Individual Assignment

Introduction

On 9th January 2007, iPhone which is the combination of mobile phone, iPod and internet was introduced in MacWorld San Francisco. The product iPhone had established early product interest by consumers as it has the prefix i which closely related with Apple. Our company had produced product which had the prefix i like iPod and iTune.

The iPhone has the newest technology. It has a 3.5-inch Multi-Touch display which allows us to type, scroll and zoom in and out by using the tip of our finger. Besides, it has the advance, stable and well known operating system, OS X. This software can also be used with all other software in a regular Mac. iPhone has also an advance ambient light sensor and proximity sensor which helps to extend battery life. Moreover, it can support and display 21 languages at the same time.

Our company is going to introduce the iPhone to the Southeast Asia which consist of 10 countries. These countries are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam. There are many different culture, religions, languages and ethnic in this region. Religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christian, Confucianism and many more. Moreover, all the countries in this region were preoccupied by other countries like England, Germany, USA and many others, except Thailand.

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Swot analysis
Ex. operating system OS X and

New technology

accelerometer

Strengths

Easy to use

The multi-touch display let the user to control the iPhone with their finger

Brand name

Apple is well known for its technology innovation gadgets. The price of iPhone is higher compare to

Expensive Weaknesses Not targeted by the business people

other smart phones and the services of downloadable file are also quite costly. Business people prefer other smart phones like BlackBerry and Palm.

New market Opportunities Increase in sales

People in Southeast Asia. If business in Southeast Asia is good, the income of our company increases. There is high competition in the technology

Competitors Threats Down turn in economy

market as other IT companies can provide better smart phones. When the economy is bad, the demand fall as people prefer to save their money.

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Marketing Strategy
Product strategy
Benefits the product offer The 3.5-inch widescreen and Multi-Touch display of the iPhone made everything easy to use. We can do typing, scrolling through the entire list and zoom in and out of any section by using a finger. By using the advance QWERTY soft keyboard, we can type any numbers and symbols. It also allows us to switch between 21 international layouts with just a few tabs. The accelerometer helps us to use iPhone in portrait or landscape directions. It can detect the movement and changes the display accordingly according to the aspect ratio or control a game using our movement. The iPhone provides 3 in 1 function. It has the function of mobile phone, iPod and internet. It can allow us to contact anyone, serve the internet, send e-mail or messages, and enjoy music, photos, videos and playing games. Moreover, it also uses the most advance and useful operating system OS X.

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Certain class of users

Classes of users
High school students, undergraduate students and post-graduate students

Benefits
They can use it to search for information quickly when doing homework even when their laptop or computer is not with them.

Professionals

Notes, e-mail, messages could be saved, recorded, received and sent anywhere.

Entrepreneur

The calendar helps to organize contracts, check scheduling conflicts, review the agenda or add alerts.

Away from competitors The product is kept away from the competitors like BlackBerry and Palm especially the business target. Besides its stylish feature, the packing is used as a distinctive feature to attract customers. The product is designed in a luxurious taste and stored in a small beautiful box.

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Pricing strategies
Market skimming strategy In this strategy, the starting price is about $499 in order to get maximum revenue. At this stage, we do not know how good the demand of the market in Southeast Asia is. The people there may also do not know much about this product. Therefore, placing a higher price at the beginning is to play safe. No matter the sale is good or not, we may at least get back part of the production cost. However, when more people in this region learn and know more about the product, they will be interested, attracted and want to buy it. The demand will then increase. As the sales increases, we will gradually reduce the price. The minimum price of the product will be about $199. Moreover, the cost price has already covered all of the production cost and our company already making profit.

Marketing penetration pricing Here, we will set a lower price of $ 299 for the starting price. This is to attract a large number of buyers. If the price we set is too high, there will be more competitors. Our potential customers may prefer to buy a product which they are more familiar with as the price is almost the same or higher than competitors. Later, when the demand and sales increases and become stable, we will gradually increase the price to about $ 399. We cannot increase much of the price as our customer may find that the price is too expensive.

* (Source: Kotler et al.2005, p 302-303)

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Product mix pricing strategies

Optional product pricing We may offer product like power support crystal film with only $2. Im sure those who love their iPhone will buy this product as it protects it against scratches, dirt and dust. This product covers the entire face of iPhone. It also will not interference with touch-screen responsiveness and free of residue after removal.

