Apple Inc.

Founded on 1st April, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, Apple Inc. creates Mac computers, iPod, iPad, iPhone, products known for high level of design, ease of use and interoperability. Apple Inc. is the largest company in the world, by market capitalization and it runs iTunes, the first seller of music (software) in the United States.

Mission and Vision

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computer in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple started a digital music revolution with its iPod and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with the new concept of the smartphone, transposed in iPhone and is defining the future of mobile media and computer devices with iPad. Steve Jobs' mission statement for Apple in 1980 was: To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.

Abell model
Segments The segments of the Apple Inc. are in a tight connection with their type of products. Apple targets teenagers for their wide range of iPods. iPods became a trend for the teenagers due to their hobbies, to listen to music, social networking and games, which can be easily enabled by this product. Also, they target university and college students for the iPads, iPhones and MacBooks. These products help them to take notes easily and to carry devices to and from school easier. The same range of products target business people. In this case, these products are used to finish work efficiently and to communicate with clients easier. Apple also targets kids and children with their iPads, where they can access learning games on a suitable screen for them. Another target of Apple is adults due to the simplicity of the phone, which they can use for many purposes. Needs Some of the needs of Apple Company are to develop innovative technology, which is also one of their goals, to expend their business worldwide with the same success, to let the world communicate easily and to aspire and improve their tools. Technology Apple Inc. uses a significant amount of technological tools for the creation of every kind of device. For each of them, they use different

components. A phone is totally different that a pc. Due to their recognition of one of the important brands in the world, every day the company creates thousands of units of each device. Some of the technology they use are: screens, operating systems, hardware and software.

Core competences
The most predominant Apple Inc. Core Competencies are the design and accessibility of their products. Apple developers think different and introduce new products into the market. The brand name and the quality of the service are other core competencies for Apples products. Apple proved the benefit of an integrated system, of controlling the hardware and software to deliver the ultimate user experience, of integrating devices and creating categories through innovation and the importance of effective design. (The Marketing People, 2012). Apple develops high-end technology and innovation and keeps offering unique features. Apple put a high interest on creating machines that offered a cutting-edge user experience. For their computers line, they adopted the differential advantage as a marketing strategy. Therefore, one of the main core competencies is the highlighted feature of Mac computers, which different them from other PCs, while emphasize their interoperability with other devices. Attractive Apple design, ease of use, security or high-quality software are other qualities that distinguished the Macintosh live. Apple Inc. does not sell devices, they also sell experience.

Value chain
Design Procurement Manufacturing Distribution and Logistics Sales Apple takes control of its design. They design the hardware in a small facility with 100 employees in America. Distribution and sales are also managed by Apple. The sales experience is very important for their customers when they visit stores or purchase devices online, is an integral component of the product mix. Apple proceed the materials for their products, all over the world, depending on prices. For instance, semi-conductors from Samsung, memory from Korea and Japan, display panels and circuitry from China etc. The reason is that no one differentiates Apple based on its internal cheap components, they value the companys products due to unique design and usability of software. Concerning the manufacturing stage of the Value chain, Apple hire 700,000 people in China, who are involved in the engineering and assembly of the products. There, the error rates are low.

Financial Data
Before showing the financial data of Apple Inc., it is important to know the difference between the profit and turnover. The turnover of the company is money the company makes from its sales. The profit of the company is money left after the company paid taxes and all its costs. According to the financial history of Apple Inc. website, in the past, Apple was not the most successful business, having no profit for a long period of time. Actually, from 1995 until 1998, they had a loss, as the graph shows us. The company stabilized fast, but between 2001 and 2004 they did not manage to have profit, again. From 2004, they profit started rising significantly, arriving at $20 billions in 2008. The possitive change took place due to the diversity of their products. They started making a high amount of money from Mac, but the most important product became the iPhone. Therefore, nowadays they have a profit of $100 billions, from which $60 billions are made only from the selling of iPhones. We did not find evidence or estimations for the future, but they will have profit for sure due to their brand equity and existing products, at least.

