Apple Incorporated: 4Ps of Marketing System for iPhone 4 - Case Study Example

Executive summary This paper is a detailed analysis of how iPhone 4 from Apple Inc. has been able to deliver value to its customers through the 4Ps of marketing: product, place, price and promotion. The paper gives a brief background of the company and goes ahead to discuss how value has been delivered through the mentioned avenues. The iphone is a Smartphone from the Apple Inc. which is a leader in the smart phones market. It boasts of high quality features and excellent applications for its consumers. Table of contents 1.0 Product……………………………………………………………………………3 2.0 Company background……………………………………………………………3 2.1 Product…………………………………………………………………………….4 2.2 Price……………………………………………………………………………….5 2.3 Place………………………………………………………………………………6 2.4 Promotion……………………………………………………………………….8 3.0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….9 References……………………………………………………………………………11 1.0 Introduction This assignment requires that a student to pick a product/service from Australia or any other country and focus on how the product or service delivers value to the customer through the 4Ps of marketing. My choice for this assignment is Apple’s iphone-4 which is a Smartphone manufactured and distributed by Apple Inc. In this paper I will analyze how the product delivers value to customers in terms of product, price, place and promotion. 2.0 Company background Apple Inc is a multinational with stores in major cities of the world headquartered in California USA. Apart from the iphone brand, the company also designs, develops and sells other consumer technology products such as iPod, ipad, the Mac and many others including iOS operating system. Apple was founded by Steve jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. The initial idea was to develop and sell Apple personal computer kit. It was humble beginning with the first product being handmade by the two Steves and went on sale the same year. What follows is a story of success, downturns and rejuvenation of the company under the guidance of entrepreneur Steve Jobs (Grady, 2009). Apple has continually diversified their product line over the years to a have a successful line of products associated with the company such as Operating systems, phones, computers , and several software solutions. Today apple is present in 14 countries with more than 390 stores. It is the third largest mobile phone maker and the second largest technology company. In addition to the products it also offers services such as icloud, iBooks, and iTunes. 2.1 Product During its release in 2010, the company described iPhone-4 as the biggest leap they have taken since the development and release of the original iPhone. And true to their statement the phone featured new aspects that made it a must have in the phone market. It features what Steve Jobs called the retina display; a display of 960x640 pixels a higher resolution than the typical human eye is capable of perceiving when held at a distance of 12 inches. This higher resolution meant that the users will be enjoying a finer display of texts and controls. Watching videos and viewing photos was also taken to a higher level by the Iphone-4 with the stunning display capability. The Iphone-4 features an A4 processor the same used to power ipad. This means the phone is capable of handling up to 7 hours talk time on 3g networks due to improved power management. It can also play 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and a standby time of 300 hours. It also has 32 GB of onboard flash storage memory. With these capabilities and the mobile broadband speeds of 7.2 Mbps the iphone surely delivers value and convenience for its users. With the phone you don’t have to worry about your battery power every now and then. You also enjoy improved browsing and downloading speed provided there is capable network infrastructure (Schneiders, 2011). The iPhone-4 also features a 5 megapixels camera with a backside illuminated sensor. The camera is capable of tasking high quality photographs even in low-light situations. It can also record high definition videos which can be shared on the internet through inbuilt applications. This improves the photo taking experiences and video options to consumers of smart phones. The features not only add improvement to quality but also convenience. The phone also features a front facing camera designed to facilitate video calling bringing another dimension to the mobile telephony industry. The users of iPhone-4 will be able to not only hear each other but see each other face to face when talking over the mobile phone. It will also enable better clarification of things since one can see what the communicator at the other end is referring to. The phone has a language support of the major languages in the world making it convenient to use for people who are not conversant with English. With all these features it is evident that the product is designed to deliver value to the customer through cutting edge technology delivered in a beautifully looking handheld device. 2.2 Price Iphone-4 is premium Smartphone priced above the average phone price. The strategy seems to be working for the phone so far as consumers view it as a high quality commodity that delivers value to their money. To a great extent the phone is a class statement to many consumers. Apple is a world respected brand and being associated with such a brand is a matter of prestige. Consumers are motivated to buy certain products due to the value it gives to them apart from a favorable pricing (Slater and Sengupta, 2009). While some low end consumers prefer to buy commodities that are favorably priced, high end consumers value other aspects of a commodity. They value prestige and premium features that they enjoy once they have acquired the product (Schultz and Schultz, 2009). To these people price is not a consideration but rather the prestige that comes with the iPhone. We can conclude that the pricing model adopted by apple for the iPhone4 is a success but it is being challenged by the low pricing model by Samsung all the same for as long as iPhone continuously innovates and provides premium services for its customer base the pricing model can be sustainable. 