Apple Inc－CONSUMER DECISION MAKING

 Apple Inc. is an innovative company that manufactures the products with promoting styles, durability, effective features, and easy to handle. As I read the chapter 6, I learned the term that explains consumer decision-making process, consumer behavior.

Apple Inc. is a premium brand company, which is recognized in the world. Its new products like iphone 5C, 5S are sold on retail price in many developed countries. Apple Company has an advantage of the quality and brand’s name over its competitors. Apple Inc. is ranked as one of the top technological company not only in US but also all over the world. When it comes to purchasing the Apple products, consumers are driven by social factors, cultural factors, and individual factors. Even though the products are bit expensive but people still balance to purchase them. 

Particularly, when buying the expensive products consumers generally follow the consumer decision-making process. I recently, purchased a new and first cell-phone in my life. During that time period I figured that I followed all the aspects of the process.

1. Need Recognition- To stay in touch with my family and for calling purposes.
2. Information Search- iPhones are sold widely around the countries and same like with galaxy. To research which is more advanced and worth buying.
3. Evaluation of alternatives and Purchase- Both of the cell-phones iPhones and galaxy are new-featured, sold at high prices but due to new software IOS 7 took advantage over the galaxy.
4. Post-purchase behavior- iPhones always satisfies its consumers. Just like for me as a consumer I expected few outcomes from iPhone ,which it fulfilled. I wanted to have an option to text in my language other than ENGLISH. Where after my research I found out that galaxy doesn’t allow to text in certain language.

The external stimulus of the consumers like me comes from a wide range of factors such as the continuous innovation of the products. And to promote these productions, Apple advertise through all possible ways like from commercials, billboards, magazines, social media like Facebook, twitter, youtube and many more. This advertising performs as a factor to spread the word around before the product is even launched. This forces the consumers to make the decision to purchase the new product from Apple Inc.

Developing a Global Vision

Apple Inc and Globalization

• Business Strategies 

A firm can use two basic types of business strategies to leverage its business by utilizing its strengths and combing them with the number of available positions to market its products. These business strategies are cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy. 

Apple is currently working on the differentiation strategy by putting unique elements in the design and development of its products The differentiation strategy is defined as a strategy that aims to develop the products and or services that have unique characteristics that are well liked by the customers and are valued by them. This strategy enhances the market position of the companies with respect to their counterparts (Porter, 1998)

Apple Inc. strives hard to provide excellent usage experience to its customers by offering innovative products in terms of hardware, software products as well as other offerings. The company is using its ability to design unique products and operating systems etc. with its integrated business units and design units. The success of the company in the global markets is due to its extensive focus on the  the market research and development for the development of its products and services. With reference to its business strategy, the company is in a continues process to build and advance the robust platform that can enhance the listing of third party content like mobile phone apps, games etc on its online stores or its iTunes store (Apple Inc.,2010).

Moreover, the company strategies also involve the expansion of its distribution network in order to improve its global reach by providing high quality products and services with after sales services to their customers. Therefore, the company is positioned uniquely in the markets to offer superior and integrated digital technologies and productivity solutions. 

• Markets and Distributions

The customer segments of the company are divided into various categories. The needs of the main customers markets it caters are of small and medium businesses, education sectors,large corporations, government departments and other related markets. In order to meet the needs and wants of these consumer markets, the company is utilizing direct and indirect distribution channels including online sales  services, retail stores and direct sales force as well as third party sellers, retailers etc. Using direct sales contacts with the customers is, believed by the company,leveraging its product sales and has demonstrated as an advantage to the company over its competitors. In order to maximize its sales and to make sure that the buyers are receiving high quality experience, the company is in a process.

•  Outsourcing Plants

It has built its integrated manufacturing and design facilities in the various countries for example in California, Singapore etc. This global network allows the company to develop and launch the products in its markets of America, Asia and Europe. It produces its products, for example ipads, in the Shanghai, China which has given it a cost saving advantage and lead to the increased profitability for the company (Chaffin, 2002). But on the other hand, this outsourcing has increased the downsizing and unemployment rate in the home country (Rodriguez-Clare,2011)

Recommendations:
1.Apple Inc. lags only in its outsourcing associations with the other companies at different countries of the world. In order to improve the outsourcing practices ethically, Apple can strictly ask its outsourcing partners to comply with the ethical rules, and regulations.
2.It can hire the team of internal auditors to conduct surprise visits in these outsourcing units to check out their operative practices. 
3.The company can also enter into a contract with these outsourcing units that if theyfound guilty, the company will immediately terminate the working contracts. 

The Marketing Environment

Today I am going to discuss what is the target market of Apple Inc and what is their competitor. 

Apple Inc's target market involves teenagers, college and university students, business people and adults.

1. Teenagers: iPods and iPhones are really popular among teenagers and reasons for using iPods and iPhones are to socialize with friends, listen to music and go on Facebook, MSN, twitter etc. There are also many gaming apps that appeal to them.
   
2. College and University Students: they are also targeted by apple inc. These students use Apple Inc. products such as iPad's, Macbook's, iPhone's etc to quickly record notes. These notes are kept organized in their devices. Also these products are light which makes carrying devices to and from school much easier.
   
