Marketing Management Of Apple IPhone: Consumer Perception And Motivation

Company

Discuss about the Marketing Management Apple iPhone.

Mobile users in the modern world prefer handsets with converged devices that can handle multiple functions. Entertainment has become the determining factor because the young or youthful customers, especially in college want mobile phones that are loaded with the best features and affordable (Crogue, 2016). The Apple iPhone contains most of these features that many customers demand thus making this product line to meet their expectations. Interestingly, the product remains the mostly publicised smartphone model in recent memory. Indisputably, the brand appears attractive to teens and they are willing to own it. Unfortunately, Apple is unlikely to offer discount phones thus making it an expensive status symbol. The iPhone is a reputable brand in the mobile world, with its designs and applications being the primary factors, which attract customers towards it. Given the significance of Apple in the market, the article discusses motivation and consumer perception theory determines the buyers’ purchasing decision of iPhone.

Apple is a leading multinational technology company that is headquartered in Cupertino. The American multinational company continues to design, develop, and sell computer software, consumer electronics, and online services. The company’s most popular hardware products are varied and they include the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod, the Apple TV, the Apple Watch, and the Mac (Linzmayer, 1999). The firm also develops and designs software including the iTunes, the Safari, the iOS and macOS operating systems. It has also focused on online services such as the Mac App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and the iOS App Store. Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976 as an organization engaged in developing and selling personal computers (Taylor, 2016). By 1977, the founders incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. and in 2007, the company was renamed it Apple Inc. The changes reflect the firm’s focuses on consumer electronics (Dillet, 2016).

By revenue and total assets, this company is the largest information technology (Chen, 2015). According to Dent (2015), Apple is the second-largest company involved in mobile phone manufacturers. The organization enjoys global annual revenue of about $233 billion in 2015. It gas over one billion actively products around the world and an indisputable brand loyalty (Dillet, 2016).

Apple iPhone

The Apple iPhone is a product line that is multimedia- and internet-enabled smartphones that Apple has specialized in marketing. On January 9^th, 2007, Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone and released it six months later (Dent, 2015). An iPhone has the best features including Wi-Fi, multi-touch screen, 3G, web-browsing, multiplayer, video camera, and other applications. Importantly, these applications have diverse functions such as social networking, games, navigation, and GPS. What makes this product unique is its ability to work on an operating system iOS (Rahmani, Emamisaleh, & Yadegari, 2015). Today, there are eight generations of this phone models including iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus. Currently, the company has discontinued the first model- iPhone.

Product

In India, the company launched Apple iPhone in 2008 in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad through Airtel and Vodafone as its primary carriers. Subsequently, Apple rolled out this product to others cities across India. Interestingly, Airtel and Vodafone tied up with the leading Indian banks including Axis bank and ICICI bank to offer loans for its targeted customers willing to acquire the iPhone (Rahmani et al., 2015). The company has continued to respond to the needs of the targeted customers by improving its product line. It has also emerged that the company is developing a power management system that provide new features such as estimating the length of time the individual is away from any power source. To this effect, this product can modify the energy usage and detect functions that would adjust to the charging rates (Okonkwo, 2009). In fact, the designers of the organization have viewed iPhone as its ethos of life-changing and high-quality products. This product is comparatively expensive due to intensive efforts that company uses in making it.

By 2014, the company introduced the new generation of iPhone 6 and 6-Plus with screen sizes of about 4-inches as reported by (Sukernik, 2015). In 2015, the company further introduced improved versions of these products as it introduced 3D Touch with rear camera and FaceTome camera (Rahmani et al., 2015). The 2016 was a good for the company as it launched the iPhone SE with a 4-inch size and internal hardware. In the same year, the company introduced the iPhone 7 and 7-Plus bearing improved systems, water resistance, graphic performance, and rear dual-camera systems. These features have attracted its customer base.

