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Overview of Apple company:
Apple Inc. is an American multinational company headquartered in California. It mostly designs,
develops and sells electronic and computers. Tom Cook is CEO of apple from August of 2011. He
is succeeding founder of Steve Jobs. He owns the largest shares in Apple company. The Apple's
hardware products are smartphone iPhone, tablet computer iPad, personal computer Mac, iPod
portable media player, Apple smartwatch and Apple Tv. It includes the iOS and MacOS operating
systems and iTunes media player as well. It includes many other apps like Safari web browser,
iLife, iWork and professional applications like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and XCode. Apple also
has many online services like iTunes Store, iOS Store, Mac app store, Apple Music and iCloud
services. The Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Apple
is the largest information technology company by revenue and second largest mobile phone
manufacturer company after Samsung in the world. In February 2015, the Apple company worth
was US$700 billion. It has more than 123,000 employers and has 499 retail stores in 22 countries.
As of January 2016, Apple has more than one billion products actively been in use in all over the
world. The Apple's worldwide annual revenue is $229 billion for 2017.The Apple company has a
high level of brand loyalty and has been ranked as the world's most valuable brand many times
repeatedly. Apple Inc. is committed to bring the best personal or work environment computing
experience to students, educators, creative professionals from around the world through its
innovative hardware and software.

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Table of Content:

Content Page No.

Summary……………………………………………………………………………………2
1. SWOT Analysis of Apple Company………………………………………………………...3
1.1. Strengths……………………………………………………………………………......3
1.2. Weaknesses…………………………………………………………………….…..........3
1.3. Opportunities………………………………………………………………………….....4
1.4. Threads………………………………………………………………………….…........4
2. Marketing Environment of Company………………………………………………………...4
2.1. Technological Factor…………………………………………………………………….4
2.2. Economical Factor……………………………………………………………………….4
2.3. Competitive Factor………………………………………………………………………5
3. Points of Marketing Strategies of Apple……………………………………………………..5
3.1. Mission……………………………..…………………………………………………...5
3.2. Vision………………….………………….….………………………………………….5
3.3. Competitive Advantage…………………………………..…………………...………...5
3.4. Distributions…………………………..…………………………………………………6
3.5. Promotions…...…………………………………………………………………………..6
4. Social Media of Apple.……….…………………….………………………………………...6
5. How Apple Perform Marketing Analysis…………….…………………………..……….....7
6. Professionalism in Apple…………………………………………………………………….9
7. References………………….……….……..………………………………………………...11

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Apple Company SWOT Analysis:
The Apple company which is the manufacturer of iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and many other
products that have achieved the great success since 1977. So, it is hard to predict the future of
Apple company. SWOT analysis which measures the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats to business or company. It helps to understand the current and future situation of company.
Strengths:
The strengths of Apple company are being innovative in the design of its products. Their designs
are ahead of trends and they actually fulfill the people’s desire. This happened due that the Apple
company invested a lot in research and development. They find out what people really need
through their services. The advertising capabilities of Apple company are very good which
increase the brand awareness and create high demand for company’s products. They have strong
and extensive distribution channels. They have made their brand awareness and reputation. Apple
company’s advertising expenses started to get high from 2010 when its new iPhone and iPad were
brought into market. The below figure shows the comparison of yearly advertising budget
spending by Apple and Samsung (in US$ billions).

Weakness:

Apple company knows that its profit dependent on the global economy. If the economy goes down
then it has negative effects on the company. Apply company dependent on iPhone sales. It has
weak direct distribution in different countries like India. It spends fewer expenditures on research
and development which leads to fewer innovation like very low updating rate in iPhone series that
are introduced in every year in the market. One of the main weakness is that his most of products
only support Mac and iOS operating system, they do not support another operating system. The
figure below represents the breakdown of revenue of Apple products in 2015.

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Opportunities:

"Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing.”

Every year, Apple company is expected to introduce a new advertising platform for the iPhone,
iPod touch, iPad and other Apple products. This new introduction of this advertising platform
provides an opportunity for new revenue customers and sources. The Internet of Things is expected
to grow in future. Health-related wearables gadgets could be introduced. The mobile enterprise
app will gain smooth business success.

