Analysis Of The Article ' Blackout For Early Sales Of Iphones '

Supply and demand is constantly changing for different products and services for a number of reasons. The good I chose to write about is the laptop I purchased to be used for school. The following are factors that could cause possible changes in the supply and demand of laptops on the market. When looking at the supply aspect of a laptop from manufacturers’ one factor that could change the supplied amount would be the cost to produce the item. If the cost to produce a laptop was to increase too much the supply may go down. Another factor would be the demand of the laptop. As long as there is demand for the laptop than the supply should be available however if the demand was to drop than the supply of the laptop could drop as well.

Apple was established as an IT company dealing in exclusively in computers. However, competition in the technology sector forced the firm to focus on other consumer products. The diversification strategy has seen Apple’s sales grow tremendously in the last decade, earning the firm the No. 1 brand position at Forbes. The Apple brand is recognized on an international scale and enjoys a strong recognition thanks to its aggressiveness when it comes to creativity and innovation (Tar, 2013). It has a large number of loyal customers who would purchase the new products regardless of the market price, which guarantees profits from the new division.

In the article “Apple Forecasts First Sales Drop Since 2003 on iPhone Slowdown” by Adam Satariano he discusses many factors contributing to Apple’s first sales decline in over 13 years and what steps they plan to take to recover. Apple’s revenue was expected to produce $55.5 billion this quarter but the company believes it will be $50-$53 billion dollars (Satariano, “Apple Forecast”). This decreased is believed to show signs of saturation in the smart phone market. Along with iPhones, Apple also had a pause in its iPad and Mac sales last quarter (Satariano, “Apple Forecast”). Apple is still overwhelmingly profitable but they cannot rely on the adoption of smart phones to carry the iPhone sales anymore.

Apple Inc. is one of the largest technology companies in the world. The company develops consumer electronic gadgets such as smartphones, computers, desktops, laptops, iPods and tablets. The company was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs with an intention of making computers but later it changed its focus to include the manufacturing of consumer electronics. However, the company was dealt a big blow when its chief executive officer and founder Steve Jobs died. The company will therefore have to search for ways in which it will maintain its market dominance as well as capture new and emerging markets. This research therefore seeks to establish how Apple forecasts demand and manages its inventory (Apple Computer Inc., 2006).

Apple came back from near extinction to become one of the most revered technology companies in recent memory. They achieved this status by developing innovative design products and pushing the limits of their marketing prowess. Apple is known for their ability to listen to consumers and revolutionize market segments by providing modern design laden and feature rich alternatives to the target markets. They employ strategies that might contradict normal convention by keeping their prices high to build a brand image of prestige and promote their products through word of mouth. The impact on marketing is hugely noticeable by other companies following suit with store models

Issue 02: Apple is a wildly successful company that generates billions of dollars in profits every year. This is one of the strongest examples of how a company with the right strategy, great products, a strong leader and the willingness to take some risks can become vastly successful. The market in which Apple is strong has intense rivalry for market share. Apple is challenged with staying ahead of its competitors and maintaining long-term relationships with its customers. In order to stay ahead of the competition Apple is forced to keep product innovation a top priority. I would maintain a Blue Ocean Strategy to market our product and maintain our competitive advantage (McGraw-Hill Irwin, Page 152). The company has a strong and loyal customer base which will allow Apple to concentrate the focus to highlighting the features of our products. I will not focus on what our competitors can and cannot do; I will focus the attention to the benefits of having Apple products. Strategic marketing campaigns highlighting the different uses and features of the popular iPhone and iPad will headline the campaign.

In the last five years, Mac sales have grown an average of 15 percent annually, compared to an average of three percent a year for the PC market as a whole. The iTunes App Store, which turned five this year, has crossed the 50 billion app download mark and the brand’s trendsetting retail stores are performing 17 times better than any other physical retail store—a fact that seems to justify the trademark Apple received for its distinctive design and layout. According to the latest news, Apple will launch a number of new products, such as Apple TV, iPhone6 and iOS's 8 in June this year.

Apple’s management had predicted its margins to be shrieked for the next 5 years; as a cause of that recession that reshaped the market. The management took a fast and smart decision and they predict the market after they analyzed it and found out that they can make better future by using the low prices of the parts, rather than downsizing.

Sales delivered strong results, and Dubinsky was a recognized positive contributor to it. Dubinsky’s group performed well on key metrics including dealer satisfaction,supporting new product launches without delay, and scaling up operations as the Company grew. Her group had no complaints from other Apple divisions about costs, or from dealer customers about inventory availability,demonstrating strong logistics performance. She was playing for a winning team.

This methodology that Apple practices are compelling, highly convincing and effective to the publics as this creates a mirage to beguile consumers and as one of the most admired brands and according to a survey by the (New York Times 2011), “56 percent of respondents said they could not think of anything negative about Apple, fourteen percent claimed that the pricing was the worst factor of Apple and only two percent briefly mentioned on the overseas labor practices.”

Apple’s renowned for their brilliant abiltity to cope with changes in market demand. They strictly control every aspect of the supply chain to ensure that both the distribution and supply-and-demand relationship are near perfect. They use a Make-To-Stock method of Supply Chain Management that allows customers to walk into any Apple Store and make a purchase the same day, which is coupled with an extremely low inventory level that means the system has nearly Make-To-Order characteristics. Apple uses SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), a German Enterprise Resource Planning software, to power the global supply chain and implement a strategy to “purchase raw material and reserve manufacturing capacity ahead of time “ [1] in order to make this possible.

The traditional consumer decision process starts with problem recognition. I would say, I totally skirted this underlying stage. Since I was taking after web journals and declarations about the arrival of the most up to date era iPhone since last year like it was my employment, I realized that the iPhone would have been released on September 25th – I likewise realized that you would have the capacity to preorder it on September 12. Thus at 8am on September 12, I preordered the fresh out of the plastic new iPhone 6S for $700 in addition to some expense, and hence started the expectation until get day on October started. So glancing back at my purchase, I never truly encountered a minute when I "understood" that I had an issue which should have been tended to or a "trigger" that made me need the phone. I as of now had a phone (a working Samsung as a substitution for my dead iPhone 5s), I basically recently concluded that I needed the freshest and best innovation out there – which the iPhone advertised.

Diversity in products and their prices helps Apple remain an inelastic company, regarding their demand. If a price rises for one of their products, there is sure to be another product that moves into that previous product’s price range that is still comparable in design and quality. There will always be people to buy the more expensive items not only because of Apple’s positive brand recognition and loyalty, but because Apple consistently produces quality and innovative products; including, if Apple finds a defect or fault, they fix the problem for free or replace the product altogether.

As I mentioned above, the estimation of demand function is also important in the marginal analysis. In order to estimate the demand, the manager should also make market survey to analyze the targeted customers. According to Pew Internet’s report, Teens and Technology 2013, 37% of U.S. teenagers now own a smartphone (which compares to 23% in 2011). And the increases of U.S. wireless carriers’ family data plans, intensive the parents to buy smartphones for their kids (Jason, 2013). Because the iPhone5C is colorful, has proper functions and easy to control, it must a first-choice for kid’s cellphone. Aimed at attracting teenagers group, the Apple Inc. manager should make the price to a certain level. What’s more, we also have to consider whether buyers are sensitive to price. In economics, we call it price elasticity of demand, which means the percentage change in the numbers of units sod to the percentage change in the price of the product. Assume most people are price sensitive, if the price of iphone5C is much higher than they expected, they will not buy it, which decreases demand a lot. So, listen to the public opinions on price is quite important.

* The product life cycle of Apple products are very small for that reasons revenues are more depend on launch of new products and service.