Despite a considerable response to the customer needs, the iPhone is yet to capture the major smartphones markets, especially in India because it competes with established brands in this market. By 2011, the company shipped about 62000 iPhones thus making it account for about 2.6 percent the country’s smartphones shipments (Rahmani et al., 2015). This is lower than the market share occupied by Samsung, RIM, and Nokia. In fact, Apple appears to lose its Indian market share as the largest smartphone manufacturer. The current active subscribers in this market stands at 602 million but continued to struggle to succeed in the Indian market because of competitive brands offering similar features. The company’s prices in India are higher in India than U.S. Apple’s 3G iPhone has failed to attract customers because of varied storage capacity.

Consumer

Apple uses customer-based approach to capture the interest of its customers. With this product, it targets the youth population including students and working professionals. These customers look for unique features such as sensitive touch, friendly technology, multimedia, countless applications among other features to appeal to its customer’s senses. According to the company, an iPhone is a brand name that acts as a driving force thus making the users to feel privileged to own iPhone (McGregor, 2014). Such individuals are image and status conscious, fashionable because they prefer staying stylish and changing trends. Similarly, this customer base are tech-savvy thus would wish to continuously own the latest technology. Krakow (2014) reported that the targeted customers are extrovert as they enjoy socializing and attention seekers because they always flaunt.

Lifestyle is another factor that has ensured Apple remains relevant to the market. The iPhone users seem to share common traits such as spending lavishly. They thus prefer purchasing branded products bearing lavish appeal because they indulge and socialize in gregarious operations (Sukernik, 2015). The influencers are peer groups, friends, and family members. Many users have the first-hand experience using this product, especially as belonging to friends or family members thus motivating them to purchase iPhone. In fact, many dealers rarely influence the buyers.

Motivation is the reason underlying behaviour of an individual based on the volition and willingness. According to Chartrand (n.d), intrinsic motivation is based on personal enjoyment, pleasures, or interest while the extrinsic motivation is defined by reinforced contingencies. This form of motivation is based on personal enjoyment, pleasures, and interest. It involves factors that are closely related to perceptions, interests, values, beliefs, and actions (Dent, 2015). Also, Jerome (2013) defines motivation as an inward drive that ensures an individual gets what he or she desires. Traditionally, educators have considered intrinsic motivation appears to be desirable thus resulting in the best learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation as explained by Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999).

Guay et al. (2010) held that motivation focuses on the constellation of perceptions, interests, values, beliefs, and actions that are related. Motivation involves cognitive behaviours and non-cognitive aspects. Gottfried (1990) has defined an academic motivation to be an “enjoyment of school learning of challenging, novel, and difficult tasks” (p. 525). However, Turner (1995) views motivation and cognitive engagement to be synonymous that involves the voluntary uses of regulated learning models including connection, paying attention, monitoring, and planning.

Motivation

According to Taormina and Gao (2013), the needs of individuals could be recurring including the physiological needs of hunger has seen people take breakfast and gets hungry at lunchtime. Some needs could be enduring like the need for safety, clothing and shelter. King-Hill (2015) argues that needs tend to emerge at various points in a person’s life. This is evident in the school life, when an individual was attending high school, the social needs rose compared to those of the grade school. For instance, an individual had opted to grow up and enjoy dates thus promoting such an individual to purchase certain electronic devices and clothing. However, after high school, people would think of working station and pursue professional qualifications to fulfil esteem. Therefore, the self-actualization of Maslow’s state is inevitable.

For the marketing professionals, Maslow’s hierarchy is practical (Kaur, 2013). For example, the marketer always value the needs of customers thus ensures the customers feel safe and secure. During the recent economic turmoil, the automobile market shrunk as the sales dropped sharply exempt for the Hyundai vehicles. The Hyundai company introduced a campaign that assured its customers they could return their products if they could fail to make payments without affecting their credits. The competitors followed suit by offering a similar program to beat Hyundai (Jares, 2010). Similarly, many banks offered worry-free mortgages to motivate the homebuyers. For example, the First Mortgage Corp offered its customers mortgage payments of about $500 for six months immediately they were fired. The Maslow hierarchy needs focuses on different motivations including physiological, self-actualization, esteem, belongingness, and safety-security (Taormina & Gao, 2013).

