutionary device , the launch of which has served as a breakthrough for
Apple Inc. The applications in iPad work in both landscape and portrait. It is a
new blend of ease and technology. It allows you to read ebooks on the LED
screen by flipping through pages, without using a light bulb in dark. Importing
photos from Mac is easier and automatically creates an album of the imported
pages. iPad syncs with over 14000 applications in the Apps store.

Apple Inc’s goals for customer satisfaction

Apple has been declared as the top company among computer

manufacturers for achieving customer satisfaction (Sande, 2012). Apple had
immensely focused on its all activities i.e. from packaging to enhancing the
operating systems and hit the perception spot of the customer where owning an
Apple product not just made them a regular customer but rather included them
as a member in the ‘Apple cult’.

Apple earns the satisfaction through quality of construction. It delivers

what it promises. Even Mac mini, the low end computer of Apple is twice as
expensive as to its competitors low end computers. It derives the customer
satisfaction by providing seamless digital experience.

Apple has also achieved immense customer satisfaction by valuing them

through their Apple outlets where customers are treated by well-informed and
trained representatives who guide them and answer their any query related to
the device and repair and replace faulty parts. In the customer care perspective,
they gained a competitive edge by not only covering operating system and
hardware but other Apple software as well.

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Market Environment

There is expectation that iPhone users will be 100 million by 2013 and as
in the fig the number is going to be around 450 million in 2013. (Churchill,
2009) The company is facing huge competition from Microsoft and Google
from software point of view and from LG, Samsung, Sony , Blackberry are
already challenging with their innovative brands. Appendix B helps to
understand the market forces as well. The company has gained by the first
mover advantage and their 317 stores with more than 10,000 partner stores are
supporting the sales of the product. The company is highly dependent on
Cingular for their success in USA but the company has made strategic partners
all around the world to grow like T-Mobile, China Unicom etc. The company is
targeting non corporates unlike competitors, although the company has leverage
of Apple’s brand image. The company is able to secure first position in the
consumer satisfaction survey done by J.D. Power and associates. (Refer
Appendix C) (Tews, 2009)

Figure 1 Smartphone sales (Churchill, 2009)

21
 The company is targeting professionals, students between the age of 18
and 35 basically. The company is conscious of its brand and so focusing on
fulfilling the corporate social responsibilities as in Fig 2. (Apple Annual
Reports, 2010)

The company has trained nearly 133k workers on human rights and
responsibility of the managers. The company also paid $ 2.2 M in recruitment
fee overcharges. (Apple Annual reports, 2010)

i. Conducting cross industry focus groups for suppliers.

ii. They have launched SEED program to teach english and other
professional courses for the workers. By 2009, nearly 14800 workers
joined this program, with the help of 500 iMac PC’s.
iii. The company has made strict principles regarding Human Rights (no
discrimination, proper age, holiday, respect); Health and Safety of the
staff (Ergonomics, cleanliness, emergency evacuation, injury prevention),
Environment Safety (Air and water waste management, waste mgt),
Ethics (non disclosure agreement) & Management commitment to train
the staff, workers feedback.
iv. (Apple Annual Reports, 2010)

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Marketing Approach of Apple

McCarthy has presented the marketing mix (4P’s) model to help the
managers device a good marketing strategy where the benefits can be
exchanged between the pillars of marketing, this was later modified by Booms
and Bitner in 1982 (he added 3more P’s ) to cater the requirements of the
service industry. (Brassington & Pettitt, 2007; Kotler, et al, 2005) The next
section will discuss 7p’s of Apple as in figure 3.

Figure 3. 7P’s of iPhone (Adapted by researcher)

23
1. Product:

The product would be found in more in 60million pages on internet, with

the broadest screen display in all the mobile phones so there is touchscreen
keypad as opposed to dialoging keypad in just 2 months after launch. The
company decided to use OS X operating system with the same usage as of iPod
or Mac although with lot of shortcomings like no expandable memory or
replaceable battery or difficult to disable users. (O’Grady, 2007) The initial
version was not with 3G network support and was later integrated. SWOT
analysis of iPhone (figure 4) helps to know the strengths & opportunities of the
product. The company should develop core competencies on the basis of its
strength and should focus on the opportunities which might arise in due time,
which the analysis of threats help to safe guard the product development and
develop contingency plans. Gradual innovative methods can be adopted by the
firm to convert the weakness into strength apart from best use of financial
resources. (Brassington & Pettitt, 2007) The locked iPhone with one network
Cingular in US and by other network in Europe is not appreciated by the
consumers. Also the cost of unlocked iPhone is quite high in compared to US
market, which might have caused reduced sale. The users can’t install their
software’s which is another software leverage strategy of Apple, so they have to
use only Apple software’s (iTunes, Mobile Me) or QuickTime players. The
company is utilizing the iPod ecosystem to leverage the iPhone thereby
supporting its online music revenue system. The display of PC based websites
with same display made this product different from others. (O’grady, 2007)

