The article- “The real reason why 4-inch phones are back in fashion”, published in www.thenextweb.com speaks about iPhone SE, the latest mobile phone from Apple, the business strategies, segmentation, pricing strategies and global marketing strategies . This paper will focus on identifying and analyzing the trends and significance of the event covered in the aforementioned article.
Business Strategy
IPhone, ever since its launch in 2007 has been one of the most sought after products selling millions of copies worldwide, across its product range. From the screen size of 3.5 inches in 2007, the phone kept on growing with every further launches and the 6 plus launched in 2014 came with a screen size of 5.5 inches. Now, with the launch of SE, Apple has demonstrated a significant shift in its strategy with regard to the screen size. The primary markets of iPhone are the U.S, China and the European Union. A significant number is being sold in countries like UAE, Singapore, Japan and India as well. It should be said that the new product has been launched considering the global market along with its home turf. With SE, the company is aiming to ward of the growing competitive threat from the Chinese phone makers such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Huawei in the U.S market. Also, the company wants to retain its existing customer base, who wishes to stay with the brand, but uninterested in large screen phones. The iPhone SE, though small in screen size, gets the latest technological specifications from Apple including the A9 chip and embedded M9. This imparts the phone with nearly double the processing speed of the 5-series phones and at par with the 6-series. With this launch, the company also aims at a more defined diversification of its product portfolio, particularly in the wake of its competitors launching small screen size phones and those gaining popularity in major global markets such as the U.S, Japan, E.U and to an extent, China. It also points out to the future growth strategy of the company- no path breaking products, instead focus on product diversification, and deepen its penetration in the global markets, thereby targeting a wider customer base.
Segmentation
As mentioned above, the company wants to retain its customer base, which prefers small screen sizes and does not believe that an upgrade essentially means a bigger screen size. Earlier, they were left with no other option than to upgrade to the bigger phones as small screen ones were simply not available with the brand. Clearly, the company is not targeting early tech adopters or mobile enthusiasts, but those who are more conservative and watchful. With the launch of SE, Apple addresses the concern of this small, but significant group who can now upgrade to this latest technology packed device. With the launch price of $399, the company also targets the second hand iPhone seekers, particularly in markets such as China and India by offering a brand new phone at a price equal to lesser than a one year old iPhone.
Pricing Strategy
IPhone SE is the cheapest iPhone till date, as the company targets to widen its global customer base. It loses out on screen size, but is a tech packed device and the company hopes the highly competitive pricing will enable the company to widen its customer base at a global level and equip the company to compete with the numerous Android phones. The company is clearly targeting global saturated markets like China and growing markets like India at this price point. However, the success of this strategy remains to be seen as both these markets are still heavily tilted towards bigger screen size phones at price point of lesser that $200.
Global Marketing Strategy
Outside the U.S, it is an Android world as most of the other major global markets are big time Android users. Also, Apple in the past had faced huge challenges in selling their products to huge, growing and globally significant markets such as India as the iPhones were out of reach for majority of the customers there. As mentioned above, the SE is clearly the one for global markets aimed at grabbing market share from Android phones as well as to deepen its customer base in markets such as China and India, where traditionally the cheaper, big screen sized Android phones control the market.
References
Hussey, Matthew. The real reason why 4-inch phones are back in fashion. 1 April 2016. Website. 9 April 2016.