3. Business people are very intrigued by Apple products. Apple devices (iPhone, ipad, Macbook etc) have a business quality that is very useful. These devices are used to finish work efficiently and to communicate with clients easily. In addition, sending documents is easy and organized.
   
4. Adults are also one of Apple Inc.' s target markets. iPhone is useful to adults for their everyday needs such as phone calls, map directions, internet connection, documents and cameras. Carrying these small devices makes adults lives much easier and largely save their time. 

The world of smartphones is a faster growing industry that sees a new gadget to be launched every year. As seen prominently, Apple's iPhone series is branded to be the ultimate competition. Nokia, Samsung, Sony, HTC to name a few, is nevertheless jumping up to score a point for themselves as well. Apart from these well known competitors, the new entrants like xiaomi, Gionee and OnePlus are capable of giving stiff competitors to California, Cupertino based on tech giant. And as far as I am concerned, Samsung will be the greatest competitor.

Samsung is a South Korean mulinational conglomerate company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. Samsung Mobile continue to drive the smartphone market by setting a new standard for large-screen devices. The Galaxy Note7 strikes a balance between work and pay, enabling people to achieve more than what they thought possible on a smartphone. And we can see sizes of Samsung is bigger and bigger. What's more, it seems that iPhone is chasing after Samsung-comparing with 4,4s,5, iPhone becomes bigger now, like 6plus, 7plus. Samsung Galaxy S6 created with the most advanced hardware and software. Samsung Galaxy S6's performance is touted to be the  best, in spite of the stiff competition, internal hardware include:

• 3GB RAM
• Snapdragon Qualcomm 810 64-bit
• Exynos 8000 16-core processor with ARM Mail-T760 GPU

Comparing to the number of customers buying iPhones in the past few years when new iPhone comes out,  the number of iPhone 7 and 7 plus' buyers seem to have decreased. Does that mean iPhone lose its competition, or people do not love it anymore? No, apple just need to focus on what people are expecting for new iPhones and do not chase after other smartphones.

Social Media and Marketing

Hi, everyone, today I am going to talk about social media of Apple Inc. As for me, every brands need to be active on every major social network, because it is an effective way to assist the product sales. 

However, we do know in those past years, we could not even find Apple company on Facebook or Twitter. "Apple would be a terrible example to follow on social for most brands," says David Berkowitz, CMO creative and technology." When Apple embraces platforms like Twitter, it can amass a huge audiences with relatively little effort. Cook, for example, has collected 1.44 million followers since joining Twitter two years ago, the App store is approaching 4 million, iTunes has 806,000.

Recently, tech giant Apple quietly opened the Apple Support the Twitter account. The channel, simply called "@AppleSupport" will share tips and tricks for Apple users as well as answer product and support questions. 

“Tips and tutorials from the same Apple Advisors you know and trust-now available on Twitter,"tweeted the account. At first, the account has already accumulated more than 121,000 followers. Apple is also keeping its promise to use the account to help   people:@AppleSupport has tweeted 2,200 times to Twitter users who have reached out with questions.

So why is Apple suddenly putting more resources into its social media presence? 
some have theorized  that move is a way for Apple to expand its public profile.There’s also some wishful thinking that it’s a sign of Apple’s interest in acquiring Twitter. But those speculations are probably just that—speculations.

This reminds of me of today's class. One of my classmate who also chose Apple as his blog material said there was no social media for Apple company. Hearing this at that moment, I had no idea if he was right or no, but now, I have to say Apple does social media differently than its peers.

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.

Introduction & Overview of Marketing

Hi, everyone, what does it remind you of when you see this picture, Yes, Apple Inc. Today, I would like to talk about Apple Inc.

Apple Inc was a multinational technology company, headquartered in Cupertino,California,US and founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. It is known to us that Apple Inc served worldwide. It designs, develops and sells consumer electronic, consumer software and online services.

• Its hardware products include the iphone, smartphone, the iPad tablet computer, the Mac personal computer, the iPod portable media player, the Apple Watch smartwatch and  the Apple TV digital media player.
• Apple's consumer software includes the OS X and iOS operating systems, the iTunes media player, the Safari web browser and iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suits.   

• Its online services include the iTunes Store, the iOS App Store and Mac App Store and iCloud.
   iPod line as of 2014. From left to right:
  iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch
  

Beyond Consumer ELectronic, Consumer Software and Online Services
Apple is the world's largest information technology company by revenue; the world's largest company by total assets, and the world's second-largest mobile manufacturer. In November 2014, in addition to being the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, Apple became the first U.S.company to be valued at over US$700 billion. 

Apple Today
Honestly, I am not a apple lover, but I have been using iphone since iphone 4 came out. After that, whenever the new style iphone comes out, I will change to an another one. What I want to say is that Apple's prevailing represents not only people's love, but also a tendency-it is influencing the world market. When I search online, it shows this sentence:" At Apple, employees are specialists who are not exposed to functions outside their area of expertise. Jobs saw this as a means of having "best-in-class" employees in every role." Perfection is a journey, not a destination. It is like the logo of Apple Inc-a bitten apple. Every role in Apple is not perfect, but they are all racing with perfection.