2.3 Place Place defines how a commodity is delivered to its consumers. It should be convenient enough for ease of access by the consumers. Location is a strategic issue when it comes to marketing. If the location does not serve the consumers right, the result will be competitors taking advantage to reach out the customer base. The location should also be in places where the consumers have the ability to buy the products you are selling at the price you have set (Saxena, 2009). In light of this we can conclude that apple has been able to balance between the interests of the company and the interests of consumers. Apple stores are conveniently located inside shopping malls but the company has also built several stand alone stores in specific locations. The stores are beautifully designed to attract customers into them. They are spread all over the major cities of the world such as Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Chicago, Paris and many others. The stores sell variety of apple products such as software, computers, ipods, ipads and iPhones. A host of other third party accessories are also retailed by the company. High profile stores feature halls for presentations and workshops all in an aim of building loyalty among its customer base. All the apple stores feature a genius bar to which offers support and technical advice to apple customers. The customers can also set up some apple service from these genius bars. This brings a new dimension to marketing as apple is going a step further to offer after sale services to. Apple has also liaised with other third party distributors and retailers to market its products. This enables the company to reach other markets where it has not opened stores. Much of the apples stores are located in countries with strong economies where strong demand exists. The customers in these particular locations can be able to afford the pricing of apples products and it therefore gives value in economies of scale by generating adequate sales to support the sales efforts of the company and bring in profits. The customers don’t have to wait long periods of ordering the iphones and waiting for it to be delivered from the company. The company has taken all the necessary arrangements and logistics to ensure that the product reaches its consumers on time. Just after the launch of the iPhone 4. Apple reported record sales of 4 million apple units, making it the most successful mobile phone launch to date. This success did not just happen it was a s a result of ensuring the units are available in all apple stores prior to the release of iPhone 4. 2.4 Promotion The smart phone market is a saturated market with many phone makers delivering quality smart phones. The first advantage that iphone had is develop a revolutionary product that required little marketing effort to succeed in the market. But apple has done an excellent job to market the iphone4 brand in the world to counter competition from other phone makers. The marketing strategy has basically taken advantage of the apple company image. Apple is known for innovation and combination of technology and design to provide beautifully looking products to consumers which are also very powerful (Janko, 2009).. Apart from utilizing TV commercial the apple iphone marketing strategy has had to take advantage of the iphone website to offer tips on how to use the iphone applications ad also promote the special features that the phone delivers (Janko, 2009).. The website offers application and shows nice pictures associated with apps offered by the iphone. Considering the fact that apple consumers have good access of the internet. This strategy is appropriate as the consumers can observe best programs and acquire the actual applications from the internet conveniently from wherever they are without having to physically move. Apples TV advertisements are simple but very catchy. They are designed to give consumers a feeling of apple making life easier for them through the many applications offered to solve daily problems. There is always a good application that suits everybody and apple is keen to communicate this message in their advertisements. One of the catchy phrases used by apple advertisements is “There’s a good application with regard to that” 3.0 Conclusion Iphone 4 has been able to deliver value for money to its cient by dominating the premium Smartphone market in the global Smartphone market. The brand has largely taken advantage of the popularity of apple as an innovating company that combines technology with beautiful designs to deliver quality products to its consumers. Iphone 4 stunned the market with new features that put it far infront of the rest in terms of incorporating technological convenience to its users. Apple has continuously improved on its brand of iphone to ensure its customer base gets the latest improved features with them. The pricing for apple’s iphone is very high. It can either work for the company or against the company. First there are consumers interested not in price but prestige and technology offered by the iphone 4. These high end consumers are able to sustain the high prices of apple products including the iphone. Off late though stiff competition has been coming from the android powered gadgets especially from Samsung threatening the dominance of iphone, this means that the company might as well consider reviewing its pricing model to maintain its market. Apple has strategically located many of its stores in shopping malls where it will be able to reach as many consumers as possible. This is convenient for consumers as shopping malls as the shops are easily accessible and they can visit the stores while also engaging in other activities. Iphone is distributed and serviced by the apple stores distributed well in major cities in the world. The company also relies on third party retailers to reach their clients. It can be said that apple has done a marvelous job of reaching their customers worldwide. This delivers value for consumers as they don’t have to go through long processes of ordering and waiting for the iphone. In terms of promotion the company has largely relied on the good name that the apple company enjoys. Steve jobs has also been a strong brand figure associated with the iphone and many buy the iphone because of the faith they have in Steve jobs in creating beautiful yet high performance gadgets. Most of the promotional activities are conducted through the apple website to reach as many customers as possible throughout the world. Reference Grady.J., (2009). Apple Inc: Corporations That Changed the World Series, ABC-CLIO Janko.G., (2009). The marketing of apple Inc: A success Story analyzed in a traditional marketing model, VDM Publishing Saxena., (2009). Marketing management, Tata McGraw-Hill Education Schneiders.S., (2011). Apples’s Secret of success- Traditional Marketing Vs. Cult Marketing, Diplomica Verlag Slater.F., Sengupta.S., (2009). Marketing of high-technology products and innovations, Jakki mohr Schultz.D., Schultz.H., (2009). Building customer- Brand relationships, Sharpe Read More