24
 Fig. 4 iPhone SWOT Analysis

Use of FaceTime with 2 cameras is a new innovative idea like in 3G

phones, Retina display, but the new iOS is slow than expected by the compass
and GPS is helpful when lost. Uses of App Store help the users to get
application on their phone and Apple takes 30% of that revenue. (Marshal,
2010)

25
2. Price:

Apple in this case adopted the “best fit segment” pricing strategy
(skimming), where the early adopters were targeted who are less price sensitive
and want to receive the benefits of new technology. It allows more cash flow for
the company and also conveys benefit perception to other target segments. The
company started off with selling the product at $599 (8GB) and $499 (4GB) and
later reduced the price of 8GB to $399 and discontinued 4GB model
significantly. The company wants to target the mainstream users and can’t reply
on early adopters (young techno savvy, professionals) for future growth. They
tried skimming and versioning strategy. (Apple Annual Reports, 2010)

1. Skimming:

This is high pricing strategy but can attract risk of low sales and piracy
(Kotler et al, 2005) but Apple has safeguarded itself by marketing before it
actually emerged in market by enhancing its brand value under top 20.
(Sliwinska et al, 2008)

2. Versioning:

This strategy involves charging different prices for same products from
different target segments. So the company implemented “temporal price
discrimination” where it charged the prices depending on the desire of the
customers to pay for the iPhone. Probably due to good profit on each unit from
willing customers and they want to gain high volume sale from the larger
customer base they had developed. They have structured this in different
countries and adding more features. As they reduced the prices by $200 in just
60 days, after consumer complaints, they issued some $100 store credit to early
buyers. (Sliwinska et al, 2008)

26
 With the market domination of Symbian phones to 35 Million in H2 2007
and success of N95 and E series boosted the sales by $172 Million against
Apple products. Microsoft, RIM has a strong hold in the N.American market,
while Nokia is having a larger share in EU. The company started charging $72
to $130 for 18-24 months contract in Britain and Germany; in addition they
have to pay £269 for iPhone in Britain. So the customers had paid $566
compared to $399 in USA. In France, the company tied up with Orange and
charged $590 for 8GB along with a monthly package of €50 to €120 or they can
buy iPhone over $900. (Sliwinska, 2008)

Figure5. Price Comparison (2007&2010) (www.apple.com, 2010)

But the company should understand that European market has 60% of
pay-as-you-go customer that is why the company failed to meet their target of
10 Million units but sold nearly 400,000. The company has already launched
iPhone3G ($99 for 8GB in USA & £419 in UK) and iPhone4 ($199 for 16GB,
$299 for 32GB in US & £499 for 16GB, £599 for 32GB) as shown in figure 5.
The company is still adopting the vertical building strategy, as in iPod’s which
27
is related to iTunes and help the company to control the digital music and video
market. Total 73.73 Million units were sold and only 1.3 million were the
original iPhones, it has been a huge success but not as anticipated. They are
expecting 82 Million units by 2012 as in figure 6. (Oliver, 2009)

3. Promotion:

Apple has been most aggressive in terms of promotion as seen in figure 7,

some examples are:

Fig 7. Strategy of promotions (Kiprin, 2009; Apple Annual Reports, 2010))

1. The company started with 4 TV commercials during the launch to flaunt

the innovative gadget (original iPhone) which can fulfill all needs of
entertainment and information sharing device. The company is focusing
now to advertise their Face Time feature and recently launched 4 more
TV ads. in July 2010. (Chris, 2010)

2. The press releases and blogs were posted and iPhone was in 60 million
web pages across web. The news created rumors and the Advertising
Age’s Marketer award winner (2003) company was again ready to offer
new generation product after iPod. The company made successful
relations with media firms and Steve (CEO) shares new ideas with public
during occasions as suggested in fig 7. (Williams, Mullin., 2008)

