Parker, Nicholas

Apple’s Marketing Strategies: 

1 st generation iPod to 2 nd Generation iPad Apple’s Marketing Strategies

Buy the hype?: 

Buy the hype? Why do we wait in long lines for hours for a gadget? Is it because the texture or the looks? What about how it operates? Is it all about being connected? How does Apple’s Brand make us want their products so much? Does it really make our lives better or is it just a want?

Before the iPod: 

Apple dealt mainly with Mac computers and their own operating systems. Steve jobs wanted to get into the portable music player industry because of the big and bulky player. He wanted something people could carry around and not have to be as big as a CD player. Steve Jobs presented an idea and hired a team of engineers to design a portable music player. The original iPod took a year to produce. Before the iPod

iPod Classic: 

iPod Classic The first iPod was made with a 5GB hard drive and able to hold 1,000 songs. The iPod was introduced with a scroll wheel, no other player had one. Met with criticism because of the price tag. One drawback was that it did not work with a PC, but this would be fixed with the next generation. The sales for the first two years performed under expectations.

iPod Mini: 

iPod Mini With sales lower than expectations, Apple decided to revamp their design. The Mini was introduced in 2004 with a new sleeker design. Apple decided to have different colors to appeal to a bigger crowd. The design was made of anodized aluminum to withstand the beating that MP3 player receive being on the go. This model was short lived as sales tumbled on this model.

iPod Shuffle: 

iPod Shuffle Made to appeal to the ones who could not shell out $200 for the previous models. First to use a flash drive instead of a hard drive. Drawbacks were there was no screen and you had no control over what would play next. Only one model and one color (white) available at first. A little after the introduction of the Shuffle, Apples sales began to climb. This was due to have multiple models to appeal to everyone.

iPod Nano: 

iPod Nano Introduced in Sept., 2005, to replace the iPod Mini. All were black and white till they were made in color in the future generations. You had a choice of nine different colors (below). Apple started making the Nano with the flash drive due to the amount of failures with the hard drives. The first iPod to include a camera, and eventually a touch screen was added to it after the popularity of the iPod Touch.

iPod Touch: 

iPod Touch Introduced after the iPhone to capitalize on the touch screen market. This was to market towards the people who could not afford to have the iPhone. The iPod touch can do everything that the iPhone could do except text and make phone calls. The first iPod that was wi-fi capable Able to have access to over one million applications to add to their iPod that can be used everyday, and can even be used as a learning tool for children.

iPhone 1,2,3G,4S: 

iPhone 1,2,3G,4S January 2007, Steve Jobs announced something that would shock the cell phone industry. They announced the Apple iPhone, and its capabilities would blow open the cell phone market to whoever had it. Steve Jobs set up an engineering team to create something with touch screen capabilities. Due to the capabilities of the phone, people formed hours long lines to be the first one with this new product.

iPad: 

iPad The iPad is pretty much an oversized iPod touch. Everyone wanted these because they were a computer that was extremely portable and they could take anywhere. Apple controlled almost the whole market of tablets until others tried to make their own to compete with Apple. Faced bad publicity due to people thinking they were price skimming because of the price they were first offered at. They had to refund the difference of the price drop to the original buyers.

Statistics for Apple Sales: 

Statistics for Apple Sales At iPod’s height in popularity, they accounted for 48% percent of all Apple sales Apple controlled about 74% of the MP3 player market. Over 300 million iPods sold to date. At the end of 2010, Apple held about 74 percent of all tablet sales. Apple sold 3 million iPad units in the first 80 days of sales. In 2010 Apple sold 14.8 Million iPads.

Conclusion: 

Conclusion Apple is brilliant in its marketing because they keep making the right moves to bring us back to buying their products. They withhold feature to add them into the next generation to keep everything new and exciting. People want the feeling that they have the latest and greatest gadget, and that they feel cool about having them. Apple will be around a long time, as long as they keep being innovative and being ahead of the tech curve. Every other tech company seems to be playing catch-up with Apple when it comes to marketing their products, as Apple’s products really market themselves these days.

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