Company History:

Apple Inc. formerly Apple Computer, Inc. is an American multinational corporation. It’s headquartered in Cupertino, California. It designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company was founded on April 1, 1976, and incorporated on January 3, 1977. The word "Computer" was removed from its name on January 9, 2007, to reflect its shifted focus towards consumer electronics after the introduction of the iPhone. Its best-known hardware products are the Mac line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Its software includes the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media browser, the Safari web browser and the iLife and iWork creativity and production suites.

1^st logo 2^nd logo Present logo

Apple is the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012. However, the company has received criticism for its contractors' labor practices, and for Apple's own environmental and business practices.

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Ronald Gerald Wayne and Stephen Gary "Steve" Wozniak is also the co-founder of Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs

Product:

From the very beginning of the company produced computer only. But now they are large consumer electronic producer. They are also producing different computer software. Their core product lines are;

1. iMac

2. iPhone

3. iPad

4. iPod

In all these market they have a very large market share. They are producing the highest quality products with the maximum features. In all these market they are the leading brand.

iMac:

Apple Inc. are producing personal computer with the name iMac. They are offering both desktop and laptop computer. They have been using OS X operating system for their iMac. It is amazing to look at and even more amazing to use. It has a big, bold display. Third-generation Intel quad-core processors and the latest NVIDIA graphics has been used on it.

The latest Intel Processor:

Powered by third-generation Intel Core processors, the new iMac is the fastest yet. Every model in the lineup comes standard with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, starting at 2.7GHz and topping out at 3.2GHz. And at the Apple Online Store, you can configure your iMac with an even more powerful Intel Core i7 processor, up to 3.4GHz.

All-new NVIDIA graphics:

Across the line, the new iMac features advanced NVIDIA G-Force graphics processors built on the Kepler architecture, delivering up to 60 percent greater performance for graphics-intensive tasks.¹ you’ll see more frames per second in 3D games, and you can edit HD home videos with more speed and responsiveness than ever before. It is up to 60% more powerful.

Advanced storage option:

Hard drive: Up to a 3TB hard drive. Go ahead and take all the photos, buy all the music, and shoot all the video you want. A 1TB hard drive comes standard on the new iMac, with the option to upgrade to a massive 3TB drive² — which is 50 percent more storage than ever before offered on iMac.

Flash: Up to 768GB of flash storage. For maximum performance, you can configure a 27-inch iMac with 768GB of flash storage instead of a traditional hard drive. Flash storage delivers up to three times the performance of a traditional drive — speed you’ll notice when you start up your iMac, launch an app, or browse your photo library.

iPhone:

The iPhone is a line of smart phones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It runs Apple's iOS mobile operating system, originally named "iPhone OS". The latest version of this is iPhone 5. It has been released on September 21, 2012. All the latest technology has been used to design this phone.

A remarkably slim design that still makes room for a larger display and a faster chip. Ultrafast wireless that doesn’t sacrifice battery life and all-new headphones designed to sound great and fit comfortably. So much went into this iPhone. So you could get even more out of it.

Retina display:

Anyone can make a larger Smartphone display. But if you go large for large sake, you end up with a phone that feels oversize, awkward, and hard to use. iPhone 5 features a 4-inch display designed the right way: it’s bigger, but it’s the same width as iPhone 4S. So everything you’ve always done with one hand — typing on the keyboard, for instance — you can still do with one hand. On a larger canvas that lets you see more of every web page. More of your inbox. More events on your calendar. Even more apps on your Home screen.

A6 Chip:

With the new A6 chip, just about everything you do on iPhone 5 is noticeably faster — up to twice as fast compared with the A5 chip. So apps launch, web pages load, and email attachments appear almost instantly.

Fastest graphics:

The A6 chip also offers graphics performance that’s up to twice as fast as the A5. So you can power through graphics-intensive apps and games. And enjoy higher frame rates for smoother, more realistic game play.

Better battery life:

Not only is the A6 chip custom designed to be fast, it’s custom designed to work with iOS 6 to be extremely power efficient. So even at its accelerated speed, iPhone 5 has more than enough battery power to last throughout the day — up to 8 hours of browsing on a cellular connection, up to 8 hours of talk time, and up to 10 hours of video playback time.

iPad:

Apple Inc runs their tablet pc with the name ‘iPad’. The iPad runs Apple's iOS operating system. The first iPad was released on April 3, 2010; the most recent iPads, the fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini, were released on November 2, 2012. The user interface is built around the device's multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one.