Captive product pricing Well combine the stereo headset, Dock Connector to USB Cable, USB Power Adaptor, Cleaning cloth and SIM eject tool with the iPhone. These accessories are useful and important to the users. The iPhone will be useless without these tools and accessories.

Product bundle pricing Product like iPhone Bluetooth Travel cable, AirPort Composite Base Station Apple Universal Dock together with the all the compulsory product will be sold at a cheaper price. By this way, our customer may feel that the product is cheaper. Moreover, this strategy can promote the sales of the products consumer might not otherwise buy.

* (Source: Kotler et al.2005, p 303-305)

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Promotion Strategies
Advertising There are 2 way of advertising our product: media and non- media. The following are some different way to advertise our product.

television

o Sponsor for a TV program as our product will be advertised and people will come to know about our product. o We can also sponsor for events like singing competitions, sports day or even concert.

Some events o People will come to know about the product when they watch these events o This is the easiest way to let people know about iPhone Newspapers o Many people read newspaper especially those professional as they want to know how the world economy is and what is happening at that time. o We can use our full service website to introduce all the details about the iPhone. Internet o We can also advertise about the iPhone and our company in other websites

*( Source: Kotler & Armstrong 2004, p 503)

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Sales promotions There four different ways to promote our product: discount, early bird prizes, scratch cards and through contest, sweepstakes and game.

About 30% of discount is given to all customers who buy iPhone Discount within the first two weeks after launching.

For the first 20,000 customers who buy this product, a coupon of Early bird prizes $100 will be given to those who buy any other product which cost $500 and above These scratch card will allow the customers to download other Scratch cards software from the our internet

When the customers win in a contest, they can get a free iPhone. By Contests, sweepstakes, games this method, we can consider that we are testing the market by giving out free iPhone.

*( Source: Kotler & Armstrong 2004, p 509- 514)

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Distribution strategies
Franchising We can reduce all the cost and risks when opening a foreign market on its own when using this strategy. Although the franchisee agrees to follow the rules and regulations of our company, we will also face some problem like quality control. If the quality is poor it will bring bad reputation to our company and might reduce the demand.

Licensing This is a simple way for a manufacturer to enter international market. Our company does not need to spend any money distributing the iPhone but making more profit. There is also less barriers to invest on our selected region. However, the company does not give a firm tight control on the oversea company. Whenever there is any problem on the iPhone in overseas, it will not only give bad name to the product but also our company.

Exporting This is the simplest way to enter a foreign market. It involves least changes in the companys product lines, organization, investments or mission. Our company can start with indirect exporting then change to direct export. However, the transport cost is high. The environmental factors like the government, economy, social-cultural and technology of the host country is also risky. The company may also lose the products and money if any accidents happen.

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Conclusion

In order to increase the sales and promote the product effectively, steps must be taken carefully and consciously. We must also measure the pros and cons of all the strategies.

In the product strategy, we will concentrate on the benefits that the product offers and certain class of users. The high school students, undergraduate students, post-graduate students, professional and entrepreneur are the mainly targeted for getting a smart phone. If the benefits of the iPhone offer match those classes of users demand, then our sales will increase tremendously.

The market skimming strategy is a better pricing strategy compare to market penetration pricing. Although it is a bit risky to set a high price to a market which we are not familiar with, this strategy is the best way to cover the production cost. When the price is reduce, customers will think that the product is cheaper than before and are willing to buy it.

Product bundle strategy which will combine all the accessories is being the best strategy among those three. As I had mention earlier, this strategy can promote the sales of the product consumer might not buy. Moreover, the customers will prefer to buy everything at a cheaper price rather than spending extra money buying them separately.

When advertising and sales promotion comes together, it will be the best way to promote iPhone. People may know our product through the advertising but they might not be interested in it as the price is expensive. Moreover, when there is a sales promotion, people will not know about it as it is not advertised. Therefore, I would prefer to advertise through the newspaper or television and give a discount of 30% for customers during the promotion weeks. TP019076 pg10

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At last, exporting is the best distribution strategy among those three. Although this strategy is risky, we still can make profit from this new market. Licensing and franchising are not a good idea of distributing our new product as we need to look for someone who are trustworthy and understand about the iPhone and company. Otherwise, they may misunderstand the concept of the iPhone or the company that might give a bad impression to others.

Therefore, these strategies will help us to market the iPhone successfully in the market.

1470 words

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