Pravin Mangal

Week 3: Nonstore Retailing

07/26/08
Davenport University

Nonstore Retailing: (View Rubric under Week Three Overview).

Complete the nonstore retailing assignment using page 141 of the text. For this
assignment, you have free reign. a) Pick one of your favorite companies (i.e. Fortune
500). b) Select one product that your favorite company sells.

Referring to the six forms of nonstore retailing, tell me how (or if) your product is
distributed via 1) automatic vending, 2) direct mail and catalogs, 3) television home
shopping, 4) online retailing, 5) telemarketing, and direct selling.
My own personal favorite company is Apple Inc, which this paper will elaborate on. Apple

Inc, formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is an American multinational corporation with a focus on

designing and manufacturing consumer electronics and closely related software products. The

company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of personal computers, the

iPod line of portable media players, and the iPhone. Apple's software products include the Mac

OS X operating system, iTunes media browser, the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity

software, and Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio- and film-industry software

products.

As of September 2007, the company operates about 200 retail stores in seven countries and an

online store where hardware and software products are sold. Additionally, the iTunes Store

provides music, music videos, television programs, movies, podcasts, iPod games, and

audiobooks, which can be downloaded using iTunes on Mac OS X or Windows, and also on the

iPod touch and the iPhone.

The company, established in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 and incorporated January 3,

1977, was known as "Apple Computer, Inc." for its first 30 years. On January 9, 2007, the

company dropped "Computer" from its corporate name, reflecting the company's ongoing

expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal

computers. Apple employs over 20,000 permanent and temporary workers worldwide and had

worldwide annual sales in its fiscal year 2007 (ending September 29, 2007) of US$24.01 billion.

For a variety of reasons, ranging from its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its

distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has engendered a unique reputation in the consumer

electronics industry. This includes a customer base, particularly in the United States, that is

unusually devoted to the company and its brand.

My favorite product which Apple specializes in is of course the Apple iphone. The iPhone

allows audio conferencing, call holding, call merging, caller ID, and integration with other

cellular network features and iPhone functions. Voice dialing and video calling are not supported

by the iPhone.

The iPhone includes a visual voicemail feature allowing users to view a list of current voicemail

messages on-screen without having to call into their voicemail. Unlike most other systems,

messages can be listened to and deleted in a non-chronological order by choosing any message

from an on-screen list. AT&T, O2, T-Mobile Germany, and Orange modified their voicemail

infrastructure to accommodate this new feature designed by Apple. A lawsuit has been filed

against Apple and AT&T by Klausner Technologies claiming the iPhone's visual voicemail

feature infringes two patents.

A music ringtone feature was introduced in the United States on September 5, 2007. For a fee

equal to the price of the song on iTunes, the user is allowed to create their custom ringtones. It is

not yet available in all countries where the iPhone has been released. The ringtones can be from

3 to 30 seconds in length of any part of a song, can include fading in and out, can pause from

half a second to five seconds when looped, and never expire. All customizing can be done in

iTunes, and the synced ringtones can also be used for alarms on the iPhone. Custom ringtones

can also be created using Apple's GarageBand software 4.1.1 or later (available only on Mac OS

X) and third-party tools.

Currently Apple Inc does not allow sales of it’s iphone through automatic vending, mail order catalogue, television home

shopping, online retailing, telemarketing or direct selling. Apple currently sells their iphone through Apple.com, AT&T
stores and Apple stores nationwide. Apple uses locations such as central business districts to gain maximum exposure. In

addition, Apple also establishes its presence in regional shopping centers around the country. The success of Apple and it’s

iphone sales can be attributed to their ability to operate as a multi-channel retailer.