Marketing Trends, Strategies, and Responses at Apple Inc

According to Mintel (2014), “nearly half of today’s university students report they are financially comfortable, as they have money left at the end of the month for a few treats and to save.” What about the other half? The other half of the students either have not a lot left after the basics are taken care of or having difficulties with their financial situation. Students’ average monthly expenditure on their essentials is 65% of their monthly income (Mintel, 2014). In these few years, there has been a rise of national companies giving student discounts and offers for their products or services. For example, Apple Inc. offers student discounts for their gadgets.

Apple Inc., which was formally known as Apple Computer Inc., is a multinational corporation that designs, develops and sells a wide variety of consumer electronics, personal computers, and computer software. It is located in United States of America California and has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Among its adequately known hardware, products in the market industry are; iPhone Smartphone, iPad tablet computer, and iPod music player among many other computer accessories. Moreover, it develops and sells the following computer software; iOS and OS X operating systems, Safari web browser, iTunes media player, and iWork and iLife creativity and productivity collections. The market for smart phones equated to normal cell phones is comparatively small but will upsurge in the future. Currently apple has approximately 4.2% of the global handset share of the market. The objectives of this plan are to upsurge market share to 6% by July 2012 and to surge to 10% by January 2013. To obtain 5 additional fortune 500 indentures to utilize the iPhone.

Apple Inc, best known as Apple is an American based global company that designs and sells electronics, PCs and computer software. The company was established in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and was incorporated in 1977. Some of the Apple’s best-known products are the Macintosh range of personal computers, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. By 2012, Apple reported to have more than 300 retail stores located in more than 10 countries in the world and more than 60, 000 employees on permanent employment, and about 2,800 on temporal employment. Despite the success the company, Apple has faced hard competition from other electronics manufacturing companies. The objective of this paper is to develop a strategic plan that will enable Apple improve its position in the personal computer industry. The paper will use Michael Porter’s forces; key success factors, SWOT analysis and the competitive strength to point out specific, workable recommendations that will allow Apple stay afloat and improve its position in the personal computer industry (Gamble & Marino 2012).

Apple’s position and marketing as a premium brand is based on their strategy of not competing on price. Apple operates on premium pricing and price skimming. Premium pricing is a strategy in stitch products are introduced and kept at high prices in order to encourage a level of exclusivity and luxury among consumers. The high prices of Apple products, in comparison to their competitors, is reflective and representative of the quality and exclusivity of their products. Through this pricing strategy, Apple has successfully build a brand equity and value around their brand and products which in result means consumers are willing to pay the extra amount of money for their products, instead of going to competitors with lower prices.

This paper will discuss a company called Apple computers. It will further access the market forces and strategies used by apple.

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.

The four parts of this paper will include Apple’s marketing situation in terms of the

This analysis of this project has been established by its 4 group members researching tactics used for international marketing for Apple, Inc., and to secure funding for the additional growth in marketing status of the company. The purpose of the research was to explore international marketing strategies such as distribution, pricing methods, and promotion and advertising strategies. The collection of data was done through the web by looking at news articles, Apple, Inc.’s website, and analyzing data from previous years of the company. Some findings included the products that are distributed around the world including iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers. The distribution process of Apple, Inc. begins with a China based product setting, then moving to Apple’s logistic center across numerous regions, then to different service

Apple is a multibillion-dollar company that we thought would be very useful to analyze since they have had so much success with their products and marketing techniques, specifically the Mac computers. We saw the opportunity to learn a lot from their different marketing approaches and strategies with their computers against the competitors.

Apple Inc. uses the Apple brand to compete across several highly competitive markets. Apple 's brand has evolved as it has expanded its products and services. Originally starting in the late 1970s with desktop

This paper comprehensively describes the marketing plan of a charismatic organization Apple Inc. The main focus of the paper is to describe the most important marketing strategies which Apple has espoused from the date of its emergence and different challenges which it has faced from time to time. The paper begins with an introduction to the organization. Apple Inc. is an American MNC; engaged in the business of developing and marketing of IT products. Apple has expanded its business operations all over the world. Every product which Apple introduces has its own target market; it develops marketing plan and strategies for each of its products separately (Apple, 2012). Apple's strengths include strong brand image, financial strength, product and process design, and highly efficient operations management while high prices and inability of up gradation of some products are its main weaknesses. Apple has threats from its competitors, increasing costs, and economic situations but has greater opportunities in entering new markets, making strategic alliances, and bringing innovations through efficient R&D. Before entering new markets, Apple has to analyze the business environment through sensitivity analysis, and then decide a framework for the future strategies.

Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,

Apple Computer is an innovative company evolving on the multimedia and high technology market. It is present on hardware and software markets, as well as in the on-line services market. Its highly diversified offer makes Apple Computers a company that is very hard to manage.

Apple Inc. is the most revered corporation of the USA, both in terms of brand equity and market capitalization. The company’s international competitive strategy is focused on the innovative product development, which Apple controls through its eight business segments: Portables, Desktops, iPads, iPhones, Music related products and services, peripherals and hardware (Lam et al. 2005).