Running Head: Apple iOS

GB580 Strategic Management

Unit 4 Team Assignment
Professor Carol Schubert
Kaplan University
October 13. 2014
Prepared By
Jennifer Allen
Gwendolyn Chenault
Ishwarya Cheruvu
Lesley Chubick
Angelo Daniels

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The Strategy Canvas

The strategy canvas is designed to capture the current state of a product in the market
space, to view the factors that the product competes on and to redirect focus from competitors to
alternatives and from customers to noncustomers (Blue Ocean Strategy, 2014). The strategy
canvas compares the Apple iOS operating system to the Android and Windows operating
systems. The factors that are being compared are the platform design, speed, camera, products,
features and apps, voice command, and customer support.
Platform Design
The Appls iOS is the most advanced operating system. It is ranked higher than both the
Android and Window systems. The iOS is intuitive, fun, easy to use and has an elegant look.
The system has a powerful foundation that makes it easy to navigate and gives it the ability to
interact with millions of apps and programs (Apple, 2014).
Camera
The iOS camera gives you time lapse, a timer, and controls for fine editing photos. The
iOS camera ranked 8 out of 10 compared to Androids 10 out of 10 rating. The 8 megapixels
camera in the iPhone is no competition to Samsungs 16 megapixel camera in the Galaxy
(Eadicicco, 2014). The camera stores photos by date and event and even allows you to search
for photos using the search option.
Products
The iOS operating system can be found on any Apple product. This includes the iPhones,
iPods, iPads, iMac, MAC books, iTunes, Watch, and Apple TV. The list of Apple products keeps
getting larger, which will make them more competitive in the market. Apple ranked number 2 to
Windows because Windows presently can be found in more products that Apple.

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Features and Apps

The iOS operating systems comes with many features and applications that can be found
on the Windows and Android operating system. However, there are a few features that are
specific to the iOS system that makes it unique, which is why the iOS ranked highest in the area.

Text Messages- The ability to add voice or video to any messages, share location, and
name chats.

FaceTime- Allows you to make video calls over Wi-Fi and send videos, emotions, and
selfies to the other person with the click of a button.

Passbook- Stores boarding passes, tickets, gift cards, and allows you to pay from your
mobile device using Apple Pay.

iTunes- A store with millions of books, movies, and songs that can be purchased and
viewed on multiple apps.

Find iPhone App- Allows you to log into the app from another Apple device and locate
your missing phone.

Voice Command
The iOS was the first operating system to enable a voice command/ personal assistant.
The iOS ranked the highest in this area for this personal assistant, Siri. Siri is a one of a kind,
intelligent system, that utilizes ones voice to send messages, schedule meetings, get directions,
make phone calls, set alarms, provide sports and news updates and so much more (Apple, 2014).
Siri is not the usual voice command. Instead, she allows you to talk normal to her and she even
talks back asking question to ensure your request is completed correctly.
Customer Support

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Running Head: Apple iOS

The support will assist customers with issues they may be experiencing with their iOS
products. Compared to Windows and Android, the iOS ranked last due to its difficulty with
contacting someone for help, long hold times, and long lines at the store. Customer support is the
biggest area of opportunity for the Apple iOS.
Buyer Utility
The buyer utility map is a tool invented by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. It helps
management with their thinking from the demand-side perspective other known as the consumer
point of view. Management needs to identify which business ideas will have a real success when
it is commercialize, and identify areas of additional creation, thus creating customer utility
(buyer utility). The buyer utility map has six stages of the buyer experience cycle along with six
utility levels. With this said, lets move on to the next paragraph where we will discuss the
placements on the buyer utility map for the Apple iOS product, mainly the Apple iPhone 6 and
6+.
The first stage in the buyer experience cycle is the purchase stage. The purchase stage is
when the consumer goes to buy the item and what is involve in buying the item such as pricing,
contracts, financing, and product evaluation just to name a few. The iPhone 6 and 6+ comes
with good phone contracts from its service providers such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and TMobile. However I place this item as a risk, under the purchase stage because of the insurance.
The iPhone is a popular phone and it is one of the most stolen and/or lost phones. According to
Allyson Kazmucha, the insurances plans are a toss-up between ugly and uglier. For some
insurance plans, theft and loss of phone will be covered, but not some of the other things.
However, the plans that has almost all the things covered, theft and loss of phone is not covered.
You can see it with the illustration below:
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Running Head: Apple iOS

