Marketing Report: Apple iPhone's Marketing Mix, Factors, and Decisions

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Apple Inc.'s marketing strategies, focusing on the iPhone. It begins with a description of the iPhone as a product and its key features. The report then delves into the 4P marketing mix (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price) employed by Apple, detailing each element's role in attracting customers. It further examines the macro-environmental factors (political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal, and environmental) that influence Apple's business operations, providing examples of their impact. The report also analyzes the elements of the external environment that affect marketing mix decisions, highlighting how Apple adapts its strategies. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of these factors in Apple's marketing success.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Description of product.....................................................................................................................2
Designing of 4P marketing mix.......................................................................................................3
Macro environmental factors relevant to Apple Inc........................................................................4
Elements of external environment influencing marketing mix decisions.......................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The purpose of this study is to provide an overview on the significance of marketing for a
product to be launched by an organization. The chosen organization for this study is Apple Inc
and the product selected is iPhone. Apple Inc is one of the biggest American multinational
organization that is headquartered in California. This enterprise designs, develops and sells
computer software, consumer electronics and other online services. The study describes about
the macro environmental factors relevant to Apple. The elements of external environment
affecting marketing mix decisions are also discussed in this study.
Description of product
Steve Jobs first introduced the Apple iPhone in the year 2007. After the launch of Apple
iPhone, this enterprise shares had been soaring. iPhone is more like mini-computer and it
provides huge range of characteristics and functions as that of computer. Some of the main areas
of function of iPhone include-
 It offers web- browsing experiences
 It has email features and thus can sync to the corporate email servers running exchange
 It has other features such as calendar, PDA
 It consists of video playback
 It has multi touch screen features and several buttons for control
One of the innovative solution in iPhone was to eliminate traditional keyboard. It enables
wireless accessibility to internet through wi-fi as well as helps in surfing websites.

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Designing of 4P marketing mix
The Apple’s iPhone has attracted large number of customers through their marketing mix
strategy. The customers appreciated iPhone marketing mix since it was product driven and at
similar time technology was effective. The 4P marketing mix of iPhone are described below-
 Product- The launch of iPhone attracted huge number of customers in the market due to
its unique features. This product has high quality processing speed and is hardware was
compatible with software. At the present times, itunes is the main attention seeker for
this good. It has been largest developer network and develops network from secondary
products (De Mooij, 2018).
 Place- iPhone has been present across several nations and is providing better service
backup in these nations. This company’s target is to attract premium customers and thus
found premium places. The store location keeps in line with product line and thus is
palced in premium locations so that it can complete nation’s network.
 Promotions- iPhone has been promoted through social media, websites, television and
radio. As they have been target premium customers, presence of this commodity is
higher than ATLsection with respect to BTL section. Even they promoted this product
through taglines in newspapers as several iPhone advertisement are mainly known to
come up with other taglines for this phone (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014).
 Price- The price of iPhone has been skimming over the years. With premium target and
product promotions for supporting targeting, this product has skimming price. It has high
price in comparison with other smartphones in market. However, the customers of this
product are not budging and thus are loyal to this brand. The pricing policy adopted by
this enterprise did not include any discounts. But still discounts might be provided in

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form of sales promotion or exchange offers. However, standard price has been
maintained across globe.
Macro environmental factors relevant to Apple Inc
Apple has several external forces that might potentially impact its internal business
operations. The macro environmental factors include- economic, political, socio- cultural,
technological, legal and environmental.
Political - The political external factors in Apple’s microenvironment usually present
opportunities. The two most vital political external factors that affect Apple Inc are-
improvement of free trade policies, stable politics in the developed nation. Apple Inc has
invested near around $580,000 since 2002 for the political activities. The free trade policies
enhance opportunities for this company to distribute numerous products to different markets
across the globe. Moreover, stability of politics in developed nations expect less political
problems that affect its business (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015).
Economic –This economic factors that impact the operations of Apple Inc are- present economic
condition, inflation, interest rates, unemployment levels, exchange rate and so on. For instance,
during inflation periods of US, the consumer’s purchasing power declined and thus total sales of
the Apple’s products declined. Decrease in US dollar value has affected Apple to buy foreign
currency for reducing inflation rate. This also allowed to enhance revenue from foreign markets.
Socio- cultural- Social factors including- consumer preferences, income groups, perceptions
about various brands have huge affect on sale of this company’s product. Apple has taken
measures to exploit opportunity such as- iPhone and Apple Watch. This increasing social media
use provides opportunity to Apple as it enhances demand for the digital devices. Cultural factors

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involve- people’s ideas, belief, customers purchasing behavior. Apple also targets young
generations with iPhone, Ipod for attaining higher revenue and maximizing profitability.
Technological- Apple is the market leader in innovation and so they focuses on innovating new
products. They integrates new technologies for manufacturing products, which in turn attracts
customers to buy products.
Legal- As government of respective nations integrates privacy issues relating to digital
technologies, large privacy regulations are adopted by Apple. It helps them to develop products
that include private information transmission.
Environmental- Apple has been addressing opportunities by maintaining business sustainability
via recycling programs. Moreover, Apple seeks new technological solutions for improving
energy efficiency of its products (Wijaya, 2014).
Elements of external environment influencing marketing mix decisions
External environment has influenced the marketing mix decisions of Apple Inc. Apple
has revised decisions regarding price, place, promotion and products. They innovates their
products based on the customers preferences and present market trends (Kanagal, 2014). Apple
also selects location by focusing on the target market segmentation. As external environment
affects Apple’s promotion, they focuses on promoting brand image and quality through various
methods. Even they imposes pricing strategies based on cultural and economic factors of the
nation.
Conclusion
Apple Inc makes marketing decisions based on the current market trends and external
environmental factors. Adoption of effective strategies helps them to maintain profit ad

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sustainable competition by providing lower prices. They also address issues for assuring
sustainable business growth through increasing revenue generation.

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References
De Mooij, M. (2018). Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes.
SAGE Publications Limited.
Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-
132). Springer, New York, NY.
Kanagal, N. B. (2015). Innovation and product innovation in marketing strategy. Journal of
Management and marketing research, 18, 1-25.
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external
environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Wijaya, I. M. (2013). The influence of brand image, brand personality and brand awareness on
consumer purchase intention of apple smartphone. Jurnal EMBA: Jurnal Riset Ekonomi,
Manajemen, Bisnis dan Akuntansi, 1(4).