Apple Inc. - Marketing Project

Résumé du document

Apple Inc was created in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The two students would not believe that they had founded one of the biggest companies of the 21th century. They started to produce their first item "Apple I" in their own garage. Soon, the demand for their product shot up and the homemade production began to rise.

The next step was to think global and create a computer that could be used by everyone in a larger production scenario. The Apple II was born in 1977 with the aid from Mike Markkuka who invested about $ 250 000 . .It was a huge success and the growth rate was unbelievable. A new market developed with the launch of this product: the personal computer market.

This market witnessed an unexpected growth till the present date as technologies incorporated into computers are nowadays more and more efficient and powerful.

Within a span of 30 years, this niche market transformed into a huge consumption market. In 2008, Gartner, a consulting practice estimated that about one billion of computers are used in the world. This can be attributed to the proliferation of computer skills and education to children present in developing countries as well.

Apart from computers, Apple focuses on its latest technological innovation-the iphone too. Its portfolio changed over the years and today, it has evolved from developing laptops to downloading platform with Itunes or mobile phones with Iphone.
The company has always faced crises periods by emerging with new products and efficient marketing strategies lead by its emblematic CEO Steve Jobs.

Extraits

[...] With regard to high technologies, the French market is a kind of cyclic market. As products integrate more and more capacities every year, some of them become obsolete faster. Hence, they move on to substitute the products and replace the old ones. Innovation is a primordial role-player in this market. That's why French government supports research and development and innovation in several stages of investment for both companies and households with tax exoneration that are investing in high- tech SMEs. [...]

[...] They produce their own hardware, software, operating systems and peripherals such as consumer electronics. This made it very difficult for competitors and new entrants to the market alike or to copy their ideas. There were many attempts to clone the Apple concept but none were successful, while other companies such as IBM became a victim to this. Apple also made it impossible for competitors in the MP3 player market to keep up with their cutting edge designs and ever evolving concepts. [...]

[...] It permits Apple to identify the need of the customer and also to create a need, in the consumer's mind, of a product which has not again been launched. Furthermore, Apple will also circulate these rumors in order to mislead its rivals. Another part of the growth strategy is the price strategy. As the demand for their products increases with the help of rumors, Apple decides to put a high price at the launch of its products because the loyal fans will not really care about the price. [...]

[...] For example, Nokia E72, Blackberry Bold 9700, Samsung Player-addict or the LG KP500. Consumer's decision will be based on the intuitiveness on the device, on the design, on the technical characteristics, on the price and also on the personal persuasion of the customer with one or other item. Purchase: With the decision regarding the product done, the consumer has to make the purchase. The consumer can buy the device itself and put its own unlocked card inside or he may also contract a rate with a telco (Telephone Company) like SFR or Orange in France. [...]

[...] This crisis can deteriorate Apple's results and reduce its market shares if nothing is done in order to counter it. Besides, Apple is very dependent on other companies; Apple's products are made by external companies, thus if one of those companies have a problem, it would be have a negative effect on Apple too. Apple is established in a special market where the rapid technological changes force the companies to innovate all the time. A product can be outclassed in one or two months. [...]