International Marketing Plan: Apple Inc. iPhone 7 Analysis

This report presents an international marketing plan for Apple Inc., specifically focusing on the iPhone 7. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction to international marketing and Apple's background, including industry and company overviews. The report outlines Apple's obje...Read More

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INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PLAN-A CASE OF APPLE INC.
Student
University

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Executive Summary
International marketing is the use of principles of marketing in multiple countries by
firms. It involves the process of planning and application of the marketing plans in areas of
price fixing, promotion and distribution of goods or services to achieve satisfactory
exchanges of objectives for individuals and organisations.
A marketing plan is an all-inclusive blue print that summarizes an enterprise’s overall efforts
in marketing. The marketing procedure is attained by use of the marketing mix aimed at
making awareness to the consumers of the products, ideas or services on offer. Apple Inc. is
competing in a global market and its marketing plan in the marketing mix application is to
ensure that the company increases the market share of its anticipated iPhone7 smartphone
(Richter 2002).
Marketplace Environment; the plans takes a looks at the global market arena for Apple Inc.
which is full of competition, and constant innovation due to the many players in the
technology industry.
Target Market and positioning. The plan contains the target market of Apple Inc. and its
products positioning. The firm targets the high end users for its products portfolio and this is
a strategy for a niche market specialisation.
Benefit to the company. The marketing plan comes in handy for the company’s efforts to
deepen and retain the present market .This will be achieved by highlighting areas that the
company should focus on especially the emerging markets with a high concentration of
middle income groups. This customer base will be able to bring in more sales to the company
and help it achieve its short and long term objectives.

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................5
APPLE INC.MARKETING PLAN........................................................................................7
Introduction.............................................................................................................................7
Background................................................................................................................................8
Industry Background...............................................................................................................8
Company Background............................................................................................................8
Apple Inc. Objectives.................................................................................................................9
Importance of these objectives..........................................................................................10
Situation analysis.....................................................................................................................10
Business Environment..........................................................................................................10
Political Situation..............................................................................................................10
Competitor Analysis..........................................................................................................11
SWOT Analysis of iPhone7..............................................................................................11
Marketing Strategies................................................................................................................14
Positioning Strategy..............................................................................................................14

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Marketing Mix Strategy........................................................................................................14
Product...............................................................................................................................14
Price...................................................................................................................................15
Place..................................................................................................................................15
Promotion..........................................................................................................................15
Marketing Implementation and Control...................................................................................16
Action plan............................................................................................................................16
Budget...................................................................................................................................16
Monitoring and Control Mechanism........................................................................................17
References................................................................................................................................18

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APPLE INC.MARKETING PLAN
Introduction
International marketing is the use of principles of marketing in multiple countries by
firms.it involves the process of planning and application of the marketing plans in areas of
fixing prices, promotion and delivery of goods and services to achieve satisfactory exchanges
of objectives for individuals and organisations.
This is either across bordering countries or overseas. The marketing is an addition of
the marketing tactics used by the company in its local setting but with tailored approach to
meet the needs of the specific country it is operating in.
All these activities in international marketing are possible through the advancement in
technology as it aids the work of communicating, transport and easy flow of funds. Apple has
had access to the international markets and achieved expanded reach through the network and
infrastructure made possible from the technological innovations. It has been able to raise its
revenues through exporting its merchandise throughout America, Asia pacific, Japan and
Europe. The company’s marketing operations in the global arena takes into account the
variations in consumer reception of brands and demographics.
The main objective of this marketing plan is to come up with a strategy for applying
the marketing mix for Apple’s next version of iPhone series- iPhone7 which is expected to be
launched in June 2015.It also aims to strategize on how to introduce it to the market and
eventually broaden its market share (Hall 2001).
The plan will offer a situation examination for the company and the areas that need to be
spruced up for better market outreach.