The iPhone is very easy to be delivered to the consumer. The consumer goes to the store,
picks which iPhone is needed, pays for it, and that consumer can go out of the with the iPhone.
For mail order, the consumer can go to the service provider site to order the phone and it will be
delivered to the address the consumer provided. The only thing about the delivery stage is that
the consumer should avoid getting the iPhone during the first couple weeks of it coming out or
pre-order the phone before it comes out.
The usage of the iPhone is very convenient. With a bigger screen, it allows for the
consumer to see the items on the screen better. The iPhone 6 is faster because it has a much
better chip than it had before (Gruman, 2014). The new iOS that the iPhone 6 comes with has
major improvements to the email, calendar, contacts and texting.
The supplemental for the iPhone has always been fun for the average user and very
productive for the business user. Apple has the largest app store and with this feat, you can find
any app to make it enjoyable and productive for you.
Maintaining the iPhone is also convenient. The Otter Box is a company that makes cases
for phones. One instance, the Otter Box claims that the case for the iPhones is so durable that if
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Running Head: Apple iOS

your iPhone breaks or cracks while cased in an Otter Box case, Otter Box will replace your
iPhone.
Apple believes that climate change is real and has a passion for the environment. Apple
believes that it is the only company that has data centers which are powered by 100% renewable
energy. Also, their product line exceeds the strict guidelines for ENERGY STAR. Every Apple
retail store will take back any Apple products for free in order for them to be recycle in an
environment friendly way.
Blocks to Customer Utility
Apple is one of the largest technology companies in production today. Being the case,
Apple still has some areas that need to be improved on. Many consider the blocks to customer
utility revolve greatly around economic factors, safety and environmental protection and the
push in society for the development of alternate sources of technology. When considering the
economic blocks Apple has to face, the companys operations and performance depend
significantly on worldwide economic conditions. Insecurities regarding current global economic
conditions pose a risk, as consumers and businesses may continue to postpone spending
in response to tighter credit, unemployment and declines in income, which could have a negative
effect on demand for Apples products and services.
In looking at the safety and environmental blocks, the company has undergone many
blows to safety in the production plants overseas. Employees work excessive hours without a
day off during the week, live together in crowded dormitories and stand so long that their legs
swell and they can hardly walk after a 24-hour shift; workers arent subject to the greatest
conditions. These are all blocks deterring consumers from purchasing Apple products. About
140 workers at a supplier in China were injured two years ago when using a poisonous chemical
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to clean iPhone screens. Two explosions last year killed four people while injuring more than 75
employees. Apple was named the Least Green tech company by Greenpeace in 2011Greenpeace said Apple relies heavily on highly polluting coal power at the sites where its servers
are, with dependence around 54.5%.
As for the technology block, this is an area many Apple users have dealt with in the last
several years. As many customers have seen over the years, each release of a new product has
been a little bit of a letdown as development has been stale and little innovation has been
introduced. A common complaint customers have had in the past is that Apple stubbornly clings
to a design that has seen little change in its biggest seller. The iPhone was at one time a
groundbreaking product it has become stale in recent years.
Plan to remove the blocks in the utility
Apple can improve the customer experience in several ways. Apple stores can come up
with mystery sales for the mobile users during the stores slow hours or dinner times. Apple can
offer in-store flash sales that can be offered at a special price, etc. Besides, Apple stores could
add directions to the customer service counter to even the nearest employee. Apple offers
various shipping options for the customers to get their products at the earliest like one day
shipping. Apple can achieve competitive advantage either by implementing a low cost strategy or
differentiation strategy (Kcarlson, 2014).
Apple can link the user interface design by improving the communication between the
end users, business and IT teams, to collaboratively work together to enhance the website
experience. To contact a customer service representative, can be challenging for the user. Apple
needs to enhance the customer service experience better. Another problem is there is no try and
buy option for the app purchases. Users do not know how that particular app works. For

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example, word document or excel spreadsheet or some other software apps are available in
Apple iTunes store. However, users do not know how effective they can be. Users have to buy
the app and try them on their own. Apple can provide an option to the users to try the app before
they purchase it (Gugliotto, 2011).
Apple has a policy to refund once if the purchase is made by mistake. However, Apple
will not refund many times. Users can make purchases automatically if the setting is not
carefully set at different locations. It will be difficult for the families when kids manage the
Apple iPod or iPad or other products and can accidentally make purchases without any
knowledge. Customers have to go through the disputes through their credit services or other
agencies. Apple can either disable the option to make purchases automatically or give a simple
solution to make purchases, rather than complicating the user experience with the purchases
(Gugliotto, 2011).
Apple should enhance the product designs, features, and functionalities to avoid the
boredom, snazzy designs and not-so-user-friendly interface (Parramore, 2013). Apple needs to
enhance the security features because their products are vulnerable to hackers. Security risk are a
threat on even applications that are encrypted when the users are using a wireless internet
connection from a coffee shop or a subway station because hackers can intercept highly sensitive
information like email, Facebook, and credit card information. Apple can release patches and
updates for iOS software and its Mac operating systems (Lutz, 2014).
Apple has to ensure that all retail stores adapt the Apple strategy to focus on great
customer experience as some of the stores focus on the business of selling, rather than customer
satisfaction. Customer service needs to be a great experience for the end users, not only in USA
but also around the world where Apple sells its products (Beach, 2014).

