Project Task 1
Company Overview
Apple Inc. is a multinational company that designs, manufactures, and markets one of the best consumer electronic items and software. It is headquartered in Cupertino, California and is best known for its products like Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Apple Inc. also provides online services to its customers, which includes iCloud, iTune Store, and App Store. OS X and iOS are the two operating systems of this company. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded the company in 1976 and incorporated it a year afterward under Apple Computer Inc. name. Later, the products of the company expanded beyond the limits of computer devices and they changed their name to Apple Inc. Nowadays, the products of the company are sold worldwide. Apple has around 98,000 employees working for them and 453 retail stores to serve its customers. FileMaker Inc., Anobit and Beats Electronics are its subsidies (Lüsted 11).
The products of Apple Inc. include Mac, iPod, IPad, OS X I OS, IPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV. When it comes to the computer information technology industry, Apple Inc. is the second largest company in terms of revenue after Samsung. iTunes Store is the largest music later of the world and has several other applications that provide services to its valued customers (Lüsted 11).
Reason and its market position
Apple Inc. is a well-known company, and its products are famous all over the world. Apple merits to be considered a market leader in its industry. The reason to select this company is the brand loyalty of its customers. The launch of its new products is worth watching and is covered on the news. Over the last decade, the position of this brand has been very strong in the market. The star product of the company is iPhone, which is admired by people all over the world. People wait for several hours in line to get their hands on the iPhone the first day of its launch (Lüsted 17). Through its marketing strategy and high-quality products and services, the company has achieved success and has become a leader in the consumer electronic market.
PEST Analysis
Political
Around 63% of the sales of Apple Inc. are outside the US. The possibility to enter world market and to have a strong trading relationship beyond the US with other countries influences positively on the corporation’s sales and turnover. Government stability and relations with other countries are essential to carry out the business activities. Some of the parts and products of Apple Inc. are manufactured outside the US like Ireland, China, Korea, etc. Conflicting political relationship of US with these countries can restrict Apple to enter these markets and will reduce its market share in the consumer electronic market.
Economic
The performance of every company depends on the economy of the country. The products of Apple are considered to be luxurious, but because of its high quality and intrinsic design, many people tries hard to get their hands on one even if the device is out of their budget. In comparison with its competitors, the products of Apple are expensive, which makes it difficult for Apple to perform well when there is a depression in the economy. Therefore, for many countries with an unstable economy, change in currency rates and inflation have a direct impact on the Apple sales.
Social
The social factor usually includes the values and preferences of the people living in a society. Apple is a huge brand and the products of Apple are famous and widely used by many people all over the world. Apple products are always of good quality, which makes them highly reliable. In the most cases, Apple is one step ahead of similar companies on the market with their innovations and this factor captures the attention of the users.
Technological
Technology in all the fields is of a great importance for consumers. If technological advancements are not pursued, then it is difficult for a company to survive in the market. Apple Inc. is highly innovative and continues to bring innovation through the launch of its new products. The features and software are changed and updated time to time so that the company is able to have its share of the market. Moreover, Apple technologies have a synchronization feature that makes its users love the brand even more: whenever a user read a book on the Macintosh PC, it is synchronized with the IPhone or IPad. This peculiar Apple trait makes everyday usage very comfortable, and at the same time, it makes a customer stick to the brand devices.
Analysis of Current Market Vehicles
The efforts made by Apple Inc. for marketing its products are well recognized in the world. The company adopted unique ways of advertising that allure the customer’s attention and also helpful for sustaining the brand image. The Department of market research of the company is highly active in creating research to analyze the market trends and customers’ demand. The research department is highly active in adopting modern tools for running the marketing vehicle smooth.
Apple Inc. has an advantage of being a market leader in the technological industry. It has a high level of brand loyalty for almost every product; customers associate themselves with the products of Apple Inc. The company uses several mediums for advertising and market their products through print media by giving eye-catching print ads in the technology magazines and business newspaper, creative and attractive advertisements on television; the company also uses unique and exclusive advertising campaigns via a digital medium like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Apple, however, not only resorts to traditional marketing vehicles but also they give press conferences before putting their product for sale. Often before a press conference, the world does not know which features are coined this year by Apple developers. This kind of suspense allows keeping consumers in tension.
The company adopts the product placement strategy in the movies and other ongoing shows on TV. Moreover, the tools in marketing vehicle of the company include branding in ‘technology exhibitions’ around the world. Apple uses its branding in various award shows of the Hollywood industry. The company also promotes its new product to the existing customer by giving push ads on their current devices; giving valuable services on AppStore is another source of attractive advertisement to the existing customers. The effective marketing of the products has imprinted its position in the minds of the customer. The distinctive way of marketing by Apple Inc. works as an institute for other companies to marketing their products.