A6X chip:

The new A6X chip inside iPad is our most powerful mobile chip yet. It delivers up to twice the CPU and graphics performance of the A5X chip. And it makes iPad feel faster and even more responsive. Apps launch instantly and run smoothly. Graphics‑intensive games are fluid and lifelike on the gorgeous Retina display. And with improved image signal processing built into the A6X chip, the photos and videos you take with the 5‑megapixel iSight camera look sharper and even more Retina worthy.

Advanced Wi-Fi technology:

The new Wi‑Fi capabilities built into iPad keep you connected faster than ever — up to twice as fast as any previous-generation iPad. With dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 802.11n Wi‑Fi and support for channel bonding, download speeds can reach up to 150 Mbps.⁵ Translation: Many of the things you do every day may start to feel a whole lot faster.

HD camera:

Face Time on iPad puts you face-to-face — even when you’re miles apart. You can make a video call over Wi‑Fi or cellular, so if you’re out and about, your friends and family are never out of the loop. And now with the new Face Time HD camera, everyone can get an even better view of you and what’s around you. You can also use it for taking self-portraits or recording 720p HD video.

The iSight camera on iPad lets you capture all these unpredictable, beautiful, and hilarious moments. In 1080p HD, no less. And with automatic video stabilization, your recording is free of bumps and shakes. Which is a big advantage when you’re laughing uncontrollable.

iPod:

ipod is a portable media player. Apple Inc. has few items in this product line. iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod classic all are these produced by Apple. The latest product of this line is iPod touch. Now it is just more than a music player.

For the first time, iPod touch is made from the same kind of anodized aluminum used in the MacBook line. And it’s made the same way too: By machining the enclosure from a single piece of aluminum. The first thing you'll notice about iPod touch is its barely-there weight. Then its super smooth finish. Then all those Apple details — like the highly polished beveled edges. And iPod touch is made from one of the strongest grades of aluminum there is. Which means that it not only looks and feels incredible, it’s tough enough to tag along on more than a few crazy nights out.

Creating one-earbud-fits-all headphones is a challenge. That’s because everyone’s ears are different. So when Apple engineers were designing the new EarPods, they didn’t start with the speaker, they started with the ear. Unlike traditional circular earbuds, the design of the Apple EarPods is based on the geometry of the ear. Which makes them more comfortable for more people than any other earbud-style headphones.

But they’re not just designed for the perfect fit. They’re designed for the perfect sound, too. You’ll hear deeper, richer bass and better audio all around. And they’re incredibly stable in your ear. Which means they stay in, even when you’re out and about.

Place:

This is the era of globalization. Apple is a multinational company. Yet they can’t to reach all the country in the world. But officially or unofficially they are trying to cover almost every country of the world. In USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and Asia Apple distributes its’ products to retail stores and service providers' shops, for example stores such as Best Buy, Rogers, Phones4u, Carphone warehouse etc. Due to the dependence of telephones on service providers, Apple allows service providers to place locks on their products & devices – this allows service providers to lock their customers into long-term obligations.

Apple store.

They are also using some online stores to sell their product like Amazon, eBay etc. Besides this they have also online shop in USA. Their distribution channel is very strong.

Apple has also two official retailer stores in Bangladesh- One in Gulshan 2 and another in KAmal Ataturk Avenue Banani .

Price:

There are three strategies for setting price for any product or service. These are customer/value based pricing, competition based pricing, & cost based pricing. Apple Inc. sets their products on value based. Value based pricing is a strategy when the company is setting price based on buyers’ perceptions of value rather than on the sellers’ cost. Apple Inc. sets all their products price by considering what value the consumer would get. On a value based pricing strategy companies go through in following sequels.

Here are some product price lists of Apple Inc.

