It’s interesting reading about large consumer brands and their various methodologies for consumer research as it relates to new product development. In the consumables business, P&G is the heavyweight and is the pinnacle of research with their expertise in identifying the products that resonate with consumers. They also have manufacturing and distribution dialed in which makes them the “ideal” that many manufacturing-driven organizations aspire to be like.
Then there’s Apple. Their products are generally always innovative and meet some consumer unmet need so well that people literally fall in love with their brand and products they pump out each and every year. Yes, there have been some duds (the Cube is one that comes to mind), but it doesn’t happen often.
To research or not to research?
In a recent article from Fortune, Steve Jobs is quoted:
“We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants. The only consultants I’ve ever hired in my 10 years is one firm to analyze Gateway’s retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made [when launching Apple's retail stores]. But we never hire consultants, per se. We just want to make great products.”
I found this to be fascinating. How can one of the most popular and successful consumer brands not perform any consumer research? Then I read the following quote:
“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.
So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me “A faster horse.” ‘ “
Keep it simple, stupid
When one sits back and thinks about it, Apple really makes products people want. There’s no real convincing that needs to happen as to why they they need an iPhone or iPod — people just get it. The features offered on Apple’s products are such “no brainers” that it’s an obvious purchase the consumer wants…or rather, needs to make.
All Apple really needs to do with virtually any of its products is build awareness (which they are excellent at doing) and let the product do the work.
The CEO of the company has maintained a steady visit to some of his stores but this was not really any type of market research. These visits were more of an internal quality assurance program. He did speak with customers and received valuable feedback during his visits which certainly can be market research.
Apple has its competitors, as it is expected, and they do not fall behind by much. One of its biggest competitors is the company Samsung. For years, those two companies have been head to head in the electronical world. All over the web one can find all sorts of articles talking about the conflicts of those two companies and about how they each claim that the other one took their products and just changed its name. But thankfully, those two companies are still strong (no matter how much people complain about the other one) and they both have a lot of people supporting them. There are two sides when talking about phone and electronics: the Apple side and the Samsung side. Now, what those two companies need to be careful about is to not let their guards down and allow the competition to take over, but then again, Apple is well... Apple and they would never let that happen (they have not done it for almost 50 years, they would not do it
Apple has been very innovative when it comes to quality products. When change is needed, Apple is onboard to make those necessary modifications to keep the consumer demand at a high level.
Apple management must bridge the perceived innovation gap with some sort of product breakthrough. Otherwise, it is reasonable for the company to accept lower Street expectations built upon the premise that while the company remains an exceptional production, distribution and branded business, the days of unparalleled enterprising innovation and leadership may be ebbing.
The Apple brand name is a household name, the brand value of Apple, Inc. improved to $13,724 million in 2008 from $11,037 million in 2007 (Datamonitor PLC, 2009). Apple is different from its competitors because it produces high quality products, its products are also unique and attractive and this has helped to increase its market shares. Since Apple is known globally, 54% profits come from foreign markets (Datamonitor PLC, 2009). Apple products are easy to use and carry around, majority of its products are light, small and very easy to carry around and it has a major advantage of product diversity, there is something for every one of all ages.
Apple has made reasonable management of its human and material resources since its innovational approach demands effective strategic allocation of its resources to the development and utilization of its productive resources to support its innovative investment strategies. Effective strategic control brings power to Apple’s decision-makers to allocate its resources to confront the technological, market, and competitive uncertainties which are inherent in the innovation
Overall, Apple has a creative way of marketing to the millions of people over the world. Their creative marketing coupled with their unique product meshes together to form a multi-billion dollar company. If Apple keeps using their exclusive style of marketing to a younger “hip” generation then they will be Apple customers for life.
The company manufactures iPhones, iPads, Apple televisions, professional software applications, OS X and IOS operating systems, I Cloud, and offers support. The industry also sells and distributes applications, and digital content through the App Store, the Mac App Store and the iTunes Store. The company has a worldwide market. It achieves to put products on the market through online stores, direct sales force, retail stores, and wholesalers (Wilson, 2013). The company also sells products like iPad, iPhone and Mac through direct sales force, value added resellers, and third-party cellular network carriers.
