iPhone marketing strategy

As with all Apple marketing, the iPhone marketing strategy is very clear, simple and clever. With the plain and simple apple icon, Apple focuses on the pure innovative style of their products without all the "fluff". The iPhone was released by Apple in June, 2007. The ground-breaking style of the iPhone was touted for months before the initial release and has remained the best of the best when it comes to cell phones over the past several years. Before the iPhone's official release, Apple ran four television commercials promoting the new cell phone.
The first of the commercials portrays the new iPhone as the next step up from the popular iPod. The iPod was all the rage up until this point, and the iPhone was supposed to be the next-generation iPod, oh, and it's also a phone! The advertisement displays all of the enhanced features available in the iPod, and more, the point being "There's never been an iPod that can do this."
"So, say you're watching Pirates of the Caribbean"

Finger clicks on video and displays wide screen movie.

"Mmm, did somebody say Calamari?"

Finger clicks back to menu, selects Maps application to search 'Seafood'.

"The closest would be..."

Map displays all seafood locations and highlights location nearest to you.

"Ah!"
Finger clicks seafood location, and restaurant phone number displayed. iPhone dial's.
The first four iPhone commercials flaunted the convenience, innovation, and usefulness of a single product with the functionality of not only a phone, or a music device, but a product that can, among other things, listen to music, watch videos, view photos, make conference calls, check e-mail, browse the web, and view maps.
Not only does Apple utilize television for their marketing strategy, but they make use of their website by posting videos, they also published a handful of press releases that could have been released in one single document. Apple often uses this tactic to build up hype and leave the consumer wanting more.
With Apple's brief press releases, giving the audience little to go off, "Apple leveraged a law of social physics - news, like nature, abhors a vacuum. In the absence of real information, those who care about a product will grasp at any rumor that comes their way. Apple may publicly disavow the rumor Web sites that scramble for scraps about the companies plans, but secretly their marketing department must be delighted. It would cost a lot to buy that kind of Web advertising." (Silverman, 2007)
The official iPhone website does more than just provide information about the product. The website provides top tips and tricks for the use of an iPhone, as well as a huge focus on apps. Almost the entire iPhone page displays images of apps, provides the "App of the Week," the website also contains sections titled "Apps for Everything," and the "Top Apps." Apple's website is a great marketing tool for current iPhone users and consumers that have an interest in purchasing the iPhone. The promotion of the apps will create a stronger source of revenue for Apple. As customers see top rated applications, they are more likely to download the app, rather than searching through 25,000+ apps to find one that may be of any value to the consumer.
Successful younger men were the target audience that Apple had originally focused on. Apple had hoped that with this target audience, and the fact that 48% of this audience did not already own an Apple iPod, would allow them to reach their forecast of 10 million sales by the end of 2008.
One month prior to the release of the iPhone, Solutions Research Group profiled a cross-section of those aware of the phone. The forecast of potential buyers for the day of the release ranked a majority of T-Mobile customers, AT&T's only GSM-based product competitor, at 15%. The second largest group expected to purchase the new iPhone was AT&T's existing customer base, at 12%. The Solutions Research Group also found that 72% of males, versus 28% of women were most likely to investigate the phone at its minimum price of $499. (Malley, 2007)
The obvious current target audiences for the Apple iPhone include young people between the ages of 20 and 35, affluent teenagers, "jet-setters", and "mobile" employees who work outside of the office.
Apple is known for their simplistic, but catchy commercials. In recent television commercials for the Apple iPhone, "There's an App for that" is the new catch phrase that places a strong focus on the apps available from the App Store. Apps, or applications, are in "every category, from games to business, education to entertainment, finance to health and fitness, productivity to social networking. These applications have been designed to take advantage of iPhone features such as Multi-Touch, the accelerometer, wireless, and GPS" (Apple, 2009). Apple currently claims to have 25,000+ apps available, and counting.