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Background
Industry Background
The technology industry is in a rapid evolutionary stage. Each passing instant, new
innovations are made on how to improve ways of doing things and innovation is the driving
force buttressed by a need. This reality makes companies to find themselves in the constant
competition to become the best through outwitting each other in the marketplace. The
companies’ faces are added colour by the new products that they come up with.
Technological advancements are here to stage and the current hype is happening in
telecommunication tools.
Company Background
The company was founded by Steve jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak in 1976 .Apple
Inc. is known for its premium priced products and high quality products.. It started its
operations by selling motherboard comprising of a CPU, RAM and clips for video texts. It
progressed on to produce the desktop publishing programs including the Laser writer and the
PageMaker. The company soldiered on and it produced a collection of failed products
including the portable CD player, digital cameras, video consoles, speakers and TV
appliances. This was between the years 1983-96 and it resulted in a diminished market share
and decrease in its stock market prices. However, it introduced a prosperous digital product
known as iPod portable audio player in the year 2001.It changed its name in 2007 to Apple
Inc. and went on to develop a hybrid of iPod and internet endowed smartphone. Other
additional features were GPS navigation tools, 3G networking among other features.
The company plans to focus on fulfilling personal customer demands instead of delivering on
improvement of performance, stability and demographic requirements. Instead of

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concentrating more on adding many features it is adjusting to the emerging market demands
in low end priced products.
The iPhone7 is targeted to customers whose needs are to store information, communicate and
get entertained on a mobile platform. The segments targeted by Apple include the
professionals, corporate customers, businesspersons, and health Workers, and students. The
market for high end users for this Apple iPhone7 is relatively small and customers find the
internet connection, PDA interfaces and video features in a single device rather expensive.
Apple is employing a skimming pricing marketing strategy which will lower the prices
progressively and eventually increasing the power of its expected iPhone7 Smartphone
(Lashinsky2012).
Apple Inc. Objectives
The company’s objectives are: To expand apple products sales to both the present and
potential customers, produce easy to use products which gives the customers enjoyment and
finally to become the leading enterprise in the mobile phones market.
These are summarized as follows;
Sales expansion-The Company’s objectives of expanding apple products sales to both
the present and potential customers can be achieved by increasing the distribution channels in
order to get into the doorsteps of more consumers. The appropriate means to achieve this
objective is the use of 3rd party retailers, leading stores and internet service providers. Third
party retailers such as Fortress and Broadway can be tasked with dealership in the
smartphones. The Internet service providers such as the Chinese Smartone and CSL, can be
used to sell the iPhone7 through agreed payment mode. Some of the leading stores can be

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used to sell the product and also other Apple related products for example software and
services.
The objective to produce easy to use products which gives the customers enjoyment
can be realized through investing in the R&D for continuous improvement of products. These
are the improvements in new versions of products and new features.
The Company’s objective of becoming a leading enterprise in the mobile phones
market can be achieved through the provision of services for example online search engine
and online advertising platforms. The strategies are to use the iPhone7 for online advertising
platform.
Importance of these objectives
The objectives are important to Apple because it will give the company direction and impetus
to maintain its market leadership. There is a stiff competition from firms such as Google,
Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia, and HTC. The goals will give Apple the reason to do research
and development in quest to develop and manufacture user friendly devices that will put the
enterprise in leadership position in the electronic devices segment of the industry (Vogelstein
2013).

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Situation analysis
Business Environment
Political Situation
 The company should be keen to study the various taxation regimes in the countries
that it conducts its business. Taxation has a substantial impact in the cost of doing
business and it should be studied for proper analysis of profitability and pricing plans.
 The company has outsourced various assembly and manufacturing sites to regions
like Asia. The political stability in any region must be put into perspective to avoid
any losses that can arise out of any form of disturbance.
 The firm needs to examine the countries with GATT treaties as these promote the
importation laws.
Competitor Analysis
The competitors of Apple Inc. are the firms that produce similar products and sells to the
same niche of the market. In this case study, the iPhone7 is found in the smartphone category
of products. Apple competitors in this market segment include: Google, Samsung, Nokia,
RIM’s blackberry and Motorola and they usually price their smartphones to reflect the market
realities. These are the rise of the low end consumers in the emerging markets. Their focus is
targeted at the huge consumer base and make profits from high volumes of sales. They have
distinguished their products to cater for all the segments of the market (Arthur 2012).

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SWOT Analysis of iPhone7 7
The strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats faced by Apple Inc. in introducing the
iPhone7 are;
Strengths
The strengths of the iPhone77 can be seen in its innovativeness, brand awareness, ease to use
interface, compatibility, quality and price.
i. Innovative: The Company’s iPhone7 has a new kind of touch screen known as Force
Touch that was developed from highly innovative ways.
ii. Brand awareness: The brand” Apple” is known for its popular original Macintosh
brands, the iPod and the earlier versions of the iPhone series. These technological
innovations made the company to be known and it has since been a brand that attracts
attention in the market place.
Strengths
Innovative
Brand awareness
Ease-of-Use
Compatibility
Quality
Pricing strategy
Success of the previous
versions;iPhone5 and iPhone 6.
Weaknesses
Negative Image from the
company's bias
Injurious user Interface
Its novelty in the market.
Opportunities
Upgradeability of the product.
Forming partnerships with othe
big players.
Threats
Increase in competition
Downward spiral in pricing
Difficulty entering into Asian
market
Competition from HP Palm OS