is yet to reach its maximum potential. Truly a unique entity in its accomplishments and organization, apple through the conviction and leadership of Steve Jobs its founder and then CEO; have pioneered the revolution of mobile technology. When it comes to strength, apple Inc, has a great marketing team with great marketing and advertisement capabilities, strong brand awareness, a strong and extensive distribution channel, and most of all a vertical integration and the most obvious which is customer loyalty. With the acquisition of valuable companies such as Beats, WhatsApp, mobile payment systems with the IPhone 6, wearable gadgets like the IWatch, apple uses these opportunities to satisfy its loyal
This is, in part, due to the reputation that the company has created. Apple Inc. continually releases innovative products and works to maintain a technological advantage over industry competitors (Marino et al, 2010). Since this vision has garnered virtuous market performance in the past, Apple Inc. would obviously continue to flow in this direction. Apple has built an organization on product differentiation. Apple Inc. does not have anxiety regarding product cost. Apple Inc. has a market presence commanded from product distinction and design (Gamble & Thompson,
As part of its innovation strategy, Colgate Palmolive (CP) decided to manufacture a new product-toothbrush in the early 90s. This was after some extensive research was done to determine consumer purchase behavior and the extent of competitive rivalry in the industry. According to Allprojectsmba.com (2010), research can be done by using a number of methods to collect the data that are analyzed to draw conclusions. Such methods include interviews, focus group, questionnaires and online research. Interviews can be done either one on one or via the telephone where the researcher/interviewer selects a sample that is representative of the whole consumer population. The interviewer asks and interacts with each person in the sample to pick up the information he needs. Alternatively, questionnaires can be produced and mailed to respondents who fill them and ...
Computers and technology makes it easier for entrepreneurs to enter this market. Not only are major tech companies competing against one another, but they are also competing against little programmers that know how to code. In our time you will never know with certainty when a small group of engineers or computer scientists are going to create, “next big thing”. Apple has been able to have a competitive advantage over its competitor by creating the highest quality products and services. Some of Apple’s current competitors are Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, and a few other tech companies as well. Most people strongly people Apple is one of the stronger company its industry, but then again some other people have biased views. Financially, they are the strongest company in the world. Also people are always willing to pay a premium for their products because of their durability, quality, and prior experiences with Apple products. Apple is always on the look at for new innovative ideas and concept that are being produced by self-motivated entrepreneurs. They are always looking to hire bright minds and let them develop within the company. A lot of entrepreneurs, programmers and engineers do not have a problem working for Apple because of their well-established perks. Apple offers its employees of the best benefits in the world. They also fairly compensate their employees that work in the front-end store as
Apple will need to continue to re-engineer they’re products as a continuous process to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. Apple must forecast and continue to re-define its effectiveness and its efficiency toward its products. Apple will re-examine their products as time continues to move and make sure they follow through with the social changes that come about. This will help with this process and it will make sure that the customer’s that lie ahead will be stealing to purchase Apple products. The local Charter school decided to allow students to purchase MAC book a few years ago when just coming on the market. I had a compact computer that I’ve had for years but when comparing and seeing all the advantages that the MAC had to offer I preferred to use the Mac computer instead.
A large opportunity for Apple in the future is the growing tablet market, with high customer demands. At the same time this could also be a threat to Apple’s iPad, as Android tablets are following Apple in a very fast pace and could outstrip the iPad soon. The technological industry is highly competitive industry but Apple is able to maintain their leadership position within the tablet market as long as they maintain their loyal customers and constantly improve their sustainable coordinated ecosystem. Furthermore, their well- established brand image is based on constant innovations with high customer satisfaction. In the long- run Apple will stay the market leader, as long as they aim their highest performance, focusing on their core competencies technology, design and service quality.
Because of company’s exclusive past in their entitlement to “think different” but likewise being diverse, customers are enabled to bond with this approach (Hastings et.al, 2015). Most people have the ever enhancing will to be improved which is portrayed by Apple to its every customer consequently; Apple’s personality is not just capable to bond the customers with existing sells of the customers but also with the perfect self (Cheng et.al, 2017). Additional point that can be highlighted that Apple always strive for best that determines its personality, the latest, well equipped, and improved iPhone is launched every year into the market and it is always the finest in the market until the flagship devices are sent to the market by other companies (Chen & Ann, 2016). However, the devices that are med by Apple are the best possible devices that company can make. There is no concept of mid-quality or low-quality phone with respect to the market segment, there is one quality that is sold under Apple brand, and this transforms their personality from being the best personality as the best services that can deliver to its customers (Esmaeili et.al, 2016). This cannot be experienced with other brands which produce equally attractive electronics devices, operational, competitive, but also produces mid-tier devices (Wasko & Apple,