28
 3. With the support of 317 stores across the world (233 in USA, 84 outside
USA) which contributed around 17% of profits. The company has done
strategic partnership with Starbucks to offer free iTunes Wi-Fi music at
600 locations, which can later be downloaded from computers. Even the
new iPhones 5 reveal the easiness to find people around the city, location
of friends and other features which reflect the social integration aspect of
the device. (Apple Annual Reports, 2010)

Fig 8. Apple Online marketing (Kiprin, 2009; Apple Annual Reports, 2010)

The company is already spent $5.5 billion (increase of 33% compared to 2009)
due to expansion in the retail segment. (Apple Annual Report, 2010)

1. The company uses all forms of advertising to gain attention, they appear
on a regular basis on newspapers, TV, billboards etc. Like Macworld
Expo (conventions to launch products), coverage of major channels like
Fox, MTV and Rolling Stones, Maxim etc. In-store promotion and
awareness helps in personal selling where the users can touch and test.
The company site is quite impressive with promotion codes issues to
consumers from time to time.

29
2. Cross Promotions: the channel partners like Sprint, Orange, Vodaphone
etc. promote iPhone packages on their websites and from printed
booklets.

3. Search Engine promotions; the company spend money on Adwords

(Google marketing), Pay Per Click campaigns. The company purchases
the keywords like iPhones, mp3phones etc. Banners and promotions on
other sites is a regular from Apple. (Sliwinska et al, 2008)

4. The company sends email to iPod users, carrier consumers, and uses RSS
feed of their promotions and events and blogs are done regularly.
(Williams and Mullins, 2008)

30
4. Place:

The company is using the locations as shown in fig 9 for selling the
product.

Fig 9. Distribution locations ((Kiprin, 2009; Apple Annual Reports, 2010)

The company followed the hybrid distribution strategy and engaged the
telecommunication service provider’s stores along with their online and own
stores. So the customers are forced to enter into a contract for 18-24 months.
The company is using two level channel for distribution of their product.
(Jobber & Fahy, 2009) The company has done tie-ups with Cingular as they
have a customer base of 58Million and out of which around18million are
already with iPod. So it’s good strategy to benefit both companies of exclusivity
in USA. Although AT &T never wanted to spend much money on advertising
but they end up spending $18 billion in 2009. As seen in the figure 10, the
products are assembled in China (due to cheap labor) and then supplied to
warehouses and regional stores. The company is clever to use the use the touch
points of established networks (Vodaphone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile etc.) (Jobber
& Fahy, 2009)

31
32
5. People:

The company wants to be in direct touch with the consumers and “when
they feel it, they will buy it” strategy. With only $99, 1hour/week for 1yr help
the users to meet the experts at Genius bars for technical support and
information, conducting over 50000 sessions / week. The sales assistant is
available on appointments to find the right product for right needs at the “new
gather place”. This helps the company generate word of mouth marketing and
product awareness and brand building. The sales team is trained to give
awareness, rather than giving a sales pitch. Also the CEO has impressive
presence in front of media to market the brand. (Ireland et al, 2009)

33
6. Process:

Alain (2008) has given some insight about the process of Apple. He says
CEO, Steve Jobs is working closely with the design and development team
during the whole development process. The meeting of board management is
done every month, where the marketing proposal and other problems are
discussed.

10-3-1: The designers follow the pixel perfect approach where there are no
fillers and 3 designs are selected out of 10 and perfected until they arrive at 1
out of total 10.

The company conducts different type of meetings:

1. Paired design: this is done 2 times a week to discuss the features and
technical specs of the product.

2. Brainstorming: This involves discussion on any and every idea that

comes in your mind and put in the table for discussion. There are no rules
to free thinking. (Alain, 2008)

3. Production: This involves giving a proper structure to the innovative

ideas and arranging deadlines for the same. (Alain, 2008)

The CEO doesn’t frown to discard a product at the last minute. and there
are Pony Meetings every 2 weeks, where the client discuss the requirements
with designers, so they can work according to the needs of the consumers. The
sales are handled in stores (Apple and partners) by the professional team and
training sessions also help with sales promotion activities.

34
7. Physical Evidence:

The Company has a good packaging strategy which makes the product
look attractive and stylish on the shelf. The company has Apple Care service to
resolve the problems and services offered by the company, geniuses’ bars to
meet the direct customers and teaching them to make better users. (William,
Mullin, 2008)

35
 Chapter 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple on April 1, 1976. The two
Steves,Jobs and Woz (as he is commonly referred to – see woz.org), have
personalities that persist throughout Apple’s products. Jobs was the
consummate salesperson and visionary while Woz was the nquisitive technical
genius. Woz developed his own homemade computer and Jobs saw its
commercial potential. After selling 50 Apple I computer kits to Paul Terrell’s
Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA, Jobs and Woz sought financing to sell their
improved version, the Apple II.