Target Market Segmentation

The four main bases, which segment a consumer market, are known as Geographic, based on region, city size, density and climate, Demographic, based on age, sex, family size, religion or nationality,

Psychographic, based on values, attitudes or lifestiles and Behavioral segmentation, which is based on user status, loyalty status, attitude towards the product. Apple does not target markets in the same way their competitors do. Apple targets people, focusing on users more than on markets. Therefore, they use a unique form of marketing strategy called psychographic segmentation, their goal being to appeal to all customers, no matter the age, gender, race or income or demographic level. For instance, when they launched iPad2, Apple used this kind of segmentation in order to identify its target market. Apple took into consideration the socioeconomic status, lifestyle and personality variables of the consumers of previous model of iPad. Therefore, due to their brand recognition, they could already anticipate the iPad2 release and the reaction of the loyal customers. Although, Apple used Demographic Segmentation as well, but with other purposes. This kind of segmentation helped them to illustrate the concentration of Apple retail stores around United States. For example, New York and California are the main are where Apple position their retail stores because their targets appeal to the lifestyle of those living in these locations. These states can be considered the most popular and profitable, where something of high value and quality, such as Apples devices, can surely be purchase with little resistances.

Unique Selling Points

The first unique selling point of Apple Inc. is the one that consecrated the company. Think Different is what Apple stands for, from the beginning, creating unique products and services, which make their brand to stand out from the competition. They continue to create new innovative products, keeping the loyal customers positively surprised. Their proper DNA is another important unique selling point of Apple. They show thought the design of every product: Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone etc. their DNA. This DNA was created from the beginning of the company and Steve Jobs confessed about his love for calligraphy and how this affects his design thinking. The design of the products is one of the core qualities of this brand and it was the special character, which made the brand interesting for the public. It is because of their uniqueness, and the ability to lead the vision and mission as set by their leader Steve Jobs that Apple is now one of the world's best company for mobile app and smart phone to which competitors look forward to work and copy upon. (Mustafa H., n.d.)

Sustainable competitive advantage

In order to provide a sustainable competitive advantage, a company needs to have something apart, special, that other company cannot copy easily or cannot provide the same product or service as the first company. Therefore, companies like Apple are not many, companies that can have high barriers to entry. Apple has created a sustainable competitive advantage for itself with iTunes platform. Being something apart and catchy for the target group, iTunes allows users to download songs for iPod, iPhone and iPad. Therefore, this program, and application for the last two devices, made the products even more special than they were by themselves. Nowadays, iPhone and iPad contribute nearly 70% of Apples revenue. That is a sustainable competitive advantage, to have on the market products that did not existed 5 years ago and to be companys core income.

On the other hand, concerning the telephone manufacturing, investors failed to realize that Apples competitive advantage is not permanent. Apple Inc. was the top of the world last year due to the explosive popularity of iPhones and its software, which made operating the device incredibly easy for a kid, grandma or an adult. Even if, other players do not let the Apple run the market, for too long. For instance, Korean company Samsung Electronics went on the offensive by offering a cheaper and similar version of iPhone, taking a sizeable chunk of Apples market share in a short period of time.

Brand equity, brand values and brand loyalty

Brand equity
The foundation of Apples brand equity is its promise to deliver a delightful user experience to consumers. (Travlos D., 2013). Therefore, Forbes magazine thinks that Apple started to produce not anymore innovative products, for which they started for, but more commercial products for low incomes of people. When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product and instead offering a price-play product can become a commercial nightmare.(n.d., 2013). They strongly believe that the new cheap version of iPhone, 5c threatens the brand equity, by offering a price play, just to acquire secondary market. Apple has now set the exception that every new generation will include the cheap-class as well. This may affect brand loyalty, but there are no statistics so far. On the other hand, even Apple Inc. launches every wear a new version of the previous product, they miss the wow element that everyone waits for it. Therefore, they still deliver a delightful user experience, as we can see from customer satisfaction, but the innovative element misses and this can affect the brand equity. People are still waiting for the innovative product that no other company has and can easily copy, as it was at the beginning when iPhone, iPod or iPad appeared. Even if, Apple remains the most valuable brand in the world, in an annual ranking by market intelligence company Millward Brown, reported in Marketing Week.