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iii. Ease-of-Use: The touchscreen has a user friendly user interface that artificially
recognize multiple finger gestures akin to the human hand behavior.
iv. Compatibility: The device has many functions combined in a compatible way for
example the iTunes integrated with other apple products and operating system
software applications making upgradeability to be limitless.
v. Quality: iPhone7 has a highly scratch resistant screen made of Sapphire unlike the
gorilla screen in its predecessors. The material is also relatively durable. Its software
suite is resistant to computer viruses.
vi. Price: The price is in tandem with the value and iPhone7 will be sold at an affordable
price.
Opportunities
The opportunities are present in the iPhone7 investment segment. The company is
poised to make the upgrade option from iPod to iPhone7 to match the market trend of cheaper
smartphones. The iPhone7 software allows for an interface having touch screen features. The
company is also developing options to make it possible to upgrade the hardware features.
Another area of opportunity is in forming partnerships with companies that are strong
in mass producing iPhone7s and eventually reducing the costs in marketing activities. This
strategy will also lead to increase in revenues as long-term deals sustain the market supply.
Weaknesses
i. Negative Image from bias: Apple as a brand do not target business people. It has been
known to be biased against the corporate world.
ii. Premium Prices: The pricing approach of the company does not take care of cost
conscious customers but instead target the high end consumers.
iii. Injurious user Interface: The user interface forces the consumers to hold the touch
screens at arms at waist level and at the same time making precise and small
movements. This causes a lot of painful muscle contractions leading to clumsy hand
movements. This condition has been dubbed the gorilla arm side effect.

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Threats
i. Increase in competition
The smartphone industry has been flooded by many producers. This is attributed to ease in
the technological duplication. This can lead to easy market entry and the result will be
intensified competition. Contractors working with Apple can engage in dishonest activities in
infringement of patents and produce similar devices.
ii. Downward spiral in pricing
The pricing is in a downward spiral and many competitors in the smartphone manufacture
are trying to undercut the iPhone series prices.
iii. Difficulty entering into Asian market
The smartphone market in Asia is saturated and there is less enthusiasm for the earlier
versions of the iPhone (Mukherjee 2007).
iv. Competition from HP Palm OS
There is stiff competition from HP which acquired the Palm OS and it is popular with the
business people. The OS has taken root and it has many products being compatible with it.
The dilemma comes in from the aspect of switching costs and the market would rather stick
with the familiar product (Bernstein Research 2010).
Marketing Strategies
Positioning Strategy
Positioning is aimed at influencing the customer beliefs about the product or service. These
are in terms of features, value and benefits as compared to other available alternatives in the
market. The resultant beliefs are due to customer evidence and experiences as opposed to
awareness shaped by promotions or advertisements (Hooley et al 2012).
The strategy to be used by Apple in positioning its iPhone7 product will be in terms of
attributes and benefits. The product has a sophisticated user interface and a big storage

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capacity. Another strategy is positioning it as a high quality device with durability qualities
and resistant to accidental damages (Shapiro 2008).
Marketing Mix Strategy
Product
The new product has a different kind of display technology known as ‘Force Touch’.
This type of technology is used in the Company’s MacBook touch pad and this has the
capability to differentiate touch levels; light, soft and heavy touch. This a breakaway from the
usual tapping and long pressing options.
The camera features are upgraded to the dual lens design with ability to soak in extra
light and a zooming capacity that adjust to be similar to a protruding camera with an 8MP
sensor inbuilt. These are poised to increase the clarity of the image.
The product processing speed will boosted as the product will come with powerful
and faster Nano-processors and Ram of 2GB inbuilt .
Price
The pricing of the new product will stick to the usual premium pricing for the Apple
products. It is expected to be at par with the iPhone6 price when it was introduced. This
earlier version which is today the latest in the market will reduce in price to match its
lifecycle. The iPhone7 price will reduce as time progresses following the skimming pricing
by the company and will reduce by between 50-100 US dollars.

