A Study on Apple Inc.'s iPhone Stock Price Trends from 2008 to 2016

This research report examines the stock price trends of Apple Inc. in relation to the release of new iPhone models from 2008 to 2016. It investigates the background of Apple Inc., its iPhone product line, and the factors influencing stock price fluctuations, including consumer behavior and market dynamics. The report addresses the problem statement by analyzing the advantages and challenges associated with iPhone stock movements, aiming to identify concerns and propose solutions to maintain a positive stock trend. The study includes research questions and objectives focused on identifying the impact of new iPhone introductions on stock prices, consumer responsiveness, and strategies for maintaining an increasing stock price trend. A theoretical framework is presented to illustrate the relationship between product manufacturing, consumer preferences, and stock price trends. The methodology includes a descriptive research design, deductive approach, and methods for data collection and analysis. The research also considers ethical considerations and defines key terms such as 'stock,' 'stock price,' and 'iPhone.' The findings aim to benefit Apple Inc. by providing insights into stock price trends and recommending strategies to improve market capitalization before introducing new iPhone models, offering valuable insights for technical analysts and contributing to future research in the field.

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Research Methodology Writing
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Abstract
Communication has been improved worldwide by the introduction of mobile phone technology.
The emergence of mobiles has led to prompt competition among the companies that manufacture
and sell the phones. This research analyses Apple Inc. Company as the case study. The company
has been a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of IPhone products globally. The
great minds behind the foundation Apple products are Steven Paul Jobs and others. The luncheon
of the first iPhone was in 2007 and since then through innovation and invention has been made
to improve on the preceding iPhone models. The iPhones have been in the market for a decade,
and each time a new model is introduced, a new amazing feature is added to make it more
appealing to the consumers whose taste and preferences are never constant. This research has
been carried out to clarify the variations in the trends of the stock price before the introduction of
new iPhone model from 2008 to 2016

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Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background..............................................................................................................................3
Problem Statement...................................................................................................................4
Purpose statement.....................................................................................................................4
Research questions and objectives...........................................................................................5
Theoretical framework.............................................................................................................5
Hypothesis................................................................................................................................6
Significance of the study..........................................................................................................7
Definition of terms...................................................................................................................7
Ethical consideration................................................................................................................8
Delimitation..............................................................................................................................9
Limitation.................................................................................................................................9
Literature review............................................................................................................................10
Overview of trend of Apple Inc. stock price before a new IPhone release from 2008 to 2016.
................................................................................................................................................10
Review of methodologies.......................................................................................................11
Review of theories..................................................................................................................12
Factors affecting the study.....................................................................................................13
Theoretical framework...........................................................................................................13
Research Design and Methodology...............................................................................................14
Introduction............................................................................................................................14

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Research worldview...............................................................................................................14
Research Design.....................................................................................................................15
Research strategy....................................................................................................................16
Method of data collection.......................................................................................................16
Method of data analysis..........................................................................................................17
Population...............................................................................................................................17
Sample....................................................................................................................................18
Trend in stock price.......................................................................................................................19
Recommendations..................................................................................................................20
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction
Background
The Apple Inc. Company manufactures and markets technological devices like mobile devices,
portable digital music players, personal computers etc. the outstanding designs have attracted
many consumers worldwide. The greatest consumption shares of the products come from
Europe, Asia Japan, America and also some parts of Africa. Founded on 1st April 1976, the
company has grown to the among the market leaders in manufacture and distribution of
communication devices especially mobiles phones. It has its headquarters in Cupertino
(Blumenthal, 2012). IPhone brand has made Apple Inc. to be famous as it exquisite and has
awesome features (Purewell, 2014). Over the past decade, several iPhone products have been
launched and their prices have notably been changing considerably. The first iPhone product was
introduced into the market on January 9, 2007 by Steven Jobs. Due to the in depth research put in
by the team at the company, the iPhone was immediately accepted by the consumers. The
positive response from the consumers assured the company that the product was a success and
fueled their desire to produce even better iPhones in the future. When Tim Cook took over the
leadership of Apple Inc. he declared that there was a new iPhone on the way that would be better
than the previous model. This was rather a big announced especially made by a new CEO, so
people were anxiously waiting for the new product (Cook, 2017). After the luncheon of iPhone
5, there was a considerable boom in the price, and also the average stock price realized has
increased concurrently. This research will focus on how stock price trends prior to introduction
of new iPhone into the consumer market. In 2016, after the release of iPhone 6, the company
announced the release of iPhone 6s, this particular iPhone product was not well received by the
consumers as they felt the phone was much or less the same as the iPhones 6 that had not stayed
for long in the market. This affected the profits of Apple Inc. and it recorded less stock sales
(Kelby & White, 2012). In order to continue staying in the market the Apple Inc. are expected to
upgrade iPhone 8 to the current consumers’ tastes and preferences. This will enable it make a
grand come back in 2017.

