Marketing Assignment

Amit Kumar Behera (1011506)

Q 1} Select a product which was basically unknown or underutilized by consumers 25 years ago? Ans: The apples iPod was an underutilized product before 25 years by consumers. The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful, so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive. The product was developed in less than one year and unveiled on October 23, 2001. Jobs announced it as a Maccompatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket. Apple did not develop the iPod software entirely in-house, instead using Portal Player's reference platform based on two ARM cores. The platform had rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. Portal Player had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones. Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs. As development progressed, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel. Starting with the iPod mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans a font similar to Apple's corporate font, Myriad. iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal meant to evoke a combination lock. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod classic and third-generation iPod nano by changing the font to Helvetica and, in most cases, splitting the screen in half by displaying the menus on the left and album artwork, photos, or videos on the right (whichever was appropriate for the selected item). In September 2007, during a lawsuit with patent holding company Burst.com, Apple drew attention to a patent for a similar device that was developed in 1979. Kane Kramer applied for a UK patent for his design of a "plastic music box" in 1981, which he

called the IXI. He was unable to secure funding to renew the US$ 120,000 worldwide patent, so it lapsed and Kramer never profited from his idea. Q 2} Identify environmental forces that enabled the introduction and development of this product? Ans: Its hard to encapsulate just how profoundly the iPod/iTunes combination, and Apples deft management of it, has transformed our lives in the last 10 years. Perhaps the only way to truly grasp it is to have been computer/Internet/music lover in 2000.The Internet and the transition to digital have accelerated the kinds of sweeping historical, technological, and cultural transformations that used to take many decades. The transformation isnt complete yet witness the flailing of the newspaper industry over its dying model; we still havent solved getting web video to our TVs but its happening faster than ever before. The evolution of the iPod and iTunes is a microcosm of many of the sweeping changes in entertainment, business, and culture of the last decade. Though its easy to forget, the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player. In fact, Apple was widely seen as letting the MP3 player market mature before it stepped in. Though dozens of players had preceded it, from the iPods debut it was clearly the best of the bunch. Its simple interface and ease of loading music were unparalleled. That simplicity remained at the heart of the iPod even as it gained powerful features, such as the app store. It wasnt obvious that the iPod would become nearly a quarterbillion seller. At its debut, the ipod held 1,000 songs and only worked on the Mac. Some dismissed the device, deeming it another Apple niche product. Thats another major change wrought by the iPod/iTunes axis: Apple is now a major cultural and financial player. Its market capitalization is within $10 billion of Google and, at this writing, its stock is trading nearly 700% higher than Microsofts. In 2001, MP3 players were the definition of an early-adopter techie product. Now, with him or her seemingly in every pocket or bag, the stark contrast between then and now becomes apparent. Before the iPod, music wasnt ubiquitous. After it, all entertainment is portable. As a mobile media player, the iPod laid the groundwork for PMPs and DVD players, the Kindle, and many other mobile devices. When the decade began, iTunes existed, but not as we know it today. It started life as Sound Jam MP. Apple bought it in 2000 and rechristened it iTunes in 2001.The original iTunes didnt transfer music to ipod (which didnt exist yet) and didnt sell music downloads. It simply ripped CDs and played MP3s.In 2000, there was no major online stoes foe downloadable music. But there was a dream: a jukebox of

infinite depth, hosted on the Internet, that anyone could access at any time to hear any song ever recorded. That dream was widely shared, and many companies tried to realize it. Some Napster and MP3.com, most notably came close, but most failed under the weight of music-industry lawsuits. In the vacuum left for want of a legal option, piracy thrived (though it might not have been apparent then, this may well have doomed the music industry as weve known it). Then came the I tune store. It debuted in 2003, with major and indie label content, fair prices - $0.99 for a song, $9.99 for most albums and a not-unreasonable digital rights management scheme. Just how hungry consumers were for this can be summed up in one statistic: in just eight years, iTunes went from an upstart digital music store to the worlds largest music retailer.The worlds largest. Not the largest online, the largest anywhere. It flourished while consumers bought more music than maybe ever before and major music stores Tower Records, comes to mind went out of business. Theres hardly a better metaphor for the shift from physical to digital in this decade than that. To put an even finer point on it, Apple is now a key player in the music industry, given the power of iTunes as a promotion and distribution channel.ITunes also changed how we interact with media. Now we expect to get the media we want whenever we want it. TV shows is now on our schedule, any music can be had for a few mouse clicks and $0.99. ITunes, didnt create them, but it helped popularize podcasts; now theyre an integral part of the media landscape. These days, people are just as likely to download music as buy a CD (many have given up physical music entirely; if I cant get something at iTunes or emusic,I dont get it at all), and this transition is drastically changing business. Its lead to successful regional music chains like Newbury Comics being convinced that their existence is threatened despite having 28 stores throughout New England). ITunes along with Napster at the start of the decade and My Space in the middle trained a generation of music lovers that the Internet is the first, and often only, place to go for music. As so many other industries affected by the switch to digital have learned, theres no going back. Q 3} How has the product changed our culture? Ans: The iPod has changed our culture in various ways. The tendency of people to listen to their own music, their is a reduced sense of shared experience of music. For example it may reduce the tendency to listen to radio or a shared concert. In some instances the ipod may have promoted people to 'steal' music via file sharing systems. This may have an impact on the way music is produce. Having less shared musical experiences