The focus on the variation of apps offered opens up the target audience greatly. There is essentially an app for everyone. As a few of the iPhone commercials advertise, you can find the snow conditions on the mountain, track calories in your lunch, find exactly where you parked your car. You can find a cab in a strange city, find your share of the bill for a table of 5, or learn to fix a wobbly bookshelf. You can read a restaurant review, read an MRI, or just read a regular old book. These are just a few of the features that Apple has promoted through television commercials. iPhone apps provide every functionality that one can imagine.
When the iPhone was initially released, it was priced at a hefty $599. Still, hundreds of thousands of people rushed out to get the new phone, forking over a third as much as they would have had they waited an extra 3 months. 3 months after the initial release, Apple reduced the price of the iPhone to $399. This enraged Apple's loyal customers and consumers who purchased the new phone just months earlier. One year later, Apple again reduced the price of the iPhone to $199, 66% less than the original price.
In July, 2007, the Apple iPhone was all the hype. I believe that Apple's decision to release the phone at $599 was slightly based on greed. However, their product was the most innovative out in the market place, giving Apple the freedom to price the iPhone at whatever they wanted. Many believed that Apple had cut the price after discovering lower than expected iPhone sales. Apple, however, states that the price cut was made "to spur holiday sales and predicted that Apple would meet its stated goal of selling its 1 millionth iPhone by the end of September." (Dalrymple, 2007)
As with the product life cycle of any cell phone or Apple product, including Apple's iPod, prices are often reduced drastically months after the initially release. Tech products are always competing against "the latest and greatest" while maintaining a relevant price in the market place. Had Apple not reduced the price of the iPhone, the customer base would have dwindled quickly as many consumers are unwilling to spend $599 on a cell phone, no matter how many useful features the phone may carry.
As the iPhone remains to be the number one smart phone around, the product continues to grow, increasing size capabilities, increasing the number of applications available, and providing new features that are released through new iterations of the phone, continue to provide a greater value to the iPhone while the pricing remains relevant.
At this time in the product life cycle, Apple continues to release enhanced iterations of the iPhone. With most iPhone users un-willing to purchase a newer version of the iPhone because of price, the target audience for the newer generation phones is new iPhone customers. With Apple's installed base continuing to grow, they have found a way bring in reoccurring revenue from their existing customers through the sales of their application downloads. As more and more people purchase the iPhone, Apple's audience for new customers continues to dwindle. Fortunately for Apple, they have built in another source for revenue that continues throughout the life of the product.
References
(2009). Apple: iPhone. Retrieved April 26, 2009, from Apple
Dalrymple, J (2007, Sep, 11). Lessons learned from the iPhone price cuts. PCWorld, Retrieved Apr 26, 2009, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/137046/lessons_learned_from_the_iphone_price_cuts.html
Silverman, D (2007, Jul, 10). Apple's silence helped the iPhone hype. Chron.com:Computing, Retrieved Apr 26, 2009, from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4954824.html
Malley, A (2007, Jun, 6). Apple, AT&T neophytes to define iPhone audience - report. AppleInsider, Retrieved Apr 26, 2009, from AppleInsider Website
Mukherjee, A (2007, Feb, 28). iPhone under attack. Business Today, Retrieved Apr 26, 2009, from the business today website



Jesus has smoked most of his life. Now he writes inspiring articles for people trying to quit smoking. You can check out his recent site at http://benefitsofstoppingsmoking.net where he writes about the Benefits of Stopping Smoking.

Video Comes To Web Sites, Blogs, Ipods -- How You Can Profit!

