An article written by Ben Kunz on the Business week daily talks about apple's pricing game. Article known as "How apple plays the pricing game" the strategies Steve Job employed in the marketing of his product to compete competitively in the market.
Job is seen as a master in the use of price decoys, bundling, obscurity and reference prices to make the consumer see Apple's products as a good deal (Lowensohn 1). A good example is seen where apple introduced the iPod Touch media player at three point prices of $300, $299 and $229 both higher than the Iphone. It must be noted that competition in the technology world is fierce hence need for the pricing games.
According to Kunz Apples use of price decoys in August 2010 was seen as a great move as it introduced a smaller seven inch iPad tablet which later on hit the United States of America just before Christmas enabling its other products to be marketed faster as compared to the seven inch. One may consider to buy an iPod of $229 with less features but cheaper while he would buy the $199 iPad with more features (Tarbini, 1). This enables Apple to market his iPad resulting to higher sales in the market enabling it compete competitively in the market. The use of Decoys explains how sells its gadgets in a price series.
Apple is known to obscuring its reference price instead of revealing it to the consumers all together. Use of Bundle prices is commonly seen with Apple as it sells most of its applications and accessories including songs, videos and also iAd clicks for ads advertising. This enables Apple to increase revenue even without the sale of gadgets increasing its market power.
Apple pricing strategies have enabled it to maintain its top ranks in the mobile and computer industry as it continues to dominate the market as compared to its competitors who rise and fall periodically.
Works Cited
Kunz, Ben. "Bloomberg Business Weekly." How Apple Plays The Pricing Game [New York] 9 June 2010: n. pag. Print.
Lowensohn, Josh. "Apple's new iPad pricing: A head scratcher or brilliant? | Apple News."CNET. N.p., 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Tarbini, Marco. "How Apple sets its prices." Macworld. N.p., 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