Mac Book Air $999

Mac Book Pro $1199

IMac 27 inch $1799

iPhone 5, 64GB $849

iPad 3 (retina display) $499

iPad mini $329

iPod touch $299

iPod nano $149

Promotion:

Globally Apple is a very renowned company. It has many leading brands also. They have to promote themselves by covering a large number of target customers. They have different type of commercial advertisement. They use different social networking site to promote themselves. They also have a very attractive official web site which helps them to promote their products. They also use majors cellular providers like at&t, sprint, & Verizon.

Apple is also being promoted on non-official electronic retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Circuit City. Billboards promoting for their brands are often seen.

Advertisement for iPhone.

Segmentation:

The marketers of Aplle are very much conscious about their marketing strategy. They have segmented their market by using multiple variables target a small & better-defined group. For their consumer electronic product they have used Psychographic segmentation. They have used social class, lifestyle, & personal characteristics all these variables to segment their market. Their segmentation variables are given bellow:

Social class: middle class, upper middles, lower uppers and upper uppers.

Lifestyle: achievers, strivers.

Personality: gregarious, authoritarian, ambitious.

These are their segmentation for all these products. Besides this they use more different segmentation for their particular product.

For iMac & MacBook Pro they have used demographic variables income, Occupation and education. One behavioral variable benefit is also used in this segmentation.

For iPod demographic variable age and gender are used by them. There are different types of iPod for different age of people. like iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod classic. Recently Apple offers different color by segmenting the market by using gender. Pink color for girls, black & blue for the boys.

There are five requirements for effective segmentation. These are measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable, and actionable. These entire requirements are fulfilled by the Apple Inc.

Targeting:

Market targeting involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Target marketing can be the key to a small business’s success. The marketers of Apple are targeting only a few groups of people. They have different characteristics these are given bellow:

Primary customer target is the middle-upper income professional to coordinate their busy schedules and communicate with colleagues, friends and family.

Secondary consumer targets are high school, college and graduate students who need one portable multifunction device.

Primary business target is to partner with large cell phone service providers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Cellular One large enterprise software firms where information is critical to the end user.

Secondary business target is mid-to mid-size corporations that want to help managers and employees stay in communication or access critical data on the go.

Market segment will consist of companies with $10-$50 million in annual sales.

Marketing strategy:

For iPhone the marketers follow undifferentiating marketing or mass-marketing. There is no variation of product. They are offering the same phone for all the segments.

For the rest of the products of the company the marketers follow differentiate marketing or segmented marketing. For PC customers they offer iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro. All these product are for different target markets.

For iPod the product line is lengthier. iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod classic are being offered by the marketers for different markets. All this products are also available in different color.

iPad with retina glass & iPad mini are available in tablet pc market. Here the marketers also apply differentiate marketing.

Differentiating & Positioning:

The marketers of Apple Inc. are very much conscious about each of their brand differentiating and positioning in consumers mind. All of the brands of Apple have a clear, distinctive, & desirable place in the minds of target consumers. Their way of differentiating is very much unique.

iMac: The positioning statement is, “It’s amazing to look at. Even more amazing to use”. It’s design, features, shape all are very much different from its competitors. OS X mountain lion is the operating system that is installed in this device. This is the world most advanced operating system. It also has beautiful widescreen display. All this things can take a distinctive position in consumers mind.

iPhone: The positioning statement is, “The biggest things to happen since iPhone to iPhone”. Its brilliant 4-inch retina display, ultrafast wireless, powerful A6 chip can easily take a clear, distinctive, & desirable position in consumers mind.

iPad: The positioning statement is, “Just as stunning. Twice as fast”. Over 275000 applications can be run in this device because it has powerful A6X chip. All this features help to make a clear position in consumers mind.

iPod: The positioning statement is, “Engineered for maximum funness”. For its excellent design & features it has a clear position on consumer mind.

All these brands are following ‘More for More’ positioning strategy. Apple offers the best quality product than its competitor and also charges a high price. It is applicable for all its brands.

Positioning map:

Positioning map for MacBook Pro is given bellow.

Reference:

We have taken help from different web sites including the official web site of Apple Inc. We also took help from the book ‘Principles of Marketing’ by ‘Philip Kotler’ & ‘Gary Armstrong’. And last but not least we also very much grateful to our honorable mam ‘Kashfia Ahmed’ for her brilliant guideline.

http://www.apple.com/

www.amazon.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.