They found their financier in Mike Markkula, who in turn hired Michael Scott
to be CEO. The company introduced the Apple II on April 17, 1977, at the same
time Commodore released their PET computer. Once the Apple II came with
Visicalc, the progenitor of the modern spreadsheet program, sales increased
dramatically. In 1979, Apple initiated three projects in order to stay ahead of the
competition:

1) the Apple III – their business oriented machine,

2) the Lisa – the planned successor to the Apple III, and

3) Macintosh.

In 1980, the company released the Apple III to the public and was a commercial
flop. It was too expensive and had several design flaws that made for less-than
stellar quality. One design flaw was a lack of cooling fans, which allowed chips
to overheat. In late 1980, Apple went public, making the two Steves and

36
Markkula wealthy – to the tune of nine figures. By 1981, the Apple III was not
selling well and Scott infamously fired 40 people on Feb 25 (“Black
Wednesday”). Scott’s direct management style conflicted with the culture Jobs
and Markkula preferred, and Scott resigned in July. Markkula stepped into his
position as CEO. In August 1981, IBM released their PC. Unimpressed and
unafraid, Apple welcomed IBM to the PC market with a slightly smug full-page
ad in the Wall Street Journal. It would not be long before IBM’s PC dominated
the market. The Xerox Alto was the inspiration for Apple’s Lisa. Apple
employees were able to examine the Alto in exchange for allowing Xerox to
invest in Apple before Apple’s initial public offering (IPO). Apple released the
Lisa in January 1983 and was notable for being the first computer sold to the
public that utilized a Graphic User Interface (GUI). Unfortunately, the Lisa was
not compatible with existing computers, and therefore came bundled “with
everything and a list price to match.” At $9,995 (over $21,000 in 2012 dollars),
the Lisa missed its target market by a wide margin.

Apple introduced the Macintosh with great fanfare during the 1984 Super Bowl.

The Orwellian-themed commercial (directed by Ridley Scott, of ‘Alien’ fame)

portrayed IBM as Big Brother and embodied Macintosh and Apple as freedom
seeking individuals breaking away from this oppressive regime.The commercial
was largely successful and sales for the Mac started strong. However, Mac sales
later faded. John Sculley left PepsiCo to join Apple in April 1983. He was
famous for engineering the “Pepsi Challenge”, in which blinded testers tasted
both Coke and Pepsi to unveil the ‘truth’ of the taste of Pepsi. In response to
lagging Mac sales, Sculley contrived the ‘Test Drive a Macintosh’ campaign. In
this promotion, prospective users could take home a Macintosh with only a
refundable deposit on their credit card. While lauded by the public and the
advertising industry, this campaign was a burden on dealers and significantly

37
impeded the availability of Macs to serious buyers. In 1985, Apple tried to have
lightening strike twice with their ‘Lemmings’ commercial during the Super
Bowl. In what was becoming Apple’s typical patronizing fashion, this
commercial insulted current PC users by portraying them as witless lemmings,
unthinkingly doing harm to themselves. Although Jobs attempted to overthrow
Sculley, the board backed Sculley. Jobs left Apple to form NeXT computer.
After Jobs left in 1985, sales of the Mac “exploded when Apple’s LaserWriter
met Aldus PageMaker.”

Apple dominated the desktop publishing market for years to come. Under
Sculley, Apple grew from $600 million in annual sales to $8 billion in annual
sales by 1993. Apple introduced Mac Portables in 1989 and the first
PowerBooks in 1991. By 1992, PC competition ate into Apple’s margins and
earnings were falling. Sculley was under pressure to have Apple produce
another breakout product. He focused his energy on the Newton – Apple’s
introduction of the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Despite Sculley
generating substantial demand for Newton, it did not live up to the hype due to
it being severely underdeveloped. Sculley resigned in 1993 and Michael
Spindler replaced him. Spindler spent most of his time and energies on
regaining profitability, with the end goal of finding a buyer for Apple. Over the
next several years, Spindler shopped Apple to Sun Microsystems, Eastman
Kodak, AT&T, and IBM.

