Most customers of Apple are just below the baby boomer generation with users as young as toddlers. Some parents may allow their toddler’s to use applications on their Ipads for their toddlers to learn and play games. Other demographics include all different races and both males and females. Apple prides themselves with easy to user consumer friendly technological products that people of all ages can use. Normally electronic products are focused towards the males however the Apple products have a significant female customer base as well.
Apple products are normally sold in high income countries due to the high cost of the products. Apple products are not necessity products by any means and therefore apple customers have discretionary income to buy luxury goods such as the products that Apple offers. However, a music and video system such as Itunes may be more affordable for some consumers that use computers, phones, and tablets from other companies yet they can still download media from the Apple Itunes company. Middle class families in the U.S. can own Apple products but it may be a luxury item that the household saves for.
Apple, as a technology based company naturally attracts customers that are looking for high quality up to date products that fit in with society yet are customizable and satisfy all of their customers’ needs. Apple’s Itune’s has legal rights to protect their media through patents and other legal rights that protect their electronic products. There is a current lawsuit between Samsung and Apple in which Apple claims that “the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s flagship smartphone violates five of its patents” (Zeman 2013). Therefore, this shows that Apple takes their patent and products very seriously and will follow up with a lawsuit if any of their competitors take any of their legal rights. Apple collaborates with many different companies in order to optimize their services and products including Microsoft. An Apple employee noted that “the company will now be organized by function- marketing, legal, business development etc.—with more collaboration across divisions” regarding Microsoft (Shaer, 2013). Apple also works with companies regarding the development of applications for their Iphone and Ipad products. There are many competitors of Apple such as manufacturers of PCs, tablets, cell phones, computer monitors, TVs, and many other types of electronics. These companies may consider Apple their largest competition but the one disadvantage that Apple has over other products is their higher price for their premium products. Due to the amount of competition it is very important that Apple continues update their products and marketing in order to remain in the market. Apple products can be purchased directly through Apple through the telephone, internet, or in anyone of their own Apple retail stores that are commonly found in shopping malls. The most popular products are also found in department stores, electronic stores, and even certain Apple vending machines. Due to all of the supplier locations, Apple has made it easy and convenient for their customers to access their products, services, and assistance. Stakeholders of the company include the employees, stockholders, and customers. If there is any major change or re-organization of the company the employees will be impacted and this may potential affect the stock prices which will affect the stockholders whom are essentially the owners of the company. The Apple stock at the time this paper is being written is at $502.36 a share which is very high and this truly shows that value that shareholders have for this company. The customers are stakeholders in the company because all of the managerial decisions will trickle down to the product and price. As of January 2013, there were executive changes at Apple that created drama for people in the tech press field. “The man responsible for much of Apple’s hardware design since 1996, Jonathan Ive is now in charge of design of both software and hardware” stated Dan Moren, 2013. The late Steve Jobs was Apple’s chief executive officer that had a major influence on the startup of the company and the success of the company. This became the molding for the company’s culture today which has been influencing our pop culture for more than a decade. The company continues their innovation and delivers their premium products and assistance to their customers regardless of the organizational changes that have been taking place within the company.
References:
Zeman, E. (2013). Apple adds samsung 's galaxy S4 to lawsuit. Informationweek - Online, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1353775900?accountid=6579
Shaer, M. (2013, Jul 11). With 'one microsoft, ' CEO ballmer sees sweeping reorganization of microsoft ranks. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1399442335?accountid=6579
Moren, D. (2013, 01). Changes at the top. Macworld, 30, 5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1270547861?accountid=6579
References: Zeman, E. (2013). Apple adds samsung 's galaxy S4 to lawsuit. Informationweek - Online, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1353775900?accountid=6579 Shaer, M. (2013, Jul 11). With 'one microsoft, ' CEO ballmer sees sweeping reorganization of microsoft ranks. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1399442335?accountid=6579 Moren, D. (2013, 01). Changes at the top. Macworld, 30, 5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/1270547861?accountid=6579
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