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The product will also be differentiated in different markets. Those which will use the
android OS are expected to adopt the penetration pricing in order to compete favourably with
the rival versions by being priced at par (Vogelstein 2013).
The workers of Apple Inc. will also get a 15-25% price cuts if they purchase the new
product and give discounts on bulk buying.
Place
Place in the marketing mix stands for the way the product will reach the consumers.
The iPhone7 products will be distributed from the manufacturing centres to wholesalers who
in turn dispatch them to Apple retail stores or those certified by Apple for example Harvey
Norman and JB Hifi. Other retailers to be used are the online retailers such as Kogan,
Amazon and EBay. Another distribution option is selling directly to the consumer at retail
price.
Other distribution oriented tactics will be to place the product at all the physical stores
at an eye catching displays in order to get the product to stand out from others (Doherty & Lu
2012). A massive posting of the product will be done in the showrooms, online stores and in
every cell phone provider. The Apple website will dedicate a huge chunk of its display to the
iPhone7 to augment the physical display in the stores or showrooms.
Promotion
Apple will promote the new iPhone7 through advertisements on Television, online,
and billboards. The various advertisements will feature different features of the iPhone7.
During its first months in the market free samples and discounted offer will be made. Much
of these promotions will be more as the end of year festivities approaches. TheiPhone7 will

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be placed in the retail stores for testing by customers to help them make a decision to buy
(Ciaramitaro 2012).
The packaging of iPhone7 will be used as a promotion tactic by using sleek and
modern packaging. It will also show all the features of the phone in pictures to influence the
potential customers to make a choice to buy the product.
An association will be made between the iPhone7 on one hand the iPod and the
iPhone7 predecessors on the other to be evident in order to build Apple brand further (Malley
2007).The company plans to set iPhone7 apart from its similar products in its new feature
known as Force Touch as opposed to common soft and light touch and also the 3D touch
technology.
Marketing Implementation and Control
Action plan
The actions plan has a compensation system whereby workers will be given a $5 pay as
incentive for producing a phone that is not rejected for failure to meet the specifications.
Another $10 for a phone that has been made to meet all the six sigma quality steps.
Every worker who achieves higher proficiency in the use of control measures will be given a
yearly reward of $5000.
The product will be demonstrated to the customer in order to boost synergy and entice
buyers. The current and potential customers are also to be brought close by deepening the
relationships.

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Budget
The breakeven analysis will take a wholesale revenue amounting to 500 US dollars per unit, a
variable cost of $250 and invariable cost of $50 million .The projected income for the
company in the first year under this analysis will be 125 billion less 50 million of the
invariable costs. The Profits margin will be 40% while the rise in sales volume will be 60%
after the changes have been effected. The burden of the fixed costs will decrease and the
production scale will increase, resulting in further improvements in the level of profit in the
long-term.
This will reduce the impact of invariable costs and improve opportunities to increase the
production volume, which will improve profits further in the long run.
Monitoring and Control Mechanism
The planning of the strategy will be done on a monthly basis to map out the marketing
strategies. Sharing of information from monitoring process will aid in voting for the best
proposal for adjustments in the marketing approaches and the decision is presented to the
marketing managers of the company.

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References
Arthur, C. (2012). Digital wars Apple, Google, Microsoft and the battle for the Internet.
London, Kogan Page.
Bernstein Research. (2010). Apple iOS - powering the mobility revolution. Business Source
Complete. New York, N.Y., Bernstein Global Wealth Management.
Ciaramitaro, B. L. (2012). Mobile Marketing.
Dalrymple, J (2007, Sep, 11). Lessons learned from the iPhone7 price cuts. PCWorld.
Doherty, N., & Lu, F. V. (2012). Strategic Marketing.
Hall, J. A. (2001). Bringing new products to market: the art and science of creating winners.
New York, AMACOM.
Hooley, G., Piercy, N. F., & Nicoulaud, B. (2012). Marketing strategy & competitive
positioning. Harlow, Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Lashinsky, A. (2012). Inside Apple: how America's most admired-and secretive-company
really works. New York, Business Plus.
Malley, A (2007, Jun, 6). Apple, AT&T neophytes to define iPhone7 audience.
Mukherjee, A (2007, Feb, 28). iPhone7 under attack. Business Today, Retrieved Apr 26,
2009, from the business today website.
Richter, T. (2002). Marketing mix standardisation in international marketing: an empirical
investigation of the degree of marketing programme standardisation in German
companies and its internal and external correlates. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang.
Shapiro, B. P. (2008). The marketing mix. Boston, Mass, Distributed by the Pub. Division,
Harvard Business School.

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Vogelstein, F. (2013). Dogfight: how Apple and Google went to war and started a revolution.