What Is the Customer Perceived Value for IPhone 4 - Report Example

2.2 Critical Comparison of the Value Propositions of IPhone 4 and BlackBerry (INSERT TO THE BUTTOM OF PAGE 14) Item IPhone 4 BlackBerry Cost: Price of Product High and extremely expensive Varies according to the deal given by the service provider selling the phone. Cost: Service Costs High and fixed throughout the nation Service costs vary and consumers select the best deal available. Cost: Software/Media costs High software and media costs No Alternatives available Different software can be acquired from different providers. Consumers can select software/media service to use. Benefits: Product Offering Durability of Phone Easy to use Touchscreen service Sleek Design Some phones are very durable some are not. Pressing can make it difficult to use. Design varies and consumers have choices. Benefits: Customer Services Standardised good customer care service Numerous options for customers to present grievances. Customer complaints are handled swiftly and sent to centralized authority for improved services Quality of customer service varies. Customer support could be high or low and is sometimes out of the control of BlackBerry. Benefits: Relationship Reliance on Apple Software Free support services Extent of relationship varies with offering of intermediary. Customer relationship can be difficult to manage by BlackBerry and customer could feel distant. Benefits: Image Positive and standardised reputation. Universal Adverts Wide variation of adverts and promotion drives creating different perceptions The cost and price of IPhone 4 is quite high. It appears to be highly expensive and consumers need to make a high initial investment to acquire the device. On the other hand, BlackBerry is often sold by third party companies which often run promotions that make the perceived cost appear to be lower than it might actually be. Typically, BlackBerry comes with several contracts and other benefits that makes the buyer less pressured to part with money. In this wise, it can be critically said that BlackBerry comes with a positive view to consumers. Also, the service cost for IPhone is standardised. It is almost always charged in a one-size fits all price that makes it expensive to some segments of the society. On the other hand, BlackBerry has contracts with different intermediaries. Customers can therefore decide which brand to sign with on the basis of service costs. This makes it less stringent to sign up with BlackBerry. A consumer is bound into a software and media contract with Apple once he acquires the IPhone. Due to this, a consumer will either have to use the software of IPhone or nothing else. BlackBerry on the other hand has room for more integration of software and media. This gives the consumer more variety and choices to make. The product offering of IPhone is much more competitive than BlackBerry. This is because IPhone seem to research more into the development of their product. This ensures that the IPhone is always updated and offers extremely complex features. On the other hand BlackBerry changes its service based on consumer demand. Due to this there is a variety. However, the IPhone features are advanced and basic standards are always high. Customer service is also positive universally in IPhone. This is because they follow extremely high and universal standards which are almost always superior to their competitors. On the other hand, BlackBerrys services come with numerous variations which can be for the good or for the worse. This means the quality control and guarantee is quite doubtful. Relationships are established once a person buys an IPhone. This is because there are numerous software and support contracts that are inherent in every IPhone purchase. Due to this, a customer will not need to bother to find out the various options available on the market. Rather, all these extras are given in a form of a package deal. On the other hand, BlackBerry comes with some variations which is due to the flexibility of the contract. Due to this, customers might have the headache of looking for appropriate services and softwares to use in complement to the BlackBerry. Also, there is a centralized image building system with the IPhone. This system ensures that the IPhone 4 presents a user as a member of a high class once this is purchased. However, due to the different intermediaries that exist in the provision of BlackBerry services, there is a variation of images and perceptions customers might have in terms of reputation. This will therefore mean that there are different views and ideologies on how to view these two products. This trend seem to favour IPhone which seem to have global brands and identities. 3.1 The New Value Proposition (INSERT TO BUTTOM OF PAGE 18) The following new value propositions will have to be put I place to bridge the gap between the value proposition expected by customers and what is provided by IPhone 4. 1. Price of the IPhone should be varied based on different consumer classes that might be identified from market research when segmentation is carried out. 2. Service costs should also be varied on the basis of possible outsourcing contracts that Apple can form with various telecommunication service providers and other intermediaries in different countries. Based on this arrangements could be made to provide different packages that can be varied to target different market segments. 3. Software and Media service should be liberalized. Customers should be allowed to choose the kind of software and media systems they would want to integrate into their phone. Due to this, IPhone will have to be universal and made compatible with different software and media systems. 4. The designs of the IPhone products can be varied in some situations to allow consumers from different backgrounds to choose what they want. IPhone could introduce the QWERTY keyboard to some consumers who might prefer it and add some different features that can allow different classes of consumers to patronize their service. 5. Customer services should be varied in order to ensure that consumers feel closer to the customer service staff. This could be done through massive decentralization of service provision centres so that people in different zones of the country can walk to vantage points to report cases and meet real staff members. 6. The image of IPhone can best be ingrained into the minds of certain people if adverts and promotions are conducted in certain local contexts rather than the global context. Read More