Threats:

The Apple company is being involved in many legal actions that include the lawsuit of patents
and anti-trust violations. Many of lawsuits were from smaller companies but notable is Nokia.
These lawsuits bring threats to the company and there is a possibility of unfavorable judgments
and increasing costs due to association with the legal defense.

Marketing Environment of Apple:

Apple has the marketing strategy that focuses on the covering the customer’s expectations. Apple
creates, manufactures and market the products so that people use them to make their lives better.
Marketing environment of Apple deals with different factors such as technological factor,
economic factor and competitive factor.

Technological Factor:

Apple’s first approach to creating the marketing policies are creativity, innovation and bringing
the best personal computing. If the technological factor is considered, Apple has done various
innovations to increase the productivity and quality of its products. The best improvements of
Apple products are removing the toxic part of their products, providing the products with less
material, lighter in weight and size and consume less electricity. Apple is differentiated from other
companies due to their ability to perceive the trends in behavior and give the highest quality
product that meets the people’s needs.

Economical Factor:

The people think many times before they buy the Apple products because they are of high cost.
Many customers tend not buy the Apple products due to high price. So, it comes to the economic
factor of Apple even due to high prices of almost all products of it the Apple company is able to
get high profit. Due to its Economical marketing factor, Apple is still successful in earning high
profit from its products. From the start of marketing the Apple target the elite society of the world,
he made them addicted to its products. The Apple products still create a lot of profits from rich
societies of the world because of high prices they are only able to buy them.

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Competitive Factor:

When Apple comes to competition, Apple tries to make sure that he remains on the top. Apple’s
products stay on the top of within the market. Due to this factor, Apple creates unique designs,
advance and usable products that differentiate it from its competitors. So, marketing environment
for the competition is tough for Apple due to competitors like Microsoft. So, Apple keeps his
customers in business with his quality products because the most of its customers are young people,
professionals and college students.

Points of Marketing Strategies of Apple:

Apple is the largest brand in the world in term of generating high revenue. Apple has
revolutionized the market by bringing the innovative products in it. Apple has given us many
delightful products like MacBook, iPhone, iPod etc. The main reason generating the high revenue
by Apple is due to his marketing Strategies. Marketing strategies of Apple targeted the three
groups, first is music lovers who are interacted by Apple iPod and iTunes, second is professionals
who are targeted by MacBook, tablets, and iPhones, the third is the crowd who can use their
services like iWatch, Apple TV, and iBook etc. There are some points of marketing strategies of
Apple

Mission:

Apple designs the best products like MacBook and iPhone, along with its own OS, and other apps
like iLife, iWork. Apple revolutionized the digital music by iPods and iTunes online store. Apple
has brought the mobile phone revolution by iPhone and App store and define the future of
smartphones and computing devices with iPad.

Vision:

The vision of Apple marketing Strategy is to focus on innovation because the people believe in
simple not complex, they need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products
and participate in the market where they can make the significant contribution. The apple says no
to thousands of projects so that it can really focus on the them that are really important for people.
They believe in the deep collaboration which allows them to give the people innovative products.
The Apple embedder the values that it will do extremely well.
Competitive advantage:
Apple has many advantages over his competitors. Apple has produced the many technology
products like MacBook and IWatch which are clearly leaders in their market space because of the
OS and significant technologies. Apple has repeatedly taken the top spot due to its brand equity.
Apple brand has made his brand value in the market against his competitors. Apple has generated
revenue over the time that is far higher than his competitors. He has deep pockets due to his high
margin of revenues. One of the major competitive advantages of Apple is the amount it spends on
the R&D that helps to keep eyes on the future of the company.

