DISCUSSION

The marketing strategy of Apple Inc has been designed efficiently to ensure that the products recent
characteristics, design, programs and operations are revealed and this has amazed their customers with
that special Steve Jobs effect of presentation. Denning (2013) have reported that Apple Inc. have been
keen to identify the features that would increase the curiosity of the products among their fans, further
increased more consumers towards their products. This report has undertaken a critical analysis of the
strategies used by the company which include the innovative technology, quality assurance and design
of products which the successor of Steve Jobs, Mr Tim Cook is following, to move ahead towards
multiplying the company profits. The discussion below reflects that Apple Inc works in accordance with
the Three Box Solution to manage innovation by Vijay Govindarajan.

A) INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

The products produced by Apple Inc are very unique and special in comparison to the other brands in
the market and this is evident from each of their launch. For instance, face recognition and retina display
are some the most attractive characteristics that has given the company their special effect before the
concept merged to other brands (Chang, Kim and Joo, 2013). The innovative features of Apple products
have created a space for its own in the new era where they have moved the customers to an “app
world” rather than them moving into the digital world, thereby marking their own position to be the
central part with the other factors depending on their services. The company has made various
renovations in their products where these changes in innovations are made with time.

Among their best innovative strategy is the integration of their own whereby they have developed their
own operating system, that is frequently being updated to maintain and improve their functioning
(Denning, 2013). Hence, it is reassuring that they have embedded the system with the best software for
maximum performance. For instance, the use of Operating system X Mountain Lion with the acceptance
from Snow Leopard has given Apple the best outcome for its products. Apple Inc has stressed on the
need for effective software integration to mark product stability in the global market and to meet the
future challenges, let alone to be starting their performance to be utilised even in health care sector.

B) QUALITY ASSURANCE

Apple Inc takes quality seriously and it is clear that their products has highly assured quality as reflected
by their efficiency in features and extended guarantee of the product. This has created the sense of
satisfaction among its users when compared to the competitors. The facts that Apple contents can only
be used with Apple products allows the maintenance of digital download safer and increases the sale of
its hardware devices. Moreover, it is highly noted that the products are lighter when compared to the
other gadgets and each product is stronger due to the exceptional focus on quality. For instance, the
recent announcement on the Apple card that can be applied directly from the iPhone can be digitally
stored on the Wallet app and it helps in marking the location where payment has been made, making
the tracking of the transactions much easier. Moreover, the physical card if required is promised to be
delivered, made of titanium that further adds to the features. In case of computers, the keyboard for
MacBook is remarkable when compared to that of other computers. Due to the quality assurance, Apple
has a high inventory turnover compared to other competitors in the industry as illustrated in the figure
below.

Fig. Inventory turnover of Apple Inc versus other competitors

Source: (Heracleous 2013)

Quality in terms of customer experience, longevity of the products and special attention to each detail of
the product is what keeps Apple to be outstanding in the market and this is of greater emphasis as a
part of their strategic management that no products would reach the market without meeting the
quality standards. Apple makes use of environmental scanning to focus on the business pathway by
reviewing the product utilization of the customers to give special attention for quality control to further
improve on quality control as a part of their marketing strategy. Constant adaptation and advancement
are therefore of prime importance for the quality team to ensure that the company maintains the
competitive advantage. Refurbishment of Apple products is a part of the quality team to ensure that the
e-recycling process is effectively carried out.

B) DESIGN OF PRODUCTS

The company uses product design tactics to ensure their products are differentiated from those of
competitors and this has enabled the company to retain the title for the best designs, and this has been
used as an example by their competitors while trying to win their share in the marketplace. Hence, it is
clear that the product designs for Apple Inc have played a significant role in enhancing product success
which has been evolving throughout the years. In their product design strategy, Apple have used
Porter’s Five model in ensuring competitive advantage.

Fig. Apple and relative industry forces

Source: (Heracleous 2013)

Interestingly, it has been noted that the design team for Apple is a separate entity where every section
undergoes a phase of renovation to get into the final detail of the product. The design team has a
weekly review on Mondays to have an overview of the position of the design team and this helps them
to ensure that each stage of design is managed with intense scrutiny. Unlike other companies, Apple
design team focuses on reasonable product design at a time so that there is extreme attention to the
design that focuses on the software, hardware and finally extends to the package designs. Moreover,
the design team does not stop their action until the designs are tested and redesigned to reach that
required potential.

The use of non-rectangular batteries and the lithium polymer batteries has been the vital change that
has helped in creating the light weight designs for Apple. The design team takes more than 6 weeks to
complete the product development. This development has further promoted the portable devices of the
company when analysing the following products - the Mac Book Pro, iMac, MacPro and iPod, not to
forget iPhones. The focus of Apple in discretely and precisely developing a design has promoted its
product to a new level with the details given from production to packing in their customised boxes for
each product.

STRATEGIC COURSE OF ACTION

There have been several concerns with the competition from companies like Samsung, Sony, Microsoft
and so on to ensure that they stay updated with the technology advancements and retain their
customers. This calls for Apple to ensure that they meet the current concerns over pricing, the
availability of similar items from other companies and the need to restock the products due to failure to
meet the demands when the newer versions are introduced. Apple hence would benefit from focusing
on strengthening their screening to rectify these concerns to prevent any future calamities and to keep
up their current market share.

CONCLUSION

The company has progressed slowly initially and there has been a great work in establishing the brand
with the innovations that they have created with computers. The era did not fade away with Steve Jobs
due to the effective strategic management measures in place, that has supported the master brains who
has discreetly worked for the company to retain their product value, that makes them outstand when
compared to other related firms in the market. The incorporation of microchip, use of lithium polymer
batteries and setting up the light weight thinner version in all the products has made them the leaders in
the tech world. The company has preserved the qualities of Steve Jobs and has enhanced the
implementation of their strategies for their short term and long-term run, to keep up in pace with the
upcoming competition.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Apple Inc should consider revising their cost skimming strategy. Apple should look into price skimming
strategies with a focus on products that aims to reach the prospective customers who has that
eagerness to gain access to this brand as the high price do not attract the competitors. This does exclude
the new products with the innovate technology as they need to go with the high price before other
companies starts to make use of similar technology. However, the threat for iTunes from other
competitors also deems the need for price skimming.

Intellectual rights for products and services are very important in any business especially for Apple Inc.
The company should work towards gaining patency for their technology. It should be enforced that the
newer technology introduced by Apple Inc to have patency to prevent imitation from other brands.

The company should ensure that their stock is sufficient to meet the needs and expectations of their
customers by increasing their stock. The lack of stock to all potential customers when a product is
announced is often noted whenever Apple products come into market. Hence, it is highly recommended
that Apple has strategies to ensure that the stock is adequately maintained to stop customers from
waiting when the product is launched.

Apple Inc should partner with other associations to create a strategic alliance. This is by being aggressive
to have associations like that of YouTube and related apps to ensure that there is better experience for
the customers.

The company should tactfully penetrate to retail market. Apple is slowly moving into online option and
to retail strategy, which needs to be advocated to retain their clients. This will eventually assist the
company to help in the pricing strategy to move ahead more efficiently.

References
Chang, Y., Kim, J., & Joo, J. (2013). An exploratory study on the evolution of design thinking: Comparison
of Apple and Samsung. Design Management Journal, 8(1), 22-34.

Denning, P. J. (2013). Design thinking. Communications of the ACM, 56(12), 29-31.