Apple Inc: Their Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Hi, guys, today is an exciting day for most of people, because iphone7 and 7plus came out. Every new iphone coming into the market means an improvement for Apple Inc. However, in this ever-changing market, how do businesses make them competitive? Here, I am going to share my point on Apple Inc's strategic planning for competitive advantage.

In class, I learned that there are four competing philosophies:

1. Production Orientation
2. Sales Orientation
3. Market Orientation
4. Societal Marketing Orientation

As far as I am concerned, Apple Inc is using production orientation and market orientation to improve their competing advantage. Let's take iphone for an example. Compared to previous iphones (4,4s,5,5s,6,6plus), iphone7 and 7plus's features are as follow:

• Size and feel: 4.7-inch screen. The "HD Retina display" is 25 percent brighter than last year's model. It includes the pressure-sensitive 3D Touch layer that buzzes slightly when you press and hold the screen.  
• Water-resistant: It will be water-resistant (IP67), like several Samsung and Sony phones (IP68)
• No headphone jack: It's gone. Really. Instead, Apple's new EarPods headphones will connect through the Lightning connector port; you'll also get an adaptor in the box. Apple's also pushing new, funky-looking AirPods headset connects wirelessly through auto-pairing. These worked pretty well, actually, and sounded pretty good in a the loud demo room.
• New camera: The iPhone 7 keeps the 12-megapixel camera; The iPhone 7 Plus gets a second, 56mm telephoto lens on the back that works like a built-in zoom feature. Phones like the LG V20, Huawei P9 and Huawei Honor 8.
• New front-facing camera: The iPhone 7's 7-megapixel front-facing camera leaps up from 5 megapixels on the iPhone 6s, and includes auto-image stabilization. I think every likes this feature. It is good for taking selfie.
• Stereo speakers:  A second speaker joins the iPhone to give you stereo speakers. There's now one at the bottom and one at the top (this is brand-new for Apple). 
• Longer battery life: Greater battery capacity for longer battery life. Apple estimates 12 hours of LTE browsing (the iPhone 7 Plus should clock about two more hours).
• Faster processor: The iPhone 7's new A10 Fusion chip is a 64-bit, quad-core processor that Apple says is 40 percent faster than last year's A9 processor. Two cores are high-performance, the other two are "high efficiency," which means they'll conserve battery while handling tasks. 
• More storage!: 128GB, 256GB capacities.
• Colors: Glossy jet black, matte black, gold, silver, rose gold (P.S.: New jet black is only available in 128GB and 256GB models.)

All these features are stepping further to satisfy customer's needs and interests. Even though there is no any force Apple Inc made to push customers to buy, iPhone has been attracting lots of iPhone lovers with its exterior and functions.

As for market orientation, we all know that Apple Inc serves worldwide. Different markets in different countries contribute to the tendency of popularity of iPhone in the world. People in the past buying iPhone may largely depend on how much they like it, but now, using iPhone seems to become a part of people's life, so people buy it without any reason. For example, when it's time to change my phone, the first word coming into my mind is iPhone.