Apple iPhone Marketing strategy

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Marketing strategy of Apple iPhone – Apple iPhone Marketing strategy: The first-generation iPhone was announced by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold. The iPhone has a user interface built around a multi-touch screen.

Apple iPhone At A Glance – Marketing Strategy of Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone Marketing strategy

[wp-svg-icons icon=”office” wrap=”I”] Company : Apple inc.

[wp-svg-icons icon=”user” wrap=”I”] CEO: Tim Cook

[wp-svg-icons icon=”user” wrap=”I”] Founder: Steve Jobs | Ronald Wayne | Steve Wozniak

[wp-svg-icons icon=”calendar” wrap=”I”] Year founded: April 1, 1976, Los Altos, CA

[wp-svg-icons icon=”location-2″ wrap=”I”] Headquarters: Cupertino, CA

[wp-svg-icons icon=”globe” wrap=”I”] Website: www.apple.com

Apple iPhone Competitors

[wp-svg-icons icon=”pacman” wrap=”I”] Competitors: Samsung Electronics | Sony | IBM | Microsoft | Dell Technologies | Huawei | Acer | Lenovo | Toshiba | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | Google Pixel | Redmi | OnePlus | Honor | LG | HTC

 

Apple iPhone Fun Facts: The Most Expensive iPhone: The world’s most expensive smartphone is an iPhone 5, which is worth US$15 million. This phone is made of 135 grams of 24-carat gold and the chassis was inlaid with 600 white diamonds.

 

Marketing Strategy for Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone Marketing strategy

Apple iPhone’s Marketing Strategy covers various aspects of the business right from segmentation and targeting to the overall mission and vision of the company and the various parameters which the company executes to become the top brand that it has in the market. So what is the Marketing Strategy of the Apple iPhone? Let us discuss.

Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

Apple is a famous multinational technology company in the world. It’s in the business of different kinds of technologically advanced consumer electrical products. 

Apple segment its customer base based on the combination of segmentation strategies, it uses Behavioral, demographic & psychographic factor in segmenting the market. Similarly, it uses nice & differentiated targeting strategies to be a top player in the smartphone market despite having expensive products as compared to other players like Samsung, LG, etc. 

Usage & benefit-based positioning strategies are used by Apple to differentiate itself from the other players in the market. 

Apple has never published a “mission statement” or “Vision statement”. F.A .Q. on Apple’s investor relations site says Apple’s mission statement is:

Apple iPhone Mission Statement

“to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, business people, and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.”

Apple iPhone Vision Statement

“We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. “

Apple iPhone Tagline

 “Think different”.

Apple iPhone Marketing strategy

Competitive Advantage – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

Apple’s major competitive advantage is its technological advancement & visionary thinking which made it the most desirable brand in the world. Telling someone you own an Android doesn’t have the same effect as telling someone you own an iPhone. It’s the name that makes the difference. 

Apple understood that their products are of high price so it will only be possible for youngsters with hefty incomes or backed by rich daddies to purchase their products while the middle class who forms the majority of the world population will not be able to purchase the same so they tied up with telecom service provider in various developed/developing nations to sell it on EMI basis with 2-3 years of unlimited calling /data usage. These strategies of Apple have been successful so far in various nations. 

Vertical integration has given Apple a competitive advantage, as it owns chip manufacturers, controls manufacturing, follows extremely strict software standards, and operates in a nearly closed ecosystem of proprietary 400+ worldwide retail stores. With these advantages, the company has more control of its value chain and, more importantly, its component costs. 

BCG Matrix – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

The iPhone and iPad are stars. They can’t make enough of them. These products are so successful that their growth potential is unknown. 

Apple TV and Watch is a question mark. It makes a bit of money, but it’s not reaching its potential. 

The MacBook is the portable of choice right now. The all-in-one iMac is in that cash cow place. They make a lot of them, but computing is quickly shifting to portable and mobile. 

The big multi-part desktop is fading away to a dog. Hard drive-based iPods peaked a while ago. 

Distribution Strategy – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

Apple has limited distribution channels, more than 400 stores & 10000 retail touchpoints worldwide but with the advent of e-commerce sites & judging by the customer group that apple targets, even a limited distribution channel cannot hinder its growth. 

3rd party distributors like Ingram Micro & Redington are playing a major role in making the product available to the retail outlets. 

Brand equity – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

The brand equity and customer franchise that Apple embodies are extremely strong. The preference for Apple products amongst the “Mac community”, for instance, not only kept the company alive for much of the 90’s but it also emerged as a major smartphone player nowadays. 

It even enabled the company to sustain pricing that is at a premium to its competitors. Apple follows a blue ocean strategy to distinguish & differentiate itself from other smartphone players in the market.  Apple’s brand is very much that of a challenge, bringing easy-to-use computers & smartphones to consumers and small businesses in a way that is focused on the needs, individuality, and style of ordinary people, rather than the conformity and technical mandates of big business. 

Patent infringement case against Apple by Smartflash, Samsung, and other companies has also affected its brand equity & balance sheet. 

Competitive Analysis – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

The technology industry is highly competitive & is crowned by a large number of players who are fighting for existence by eating up each other’s share. Counterfeit products are also the biggest threat to the players like Apple & Samsung. 

Because Apple has focused over the years on seamlessly tying its hardware and applications together with an integrated operating system, one works very much like the other has helped Apple in creating a sustainable advantage. Apple has always been known for its innovation & box ideas like “SIRI”, a personal assistant having features of speech control and interactivity, user-friendly software platform. 

Apple uses disruptive innovation to kill their earlier technology before their competitors do which is making them more competitive & in a way proving to be a smart strategy. 

Market Analysis – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

Apple is facing huge competition from Microsoft and Google from the software point of view and LG, Samsung, Sony, and Blackberry are already challenging with their innovative brands. Moreover, Chinese companies are giving head-on competition to Apple. Changing lifestyle, developing nations, and changing the economics of rural population due to migration to urban areas is the driving force for the success of the whole industry. 

Customer Analysis – Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

The company is targeting professionals and students between the age of 18 and 35. It has 3 types of customers broadly categorized: 

The hard worker: Hardworking people who have low income or maybe university-going teenagers have the aspiration to own an Apple product. 

The growing people: Middle-class income group working somewhere or is a businessman. 

Upper strata: These people have a high standard of living, they are tech-savvy & innovators. 

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