Meanwhile, Apple was unable to meet the growing demand for its
products due to supplier problems and faulty demand predictions. To add insult
to injury, Microsoft released Windows 95 with great fanfare in 1995. After
significant quarterly losses in 1996, the board replaced Spindler with Dr. Gil
Amelio, CEO of National Semiconductor. Dr. Amelio tried to bring Apple back
to basics, simplifying the product lines and restructuring the company. One of

38
Apple’s most pressing issues at the time was releasing their next generation
operating system (code named “Copland”) to compete with Windows 95.
Amelio and his technology officers found that Copland was so behind schedule
that they looked outside the company to purchase a new OS. Ultimately, and
somewhat ironically, they decided to purchase NeXT computer from Jobs.
Naturally, Apple welcomed Jobs back into the fold. The board became
increasingly impatient with Amelio due to sales not rebounding quickly enough.
Apple bought out Amelio’s contract after just 1 ½ years on the job. Jobs
eventually claimed the CEO position. Then, he cleaned house by revamping the
board of directors and even replacing Mike Markkula.Jobs simultaneously put
an end to the fledgling clone licensing agreements (which created a few Mac
clones) and entered into cross-licensing agreements with Microsoft. On May 6,
1998, Apple introduced the new iMac, a product so secret that most Apple
employees had never heard of it. The new iMac was a runaway success with its
translucent case, all-in-one architecture, and ease of use. It brought Apple to a
new market of users – those who had never owned a computer before. Jobs
further simplified the product lines into four quadrants along two axes: Desktop
and Portable on one, Professional and Consumer on the other. Apple completed
the matrix with the introduction of the consumer-based iBook in 1999. The year
2001 was an important year for consumers of Apple products. Apple opened
their first 25 retail stores (totaling 163 stores in 4 countries as of May 2001). In
September 2001, Apple introduced the new iMac featuring a screen on a
swivel.The new iPods (portable music players) were a tremendous success.

Apple sold so many that Apple’s dependence on Mac sales was significantly
less. This was no small feat considering that the 2001 iMac became Apple’s
best-selling product “by a long shot”. Apple offered iTunes (a free application)
to help their consumers organize music on iPods and Macs.

39
In 2003, Apple expanded iTunes by 1) opening the iTunes music store to allow
Mac users to purchase music online and 2) expanding iTunes to Windows users.

Sales of iPods skyrocketed and currently provide the bulk of product

sales to Apple. In 2012, Apple announced that it would start using Intel-based
chips to run Macintosh computers. In April 2005, Apple announced Boot Camp,
which allows users of Intel-based Macs to boot either Mac or Windows OS.
This functionality allows users who may need both OSs to own just one
machine to run both, albeit not simultaneously.

40
 4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the customers demand for the new range of apple mobile.
2. To conduct the market analysis of Apple mobile and other Apple
products.
3. To know the acceptance of a new iPhone of the company by consumers.
4. To study of buying behavior of consumers towards apple mobile.
5. To give a suggestion regarding improvement of performance standard of
company.

41
 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research can be defined as the search for knowledge, or as any

systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, solve new
or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories. The primary
purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation,
discovery, interpretation, or the research and development of methods and
systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches to research
depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between
humanities and sciences.

Research Problem
Market Analysis of Apple Company Inc.

Research Design

Research Design is exploratory and descriptive which helps me to explore

and describe the market potential and market factors to be considered for
products launched by Apple.

Sampling Design

The study aimed to survey few samples from Nagpur. Samples consist of
the customer or prospects. The respondents were selected on the basis of
convenience sampling.

Data Collection:

Both primary and secondary data have been collected for meeting the
objectives of the current study.

42
1. Primary Data

The primary data are data which are being collected by the researcher for
the specific purpose of answering the problem on hand. With the reference of
certain previously carried studies, certain statements for getting out the
customer perception were formulated and these were clubbed together to
formulate the questionnaire.

2. Secondary Data

The secondary data is being obtained by the literature study and the
article from the internet, company, website, magazine, paper and information.