So, you are looking to download music video for Ipod? Well, this article will show you exactly how to do that. One of the greatest features of Ipods is the versatility they have in being used for not just music.You can even watch music videos! Read on and I will show you how to do it.
The first thing to consider before you even start is that you will perobably have to get some specialised MP4 conversion software. Most music videos, movies etc are in avi or WMV format. These are good formats, but they are not compatible with the Ipod, which needs MP4 videos to play. It is not difficult to find software which will convert avi’s/wmv’s etc to MP4 so do a search with your favourite search engine, and you will certainly find some..
When the files have been converted to the MP4 format, you just have to import them into Itunes as usual. This is not difficult or time consuming, but you must remember to put your files into the right format BEFORE they are transferred to Itunes. If you don't, it can cause problems later.
Once all of the files have been imported to Itunes, simply connect your Ipod and transfer them. How to download music video for Ipod really is that easy!
What is more challenging than how to download music video for Ipod is where to download music video for Ipod. The places where you can find these are not known to most people. You can of course get them from Itunes or whatever, but if you know the right places to find them, you can often find what you would normally have to pay for, available for free!
Take your time to do some research and you will find websites with MILLIONS of Ipod files available for download, from music videos to movies to songs. You have got to be very careful to avoid bad websites which are infected with spyware, but I’ve worked out some of the best ones, so check out the links below to access these sites and get hold of some free downloads.
There you have it, you've now learned to download music video to your Ipod. As I said, it isn't the how that is difficult, it’s the where, but check out the links below and you’ll soon be enjoying all the free downloads you could want!

Marketing with Your iPhone

When most people think about the iPhone they think of the younger generation talking, sending texts to millions of other teens, sharing photos, and more talking. That's what corporate America is beginning to see, especially those with savvy marketing departments. Smaller to medium sized businesses have really started to pay attention to what the younger set is doing with their iPhones and how they socialize. It is very different from what most of us grew up with. What these businesses have discovered is a virtual gold mine for sales opportunities. This is how marketing with your iPhone can help to increase your bottom line.

Using a phone for marketing is not something revolutionary and new. Ever since man discovered the telephone, it has been used for sales and marketing purposes. However, in today's competitive markets, how you use the telephone is more important than ever before. Let's take a look and see how marketing with your iPhone can generate more business for your company.

First of all, you will need an account with several of the social marketing websites that are out there. If you are specifically looking to target iPhone users, who happen to have more disposable income than others. This is based on the fact that they can afford a $500-600 cell phone. The websites you should be specifically looking into are Facebook and YouTube. No, these websites are not just for kids. Here is how powerful using social websites can be. Take Facebook for example. Have a programmer write a Facebook application for you to upload. This is not difficult and almost anyone with some knowledge of C++ or other language can do this for you. Have this application be unique and desirable. Perhaps make it a game, or a contact manager. Then offer a very desirable feature that can only be retrieved if they visit your website. For example, there is a fish tank application that offers glitter fish and other critters for your tank. You can only get these fish if you visit a website first.

Now here is how this marketing with your iPhone helps you. Your application gets downloaded by Susie who loves it. She also wants your special feature so she visits your website, which happens to sell upscale shoes, handbags and accessories. She fell in love with your product and ordered a bag. Then she sent a notice to all of her friends about your application. Then those contacts also visited your website and sent out more links and information about your application and website to others. The "viral" marketing has started and you really did not have to do much other than getting the application uploaded to Facebook. In a nutshell, this is how you can start marketing with your iPhone.

The iPhone plays a huge part in this marketing scenario listed above. You as a salesperson or marketer can use your iPhone to rate the uploaded application, keep track of who is downloading it, post messages to the blog about how great it is and invite everyone who has downloaded it to be your friend. Now, your list of friends becomes your potential customer database. You can send out special sales to these people because you know they fit into your companies demographics. More and more businesses are starting to catch onto this concept. This is one way that you can start marketing with your iPhone.

YouTube is another avenue for marketing with your iPhone. There are so many ways you can use this website and your iPhone to market your business. Musicians can post demo videos out there. Companies that are offering a product can post a sample advertisement or an additional advertisement out there. Keep in mind that iPhone users can download and save these videos to their iPhones and readily share them with everyone. You want your video to be entertaining, worth sharing and effective. Selling blenders? Why not do a video on how not to use your blender. Same thing with vacuum cleaners.

As you can see, marketing with your iPhone can take your business into areas that only a few are utilizing. However, each day more and more companies are joining in the social marketing revolution. Now is the time to get in on this, before everyone else does and it becomes no different that junk mail, spam, and telemarketing.