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Distribution:

Apple has established a very retailing setup. Apple has around 450 stores in the US. Apple focuses
more on helping and comforting the customer rather than selling the product products and stuffing
the product down customers throat. Apple has introduced many services to his customers like
Apple Genius Bar, which is a walk-in service center which can help any customer those are facing
problem in MacBook or iPhone or iPod. Apple company’s retail and service outlets are great. The
online E-commerce presence of apple is good which promote the brand themselves because they
know Apple brand is huge. The combination of retail, distribution, and E-commerce gives the best
platform for Apple to reach the top in the market.
Promotions:
Apple is one of the best advertiser company which can be seen from any of its ads in newspapers.
People can find Apple ads that clearly and briefly describe their messages. Apple always chooses
the best color combination for its products that are the major strength of a brand. Apple’s ads show
so many differentiations in products that are offering. Not only the prints ads are amazing but video
ads are also doing a great job for Apple. They can tell people the whole feature of the product in
one word. Their ads and banners are neat eyes catching to people.
Social Media of Apple:

In this era of social media, when different brands are trying hard to create content and promote it
through social media for that they breathlessly check for likes and shares. The world’s most
valuable company has never put out a Facebook post and never tweeted either. Apple is not a
controversial company but to realize how it is different from its competitor, one has to look at its
social media accounts and pages and compare it with pages and accounts of its competitors. Apple
does not advertise on social media much. For example, Apple has a Facebook page which has over
7 million likes but nothing of much information is displayed on it. Apple also has a Twitter account
that has over one million people follow it. But it looks they are following a ghost, Apple has never
tweeted on twitter. Apple also has the Instagram account which is recently created. It has nearly a
million followers, but only shares pictures of iPhones. It has shared only 20 pictures so far. On the
other hand, its competitors are quite social, they have displayed every bit of detail on their social
pages and accounts like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Apple does not need social media to sell its products because when Apple launches a product its
events creates enough buzz to make sales. Apple is managed to create a culture following for itself
because it has created a brand that is aspirational and exclusive. Apple thinks that putting its
products ads on social media will not differentiate it from its competitors.

But now Apple seems to recognize the power of social media. It uses the social media to help its
customers instead of promoting its products by putting ads on them. Apple has its @Apple-Support
that is handled by Twitter. For instance, they help the user who has the concern about Apple
products and they share videos and tips that help its customers to use its products. Apple also has
@Apple-music where it shares the latest music and interviews with musicians. But, Apple does
not use social media to sell products so be careful.

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Apple has run several ad campaigns on Facebook but they are promoted posts and closer to
traditional ads. Last year, Apple had run a campaign for its product which is Apple Watch, it asks
the users to choose it as a gift. Apple has also run a Facebook campaign targeting people and
urging them to switch their phones to iPhone.

Apple is not directly promoting its products, it is using Twitter to promote its launch events. Due
to Apple’s unique social media strategy that helps it to avoid many of the pitfalls of social media.

How Apple Perform Marketing Analysis:

Apple was the winner of 2012 CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence and Apple has been
selected as the winner for five consecutive years by the sample of the top marketers. So, that’s why
Apple is the great Marketer that raises the question how they perform they marketing analysis?
How they are able to find out what people really desire from them. The philosophy of Apple’s
marketing is these three points.

1. Empathy – Apple can truly understand their customer needs better than any other company.

2. Focus – In order to produce a good quality in its products Apple decide to do eliminate all of
the unimportant opportunities.

3. Impute – Apple may have the best product with the highest quality and the most useful
software, etc. But, Apple will present them in a creative, professional manner that the people will
be attracted towards it.

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Apple is using these principles to become the world’s most valuable company and valuable brands.
Here are some strategies that Apple has used to perform the marketing analysis to become the one
of the world’s best marker.

Empathetic employees perform Analysis:

Apple has unique and effective insights about how people want to interact with technology and
these insights are so important: For example, if someone asked people what they really wanted
then they would have said faster horses, illustrating the problem, instead of what is possible. So,
Apple thinks about the customer experience more deeply than the customer can. So, whenever
Apple Launch its products then it often results in that products which are exactly what people want.
This all happens because of Apple employees who are so entrenched and committed to the
customer’s needs.

Iterative customer involvement:

Apple spends a lot of time observing customers using theirs’s and other companies’ technologies.
Apple observes the customer experience and integrates into its design and development process
for its next product. that helps the Apple to understand their pain points and opportunities. So,
that’s how the apple performs marketing analysis for its products and keep the people intact with
its innovations.

