Complete 4 page APA formatted essay: Feasibility of the Iphone.Download file to see previous pages... This study on the phone and its markets and marketing strategies, aims to understand just that.In

Complete 4 page APA formatted essay: Feasibility of the Iphone.

This study on the phone and its markets and marketing strategies, aims to understand just that.

In order to understand the above, it is important to thoroughly understand the previous launch of iPhone in the US and how the marketing strategies there transformed into sales. It is then pertinent to answer the question on how the launch in UK affected the mobile phone market. Customer behaviour and levels of customer acceptance of the product are also researched and studied here. Finally the important concepts of marketing that have pushed or prevented sales of the iphone have been covered. The proposal concludes with suggestions.

Market condition and customer behaviour: The mobile phone market in US is growing and in the third quarter of 2007, sales were seen to reach 38million units, an increase of 13% from the previous quarter. As per the NPD group, the increase of sales was noted at 47% as compared to last year. Among various smartphones, iPhone reportedly sold approximately 525,000 phones (BBC News, 2007) within the first week of sales as per the Los Angles times. Market reviews later revealed that while the phone lived up to its hyped image of providing many attractions in one package, it performed poorly in functioning as a basic phone. Dissatisfaction with other factors like battery life, camera performance and inability to play flash or Java were also reported.

Competition: The market statistics as per NPD were for third quarter as under,

Companies

Selling brands

Market share

Motorola

Motorola RAZR V3, Motorola RAZR V3m, Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m, Motorola V323i/V325i

31%

LG

LG VX8300, LG Chocolate VX8550/8500, LG VX5300

17%

Samsung

Samsung SGH-A707

16%

Nokia

11%

Sanyo

Sanyo Katana II

4%

Market condition and customer behaviour in UK: The iPhone was launched in Europe during the end of the year in a 3G version, supposedly after its poor performance in US markets as a phone. Statistics1 here reveal that 77% users do not use data services like picture and video messaging. Customer reviews for the iPhone have been both positive and negative.

Competition: European markets are dominated by Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony.

Apple and its Iphone

As per Steve Jobs, iPhone has scope to become the third main business for Apple after its iPod and Mac computer. The organization states that by the end of 2008, Apple hopes to sell ten million phones, and grab one percent share of the mobile phone market (Jobs, 2007). The iPhone combines in it a mobile phone and an iPod. With a wide screen and virtual keyboard, it has a new user interface. The instrument thus allows users to enjoy multimedia applications, Internet and much more content through its interface. The quad band phone uses GSM standards and comes with international capabilities.

Literature overview

Buzz marketing or word of mouth is ten times more effective than print or TV2 and more important today than anytime in the past (Hughes, 2004).