43
 FINDINGS

Cladbun (2007) has pointed out the application development by 3rd party
is not allowed is a drawback. But the company has been successful in allowing
the third party developers to develop innovative software’s like making the
iPhone work as a remote and the car can be fully operated by sitting outside the
car and similar applications help the company to share profits from other
developers and are unique business model implementers. This is also adopted
by Amazon recently. (Marshal, 2010) The utopian vision to create the
convergence device from Apple is under serious controversy, even though they
have filed 200 patents but LG claimed that they copied their design & Apple
Inc. lost claim for IPHONE trademark against Infogear. The company has
reduced their marketing expenses by using the retailer outlets all around the
world and invested that money to open their own 317 stores all around the
world, this has helped the company to get the sales revenue similar to the
maturity stage of the product life cycle even though the product is at the
introduction phase. The company might be planning to have more strategic
partnerships as they have done for iPods with Nike, Volkswagen etc. where the
iPods was given free with each unit purchased. (Williams and Mullin, 2008)
The company with China Unicom is doing excellent with 100,000 sales in first
3 days and 200,000 pre orders for iPhone 4 as compared to 5000 order for
original iPhone, even there is a restriction of wi-fi feature due to government
rules. The company is giving iPhone for free with the $43, 2 months contract,
which they haven’t done before (Ong, 2010); this shows that the management is
conscious of the social and economic factors of the target market. They have to
do similar during their launch or other high populated countries. The process
used by the firm is towards perfection which should be implemented by every
firm to gain competitive advantage. (Gosnay & Richardson, 2008)

44
 CONCLUSION

It has been observed that the company has maintained strong sales and
developing new markets and also adding the value of the brand with more
features and third party software’s available for the users. Although with lot of
technical limitations the company has experienced good sales with the help of
strategic partners and intensive advertising. The company is spending lot of
money on all the channels of promotional mix, however the company should
give more emphasis on website advertising to reduce the costs. The company is
well known for innovative ideas and thereby inspiring others to develop
innovative ideas along with their service to the society by following CSR
approaches. The last section of the report present the recommendations which
can be utilized by the managers for effective marketing of iPhone.

45
 SUGGESTIONS :

 This strategy must have lost early adopters and loyal customers and
reducing the price by 66% in 1yr is not good way to treat customers and
forcing them to sign contract with AT & T, O2, Vodaphone or T-Mobile,
which resulted in slowing down of sales and even though 3.3 million
iPhones were sold in 8months but only 2million contracts were signed with
AT&T. (Adapted by researcher)

 Another mistake is the launch of iPhone after 7 months in UK, Germany

and France; almost after 1yr in other Western Europe like Sweden, Austria
even in Canada, Brazil etc. So a good product has adopted a bad strategy.
They could have delayed the product launch or decreased the prices only
after 1yr or should have started with $399 only. (Vertygoteam, 2010)

 The company should find ways to differentiate the product in China but as
cheap players and mobile phones even pirated iPhone is available so its
difficult to maintain the brand image. Also Wi-Fi is disabled due to
government restrictions but the Chinese love colors so the back side of the
iPhone should be available in trendy colors. There is enough scope for
people in China with 470 Million users. (Research and Markets, 2010)

 India is also a good market with population reaching 1.3Billion, and

company can earn if they sell at similar price offerings due to economy of
scale. But they are offering at $800, which is expensive even for Americans.
The company has to be find ways to challenge dual and triple sim phones
available in India and cost around $100. Even on $50 phone from Nokia, the
company is investing heavily on marketing but iPhone wants to establish
with poor marketing requires careful planning. (Rhiain, 2010)

 The company is offering unlimited bank width to the subscribers which will
overload the network, so company should also invest in expanding the
46
 bandwidth along with aggressive marketing investment, especially in
growing markets with poor infrastructure like India as 44% of revenue
comes from non-US market. (Annual Reports, 2010)

 Olive (2009) views that company will sustain the market forces with the
help of media integration, games and sophisticated software. However,
company could include Mobile commerce, user generated print media
production and 3D games to attract more customers.

 The company should understand the social forces and use it to target the
customers. Rising prices, decrease income, world financial crisis affect the
buyer’s purchasing power. Old age customers are free and can be the target
market, so they can be connected with their grandchildren. The company
can create advertisements devoted to elders in this case. Another target
market can be singles who can utilize their free time for entertainment
purposes when they feel lonely, as they don’t have family obligations and
enough financials. With the increasing migration of citizens from one
country to other, even American and Britishers are moving to developing
countries due to lost cost living. So this can be another target market for
Apple, where they are away from their country but feel connected with the
product from their country. (Gosnay & Richardson, 2008)

 The users can’t forward any contact or use blue-tooth with other phones,
ringtones needs to be purchased and difficult to use the speakerphone in
cars. (Squarejp, 2010) The company should find ways to rectify it to make it
more suitable for customers.

47
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49
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Page Publishers

 Appendix A. Marketing Mix

50