Brand values
Some of the most important brand values that Apple has are: simplicity, easy to use, user focused, memorable & different, innovative and personalization. All these values are common values with Google. The most common and essential value for both companies is simplicity. The simplicity of design is a core value that generated fame for both companies. As you can see the white simple design of Apples products, which gives all the products an exclusivity look and feel, you will also notice the simplicity of the Google web page, which has only their brand name and the search bar. The easy to use value was one of the most important which consecrated the iPod. The way people can shuffle the finger and access the menu was an innovative and attracting quality that made the product famous and apart from the other MP3 player. Also, concerning the user focused value, Apple developing iPod, they released the first MP3 with 10 MB of storage.

Brand loyalty
Some of the IT journalists consider that brand loyalty is the core for the Apples success. You see, whenever Apple has problems with its products, its customers are incredibly forgiving and patient. They understand that issues can sometimes arise and theyll continue to buy Apple products despite any mistakes they might make.(Goodson S., 2011).

The first reason why customers are so loyal to this brand is due to the great Steve Jobs. People use to appreciate more Apple due to how passionate Steve Jobs used to create all the products, ensuring that they are at the highest quality and cutting-edge design. By creating this kind of emotional connection to its public, Apple has acquire a loyal following. Therefore, brand loyalty played a huge part to companys success. As we explained in the section called financial data, from 2008 there was a significant arise of the profit, followed by strong relation with their customers. Due to the fact that they were satisfied with their products and they believe in this brand, loyal public keep buying the newest version of the products.

Current strategy
Marketing Mix
Product Portable Computers Mac Book Pro Servers Accessories Wi-fi Based Stations Developer iPod iPhone iTunes Periphal products Printers

Xserve

MagicMouse Airport Express

Developer iPod Connection Shuffle

iMac Mac Mini MacBook Air Price

Xsan

Keyboard

MacOS X Led Cinema Ser Display MobleMe

Airport Extreme Time Capsule

Mac Program iPhone Program

iPod Nano iPod Classic

iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5S, 5C iPad, iPad 2

Movies

TV shows Audio books Games

Storage devices Digital videos Cameras

For the most important products that Apple sells, the company establishes a medium to high price, affordable for business people, persons who looks for high quality and durable products. For instance, their iPad differs from $330 to $800, depending on the display and the size of memory. Regarding their phones, a new model of iPhone starts from $400, but a previous version can go below $100. Concerning their Macintosh products, MacBook is around $1000, an iMac is no more than $2000 and the most expensive MacBookPro reaches $2,700. An iPod is between $200 and $300, expensive compering to a normal MP3 player. As the example of iPhone showed us, Apple pricing strategy includes the flexibility to lower the prices if the consumer dictates that. In that case, Apple established a market for additional customer segments. By lowering the price of the previous types of iPhones, it entices people who do not have the proper budget for the newer model, to buy an Apple device anyway. Apple made quite a high amount of money from the platform iTunes. In 2009, Apple also announced a reduce cost pricing structure for iTunes, establishing the cost of vast majority of songs at 69 cents from $1.29. They claimed that these changes have the purpose a response to a slower pace of music downloads. Overall, Apple is a premium brand that does not attempt to compete on price.

Place Apple Inc Headquarters are located in California and New York. Apple service providers are certified technicians, who complete regular Apple training. They offer repair services and exclusive access to genuine Apple parts and they are located in Asia/Pacific, Africa, Middle East Europe and Latin America. There are 3 main ways to purchase any Apple product: shop online or by phone 24 hours per day, shop retail or find a reseller. Apple has over 400 retail stores worldwide in 140 international location, including the US, UK and Canada and China. Big names of resellers are Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy or Radioshack. Resellers are also the cell phone providers, others have Apple Shops inside their own stores, or others are certified as Apple Specialists Promotion They say that Apples biggest marketing secret is: Hold off to the ads, Ride the hype. Therefore, Apple has a strategic promotion which worked successfully due to their patience to not make unnecessary ads, sit back and let the media do their work.