Iphone Marketing Plan

iPhone marketing plan

Market Summary

The iPhone targets consumers who need to store information and communicate or people who want entertainment on the go. Apples target segments consist of professionals, students, corporate users, entrepreneurs, and health care workers. Currently, the market for high-end phones like the Apple iPhone is small. Few people want Internet, video, and PDA features in one device because of the high price. The smart phone market is still relatively small compared with general phone market. The market will rapidly increase in coming years due to lower prices and greater power.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Innovative вЂ" The iPhone has an innovative touch screen that is patented and unmatched by any other mobile product today. It also has many functions of other mobile products all in one device.

Compatibility вЂ"The phone will work with iTunes and with other Mac/Apple products like the new Apple TV, allowing for wireless connectivity to the big screen. The iPhone is also compatible with many Mac OS software tools. Mac OS compatibility means that the iPhone has limitless potential for upgradeability.

Ease-of-Use вЂ" The all-new touch screen interface making operations extremely intuitive. It is radically different from those of other phones or PDAs that recognizes multi finger gestures, just as the human hand normally behaves. The Mac OS X application imbedded into the iPhone assures users will easily recognize what they can do

Brand awareness вЂ" Apple is well known for cool essential gadgets like the iPods along great technological innovations like the original Macintosh.

Price вЂ" At $350, the iPhone would be sold at a reasonable price for its value. It outperforms any other PDA or smart phone on the market and the convenience of having multiple features combined into one-device increases its overall value.

Quality вЂ" The iPhone has one of the brightest and most scratch resistant screens in the market. It also has a fine metallic finish that is durable and light. The software suite included is also unsurpassed with their ease of use and resistance to computer viruses.

Weaknesses

Image вЂ" The Apple brand is not targeted towards business people, which most smart phones have targeted. Does not have a reputation as being compatible with the corporate world.

Price вЂ" Apple does not yet offer lower priced models for more cost conscious consumers.

User Interface вЂ" Touch screen interfaces suffer from the problem of “gorilla arm,” in which long-term use of a flat, solid surface for input becomes uncomfortable.

Opportunities

Increasing demand and expansion to a new target segment вЂ" Apple will continue to target the business productivity market who wants an all in one computing solution. But as technology advances and smart phones get cheaper companies also have a great opportunity to target people who want entertainment. Apple will attract these consumers and get iPod users to upgrade to iPhones.

Upgradeable вЂ" Since software on the iPhone can be updated, it allows new exciting features to be brought in which take advantage of the touch screen ability. Future versions will also be hardware upgradeable.

Partnerships вЂ" Apple can collaborate with many powerful global mobile phone companies to flood the market with iPhones, which reduces costs in marketing and increases revenue through long-term agreement deals.

Threats

Increased competition вЂ" Smart phones are easier to make now more than ever. More companies may enter the market, given that there are few barriers to entry other than patents. Competitors or even Apple contractors can maneuver around patents to create similar devices.

Downward pricing pressure вЂ" The iPhone is marketed as a high-end phone, but phone prices are almost certainly going to fall when other companies undercut the price of iPhones.

Difficulty expanding into Asian market вЂ" There is less hype and interest in Asia since smart phones are better known and already widely used.

Competition SWOT:

Palm (direct threat)

Strengths

Experience: Palm has the longest history in PDA market and has experience-developing software for mobile devices.

Business brand: It is a well-known brand for businesspeople. Existing software is well established and compatible with many products for this market. The market is familiar with Palm products; significant switching costs are involved in going to an iPhone.

Weaknesses

Low profile: Not known for groundbreaking innovations or consumer marketplace products. Palm’s closest iPhone competitor, the Treo, has lower build quality and its interface may be harder to use, being from an older generation of products and unfamiliar to Apple customers.

Interface: Reviews complain that the Trio’s keyboard is small and difficult to use, especially for accessing the Internet. Although some users may prefer having a keyboard built into the device, potential users show a preference towards using the touch screen only.

Opportunities:

Similarity: Palm can add many similar capabilities to their products that match the iPhone and expand to a wider market through lower cost and higher-power products.

Threats:

Increasing competition: New competitors like Apple are entering the market and Palm will face difficulty maintaining its market share.

Microsoft (indirect threat)

Strengths:

Financial flexibility and capital: Microsoft has lots of money and development resources.

Compatibility: There is a large amount of software already available, such as Windows CE operating system for mobile devices. Windows