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Customer Analysis: Three Tiers

The three tiers of non-customer are: soon to be, refusing, and unexplored (Kim and
Mauborgne, 2005). Soon to be non-customers are those customers who are on the edge of the
market waiting to make a move over to another competing market. Refusing non-customers are
those that make a conscious decision not to enter the market at hand. The unexplored noncustomers are very distant from Apples iOS system current market (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005)
For the Apple iOS, soon to be non-customers would be described as those individuals
who are currently utilizing the product but are not very happy with the brand and/or its latest
version iOS 8. Since iOS 8 has launched, users have been experiencing the following issues:

Batteries dying quickly

Inaccurate auto correct spellings

Location settings not enabling

(Colt, 2014)
For some of these soon to be non-customers, this may be the last straw with any Apple
product. As soon as their contracts are up, they are going to upgrade to perhaps Apples
nemesis, Samsung. When it comes to the sales war between Apples iOS number one
competitor Samsung, Apple smartphones have been losing. Also, it is noted that while Apple
cost more and is trendier than Samsung, the appeal of the Android operating system is its low
cost compared to Apple products (Rapoza, 2013)
The Apple iOS tier 2 non-customers are those that do not like the brand as a whole. The
average smartphone owner uses about 27 apps each month (Brustien, 2014). Tier 2 non
customers understand that if they were to switch to an iOS, all of their applications arent going
with them.

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Other tier 2 non-customers are those who believe Apple products are for the rich and
snobby (Crook, 2012). These tier 2 non-customers arent willing to pay for the product. They
do not see anything wrong with their current smartphone. There is also a chance that this tier
contains loyalist of different brands, namely Apples fierce competitor, Samsung. Samsungs
products carry the Android operating system. This group of non-customers feels as if they are
getting everything plus more with the Android operating system, which they cannot identify with
at all. (Rapoza, 2013)

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References
Apple (2014). IOS 8. Retrieved from http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4992
Beach, R. (2014). Customer experience the apple way. Retrieved from
http://www.theitsmreview.com/2014/01/customer-experience-apple/
Blue Ocean Strategy, (2014). The Buyer Utility Map. Retrieved from
http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/concepts/bos-tools/becbum/

Carus, F. (2011, April 21). Apple Least Green Tech Company. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/21/apple-least-green-techcompany

Duel, Mark. "Forced to Stand for 24 Hours, Suicide Nets, Toxin Exposure and Explosions Read
More: Http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092277/Apple-Poor-workingconditions-inside-Chinese-factories-making-iPads.html#ixzz3Fx9bgQOp Follow
Us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook." Mail Online News. N.p.,
27 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
Gruman, Galen. (2014). iPhone 6 review: The little things make it a real star. Retrieved from
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2686458/smartphones/iphone-6-review-the-littlethings-make-it-a-real-star.html

Gugliotto, K. (2011). 4 ways apple can improve customer experience on the mac app store.
Retrieved

from http://www.splasmata.com/?p=1612

Eadicicco, L. (2014). How The iPhone 6's Camera Compares To The Galaxy S5, iPhone 5s, And
Moto X. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-6-vs-galaxy-s5iphone-5s-camera-2014-9?op=1#ixzz3FuDkWV5w

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Kazmucha, Allyson. (2014). iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus insurance: Should you buy AppleCare
or something else? Retrieved from http://www.imore.com/iphone-applecare-buyersguide

Kcarlson. (2014). 7 ways apple's m7 chip can improve customer experience. Retrieved from
http://www.optaros.com/insights/blog/7-ways-apples-m7-chip-canimprove-customer-

experience

Lutz, J. (2014). Apple admits products are vulnerable to hackers. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2014/02/apple-admits-productsvulnerable-to- hackers/
Parramore, L.S. (2013). 6 reasons your apple product has become very uncool. Retrieved from
http://www.alternet.org/economy/apple-not-cool
Silverstone, Alicia. "GREENWASHING: HOW ECO-FRIENDLY IS APPLE?" The Kind Life.
N.p., 01 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. http://thekindlife.com/blog/2012/08/aliciasilverstone-greenwashing-how-eco-friendly-is-apple/

T., N. (2014, September 9). The iPhone evolution: Here's how Apple's iconic smartphone
improved over the past 7 years. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from
http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-iPhone-evolution-heres-how-Applesiconic-smartphone-improved-over-the-past-7-years_id60495

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Appendix A
Strategy Canvas

Strategy Canvas
Axis Title

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Platform
Design

Speed

Camera

Products

Features
& Apps

Apples IOS

10

Android

10

Windows

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Voice
Customer
Command Support IT

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Strategy Canvas
0

10

12

Platform Design
Speed
Camera
Products
Features & Apps
Voice Command
Customer Support IT
Customer
Voice Features &
Products
Support IT Command
Apps
Apples IOS
5
10
9
7

Camera

Speed

Platform
Design
8

Android

10

Windows

Appendix B
Buyer Utility Map
Apple iOS
Utilities
Customer
Productivity
Simplicity
Convenience
Risk
Fun and Image
Environ. friendliness

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Buyer Experience
Purchase

Delivery

Use

Supplements

Maintenance

Disposal

X
X
X
X
X
X

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