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Problem Statement
There have been tremendous advantages and developments experienced with the introduction of
the iPhone mobile communication devices over the past decade. Apple Inc. has mastered the
consumers varied tastes and through innovation and invention they have been able to deliver the
quality brand that is satisfactory. The level at which the iPhone stock moves globally is generally
motivating to the company and the reviews and feedback are always good and positive, with a
few suggestions of what to expect in the next models. The advantages of the iPhone are
considerable and realistic. The company’s stock price of the iPhone products is faced with
challenges that should be looked into to prevent losses in the future invention of other iPhone
models. For instance, the company is not able to produce a new model into market on a yearly
basis as most consumers expect (Meyer, 1983). Another problem is that the company is not able
to provide software update as regularly as the other mobile communication companies do. These
challenges can affect the stock Sales of the iPhones as people would not want to buy products
that do not update or take too long to invent new models
Purpose statement.
As Apple, Inc. company strategize to unveil new inventions of iPhone mobile products the
company needs to look into the stock price trends and address the various concerns therein. A
look into the stock price trend from 2008 to 2016 will help in pointing out the main concerns
before the introduction of the next iPhone model. In this case study, the research design used is
descriptive so as to interpret and find the proper solution to this trend problem. Deductive
research approach will be used to analyze the trend of the stock price of the iPhones and try to
find solution before any other new model is released in the market.

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Research questions and objectives.
The research questions can be listed as follows.
 What elements affect the models of iPhones manufactured?
 What is the relation of introduction of new iPhones and the stock price?
 Why the introduction of new iPhones is done yearly?
 What strategies Apple Inc. will use to maintain an increasing stock price trend?
 Will a negative trend have a great impact on the stock trend?
 What was the production capacity of iPhones from 2008 to 2016?
The research objectives can be highlighted as follows.
 To identify the stock price trends in Apple Inc. before a new model of iPhone is
introduced in the market.
 To find out the numerous iPhone models that have been produced by Apple between
2008 and 2016.
 To find out consumer responsiveness to an introduction of a new iPhone model.
 To identify factors that make Apple Inc. not produce IPhones on a yearly basis.
 To recommend valid solutions to help maintain an upward trend in stock price before the
introduction of new iPhone model.
Theoretical framework.
The flow chart below clarifies what happens after Apple Inc. Company manufactures iPhones
and all the other products. It also points out the consumer response to all the products and the
overall effect in the stock prices. The flow chart points out that among the products sold, iPhones
are most bought by the consumers, and this might be attributed to the great specifications that the
phone holds

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Hypothesis.
A hypothesis testing will be conducted in this research. There will be two types of hypothesis
used, the null and alternative, which will be represented as H0 and H1 respectively.
Apple manufacture new products. This is Apple
company production units.
Other products made by Apple
Company.
Iphone as one of the product produced
by Apple Company.
Many prefer iphone as
compared to other
products.
Consumers and customers
preferences between iphone and
other products.
Few prefer other
products compared
to iphone.
Trend in stock price
decrease before
release of new
iphone
Trend in stock price
increase after release
of new iphone.

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Null hypothesis.
H0: it is a trend of the stock price before the introduction of new iPhone into the market. Apple
Inc. always experience decreased sales volumes as consumers are adamant to buy the iPhones
before a new model is introduced (Gaston, 2014). It is due to consumer expectations that the
company should at least upgrade the previous version software before introduction yet another
model. When the tastes and preferences of consumers are not met the stock price trends shifts
downwards as they do not buy the products.
Alternative hypothesis.
H1: it is the trend of the stock price after the introduction of iPhones in a span of 8 years. When
new iPhones are introduced consumers scramble to get the new model to find out the new feature
that is not available in the old model. The optimistic nature of consumers helps in boosting the
sales volumes, and an upward trend in the stock price is experienced by the Apple Inc. this is the
period when the markets are capitalized.
Decision.
Apple Company should place more emphasis on ways to increase more market capitalization
when the stock prices increases, and this is illustrated by the alternative hypothesis in this
research.
Significance of the study.
Apple Inc. will benefit from this research as it will them to understand how stock price trends
affect the company’s performance. The research aims to determine the trends of the stock price
before iPhones are introduced into the market between 2008 and 2016. Again, the research has a
key objective that is to find the drawbacks and the appropriate methods that can be used to
eliminate the factors that make the stock price trend downwards. This will contribute positively
on the operations of the company, as it will know the effectiveness of watching out for the stock
price loopholes before they introduce new iPhone models in the market. Apple Inc. should
consider this research as an alternate strategy in curbing the fall in stock price before the
introduction of new iPhones. This study will also benefit the technical analysts of Apple Inc. in