Build compatible experiences:

Apple knows that customers want the intuitive way to make their computing and entertainment
devices work as a system. Apple understands this and tries to conceive of its products as they are
offering the customer first a digital hub and then an entertainment hub. But, in both cases, the
hardware and software are designed for customer compatibility. This might differentiate Apple
from other companies’ offerings. But having some great combinations of the Mac, iPod, iPhone,
iPad, and of course, iTunes can add the great value to its customers.

Customer discovery through Apple Stores:

Customers open the stores to experience firsthand the outward experience and ease of use of Apple
products. They can also get to see the larger solutions that the Apple products offer. Apple recruited
and trained the sales associates to encouraged to take customers on a ride which are the former
head of Apple Stores. So, Apple performs his marketing analysis from its stores to find out what
problem people are describing and what they are expecting from their upcoming products and from
new versions.

Build a moat:

Apple is doing it in three ways. First, Apple communicates unique product to its customers through
some provocative advertising. Second, Apple’s product development may utilize the multiple
branded partners but it focuses on the brand, not the component provides. For example, Apple has
used the software and hardware components of others like Intel, Microsoft in its products. Third,

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the Apple decision to exclude the other companies’ apps on its App Store contributed well to its
brand.

The business model that creates ongoing customer value:

By generating the customer value Apple creates the business model that ensures this value is
repeatedly generated. Apple hires customer-obsessed employees and opens the retail stores that
are a big part of creating value to Apple customers. But, iTunes should also be considered.
Although iTunes is not a big money maker for Apple, the iTunes desktop software and the iTunes
Music Store make Apple’s hardware even more valuable for the company because it is ease of
customers. So, this is how Apple keeps its customers as ongoing customers.

Cannibalize when necessary:

Apple cannibalize its offerings when it has a superior option to bring to market. Apple has done
this least twice. First, when the Apple dropped its Mini iPod, due to the introduction of the Nano.
Second, when a company is offering the unique features like the iPhone is a threat to iPod sales
because both can play music. Many organizations afraid to build a product that could detract from
its popular product. So, other companies might do it but Apple understood that and Apple did not
do it.

Teamwork in Apple Company:

The main reason for Apple innovation is teamwork. A good leader can lead the company to great
progress. There are seven lessons that can be learned from a team in Apple company’s working
environment, necessarily for teamwork.

Lesson 1. One person is in charge:

For every work or project, Apple is clear that there must be one person in charge that has the
leading abilities. He/she must be sharp, less confusing, less political and clear in his/her visions

Lesson 2. Meet Once a Week:

A team must organize a meeting at least once in a weak. So that they update each other, have the
full discussion on certain issues. There are many problems can occur during the project and their
innovative solution could be found in meetings.

Lesson 3. Team Work Starts at the Top:

Teamwork starts from the top and passes through every layer of organization whether they like it
or not. People inside a team must co-operate with each other. A leader can lead two teams at a time
but each time must be responsible.

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Lesson 4. Trust is Key:

Trust is the most part of the team of a team without a trust on colleague a team cannot be successful.
Trust is key that holds the team together.

Lesson 5. Have Wonderful Arguments:

A leader must have the argument with his team members because of necessary to make them better.
A leader has the responsibility to guide his/her team.

Lesson 6. Let People Make Decisions:

Another good lesson of teamwork is let the people make decisions because this can help them to
get strong decision capability. That is good if someone has it because only determinant people
have it.

Lesson 7. Work to One Goal:

A team should work on one goal because have multiple goals can cause the distraction which not
good for teamwork.

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References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/apple-swot-analysis.html
http://wvillefranche.blogspot.com/2011/09/marketing-environment.html
https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-apple/
https://officechai.com/stories/apple-social-media-strategy/#sthash.VxS1tgSv.dpbs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinemoorman/2012/07/10/why-apple-is-a-great-
marketer/#1e4a1144297d

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/amac_apple.fortune/index.htm

http://www.twentyoneleadership.com/resources/7-teamwork-lessons-from-apple/

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