may lead to a more individualistic based society rather than a sharing environment where people feel responsible for each other. The question could also be considered about the value of an ipod to society, how does it help or hinder society. There is some evidence to suggest that listening to music too loudly with headphones may harm or diminish your hearing. This may lead to a need to spend money on hearing health in the future. Does society want to do this? Can it afford it? The iPod has become both a status symbol and a symbol of conformance. For those who see the iPod as special, it is a status symbol, and they want one. For those who see it as a common gadget many others have, they don't want one, they are likely to get a player from a rival company. With the launch of the Apple iPod in 2001, came a revolutionary product that completely wiped out its predecessor music players like the Sony Walkman series. Apple invented a new category of music players. The ability to put your player in your pocket and listen to music while on the go changed the way people interacted with their music players. Apples CEO, Steve Jobs commented during the official launch of the iPod by saying, With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again. It has been 10 years since the launch of the first generation of iPods. They have gone a long way and have seen considerable changes in both hardware, software and design parameters. We take a look a look at exactly how much impact has the iPod made on society in general and how much the consumer electronics industry has been affected. iPods integrated software, iTunes is currently a multibillion dollar online music store and database consisting of all kinds of record labels, music, tones, sound effects, and even video content imaginable. iTunes has pretty much destroyed the traditional music industry but if you look at it from a different perspective, it also has allowed greater copyright protection and a high quality music platform. One can argue that the iPod would be useless without the iTunes platform. The iPod can also be credited to impact the music industry shift from CD to MP3 format, which is not used as the default standard for music songs. Large number of businesses in our society have profited thanks to the iPod and its extensive support for extra items along with the core product. Known as iPeripherals in the Apple fan base community, the collection of accessories include headphones, speakers, car sound kits, cases, skins and covers etc. Further integration with iPhone has created a strong and established system of upgrades and unique offerings. The compatibility feature is also very important, because it allows users to use their accessories with other Apple products like the iPad and iPhone. With the advent of the iPod (and similar the iPhone and the iPad), consumers opinion in our society about the company changed as a whole. Apple was considered to be a computer manufacturing company, famous for Macintosh computers. The Macintosh, despite its success and

popularity was always going to be a niche product. The iPod was different. It was for everyone in the society. Music is for everyone. The iPod is one of the many reasons Apple now is so widely known across the World. The iPods design is iconic. It looks like something taken right from a futuristic Sci-Fi movie. It is simple, sleek and at the same time sophisticated. 10 years on, the original design still looks as something very fresh and modern. One can even say that the design of the iPod is what inspired the company to create the iPhone and iPad. The impact of the simple concept of the iPod can be seen integrated into other Apple products. Apple is still going on strong with its iPod models, with the iPod touch being as its latest offering. However the question remains regarding its existence 10 years on. How long will it be able to distinguish itself from the iPhone and iPad before completely vanishing into oblivion? Only time will tell. Q 4} Discuss a gender sensitive product that has evolved over time from being a typical male purchase to also being purchased by females or vice versa. Ans:LOTION A lotion is a low- to medium-viscosity, topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin. By contrast, creams and gels have higher viscosity.Lotions are usually applied to external skin with bare hands, a clean cloth, cotton wool or gauze. Many lotions, especially hand creams and face cream are formulated not as a medicine delivery system, but simply to smooth, re-hydrate, and soften the skin. These are particularly popular with the aging and aged demographic groups, and in the case of face usage, can also be classified as a cosmetic in many cases, and may contain fragrances.Most lotions are oil-in-water emulsions using a substance such as centenary to keep the emulsion together, but waterin-oil lotions are also formulated. The key components of a skin care lotion, cream or gel emulsion (that is mixtures of oil and water) are the aqueous and oily phases, an emergent to prevent separation of these two phases, and, if used, the drug substance or substances. A wide variety of other ingredients such as fragrances, glycerol, petroleum jelly, dyes, preservatives, proteins and stabilizing agents are commonly added to lotions. It is not unusual for the same drug ingredient to be formulated into a lotion, cream and ointment. Creams are the most convenient of the three but are inappropriate for application to regions of hairy skin such as the scalp, while a lotion is less viscous and may be readily applied to these areas (many medicated shampoos are in fact lotions). Historically, lotions also had an advantage in that they may be

spread thinly compared to a cream or ointment and may economically cover a large area of skin, but product research has steadily eroded this distinction. Non-comedogenic lotions are recommended for use on acne prone skin.