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improving the quality of future products. This research is open for further recommendations and
there is an opening for advanced research in the same field.
Definition of terms.
Stock.
This is the general capital that a company employs through subscription and share issuance.
Stock price.
It is the primary cost of acquiring and specific security of a commodity. Price is never constant
and it is easily influenced by economic conditions and market stability and also the company’s
position in the market.
IPhone.
It is a communication device that uses the aspects of all the other technological devices of Apple.
IPhone generation.
It is a series of iPhone models from Apple Company. The collection start from iPhone 1 to 7.
They are manufactured from sophisticated personal computer technology
Ethical consideration.
Ethics should be considered when research is carried out. The researcher should be aware of the
ethics involved in the certain study and follow them accordingly. This helps to collect the
necessary data, analyze it, interpret and present it in an ethical manner. In addition, it is protects
personal and private information of all participants in the research as outlined under UAE
Federal Law 3 of 1987. From this law, personal information of participants should be restricted
when publishing research findings. Also, encrypted passwords should be used to secure the
research data to protect it from landing in wrong hands. The copyright and patents regulation
standards also protect personal information of participants. Therefore, for a researcher who
wishes to use the personal information gathered, should follow the set procedures of ethical

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conducts. The federal law of 2013 punishes all offenders found guilty of accessing owner’s
information without their consent.
Delimitation
This section will include the choices in the research that will aid in coming up with the most
appropriate solution to the problem under study. Delimitation explains the segregations that are
covered by the study and those excluded from the study. In this research the focus is on the trend
of the stock price trends before any iPhone model is introduced in the market, this will be
compared against the stock price trends after the iPhones have been introduced into the market.
Other products of Apple Inc. have been excluded in this research and they would have probably
given more insight into this case study. In addition, the timeframe is limited to only 8 years and
Apple has been manufacturing iPhones from as early as 1997 this limits data collection to a
narrow timeframe.
Limitation
This research affirms a vast range of present and impending opportunities. There are numerous
limitations experienced in the research and they include; Inadequate funds, limited resources and
time constraints that make it difficult to conduct the research conclusively. Moreover, there are
inadequate materials for literature review. Also, the closed ended questionnaires limit the
consumers to positive feedback of the iPhone products without in-depth explanations as to why
they answered that way. Most of the consumers do not understand what stock price, but that does
not stop them from using the iPhones. There lacks correction between stock price and the release
of iPhones from 2008 to 2016.

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Literature review
This section will focus some aspects of research that relate to the trend of the stock price of the
iPhone products before they are introduced in the market for a span of 8 years. The research will
look into the activities carried out by Apple Inc. from 2008 to 2016. To carry out this research a
number of concepts and speculative models will be used that are connected to this research. The
research topic is the trend of the Apple Inc. stock price before new iPhone release from 2008 to
2016. The research should include all necessary key requirements to ensure quality research
results. The theoretical models will be used to fill the literature gaps to ensure quality outcome of
the research. The implementation of the models involved in this study will help find out
loopholes and probable gaps in the progression of the research and viable solutions will be
availed to ensure efficient and effective research outcome. Broad researches need to be carried to
forecast future trends and get conclusive results.
Overview of trend of Apple Inc. stock price before a new IPhone release from 2008 to 2016.
Apple Inc. Company launched the Apple store in July 2008, this would enable the iPhone
consumers’ access the 3rd party applications easily, and this was a great strategy as the iPhone
consumers had a problem downloading 3rd applications from other stores. As a result there was a
boom sell as the Apple Inc. made over 60 million in the sales of the applications in a period of
four weeks. Basically on an average day the company made $1 million. In October 2008, Apple
Inc. was recognized as the 3rd biggest mobile handset supplier in the world. This led to the
lifetime deal between Apple and iPhone, as they both needed the services of each other to
function as one. This leads to manufacturing of some iPhones by the Apple Company since
2008. When Apple Inc. released iPhone 4 in June 2010, it comes with upgraded specifications
like multitasking and video calling. There has been constant manufacture of iPhones from 2008
to 2016 and every model introduced into the market is an improvement of the old model. This
research focuses on stock price trends of new iPhones when they are introduced in the market
from 2008 to 2016. iPad was introduced in 2010, before it could take root in the market, the
founder of Apple Inc. died, bringing the Apple era to an abrupt end. The other team members of
the Apple continued with the great work of Steven Jobs and his legacy lives through the Apple
products.