Consumer value remains a concept that has continued to attract the attention of various scholars and marketing scholars. According to Crogue (2016), consumer perception is associated with consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour is a rational behaviour that helps consumers to show towards items while purchasing. It appears to be a mixture of social, economic, and psychological anthropological situations. On the other hand, perception shows how customers recognize and interpret stimuli. With perception of quality, it becomes possible to determine the product choice (Crogue, 2016). Mantone (2009) also define perception as the first impression that a person draw based on selection and interpretation in forming a meaningful picture. To this effect, consumer perception influences the level of satisfaction of customers and their usage and buying decisions (Meyer, 2015).

Consumer perception focuses on the sensory perception, marketing, and marketing concepts (Meyer, 2015). this sensory perception considers how human process and perceive sensory stimuli using the five senses. It pertains to how customers form opinions regarding the merchandise and companies they provide. Indisputably, companies and merchants use perception theory in determining how consumers perceive them. They also use the theory to develop advertising and marketing strategies to help retain current customers and attract new customers. With self-perception, it has been possible to explain how customers develop and understand the motivations behind their behaviours. According to Wiles (2010), self-perception relates to motivations and values thus drive buying behaviour thus forming an important factor of consumer perception. For example, Mantone (2009) addressed how self-perception is shaping consumer’s buying behaviour.

Perception focuses on the interpretation of the world around an individual’s brand. Ries (2009) argues that stimuli seem to affect people’s different senses including touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste. in most cases, how customers combine these senses is critical. For instance, consumers can be blindfolded and order for a new brand of clear beverage. Ries (2009) believes that the product tasted regularly. However, when the customer’s blindfold came off, they realized that such a drink was watery (Ries, 2009). Jares (2010) maintains that marketing professionals use perceptive approaches to attract customers. In the modern business environment, consumers are exposed to various marketing strategies from different angles including the internet, magazines, radio, and television. In most cases, customers are exposed to over three thousands advertisements daily (Lasn, 1999). The customers also surf the internet, check their cell phones, and watch televisions thus receive information relating to the new iPhone generation.

It has also emerged that many customers are perceptive to advertising. to this effect, companies such as Apple use selective perception to filter out information to meet the expectations of clients (Chartrand, n.d). With a suit of armour, it is possible to filter unnecessary information to achieve selective retention. For example, iPhone has benefited from repetitive commercials Dahl, Frankenberger, and Manchanda (2003) found that shock advertising work to increase attention and influence behaviours among the targeted customers, especially the university students. Perception determines whether an individual goes for a product or not. However, given the positive brand image of iPhone, the customers’ perceptions remain positive thus influence their purchasing behaviour.

Apple has succeeded in its marketing by investing in consumer behaviours. Initially, Apple and Steve Jobs never conducted consumer research in developing the products, however, the consumer behaviour is critical in determining marketing thus defining the  its ultimate success. for instance, when a consumer such as a family friend has purchased a product, the organization advantage to gain significant insight into what drives purchasing behaviour (Mantone, 2009). The Apple brand logo has been aligned with the founder’s direction. the new logo repositioned it effectively to capture the minds and attention of customers thus modifies it in creating effective consumers. The Apple monochromatic logo has made consumers creative thus stimulate the brain upon being exposed to the logo. The company undertakes an amazing job thus leverage the brand assets because it has introduced the brand messages in its communication channels and products.

The cognitive systems have focused on performing mental processes such as evaluating, understanding, planning, thinking, and deciding. Cognition focuses on consumer’s meanings, knowledge, and beliefs relating to Apple. it depends on retained memory and experience in determining the cognitive system. According to Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra (2006), the feelings, mood, emotions, and evaluations of the system relates to the cognitive system thus affecting beliefs, meanings, and knowledge. Indisputably, the cognitive systems play a major function in influencing the purchasing behaviour. It considers the interpretation and process interpretations thus execute cognitive activities. According to Constantinides (2006), the decision-making process of consumers consists on cognitive processes such as integration, interpretation of knowledge thus retrieve product knowledge in the integration process. Studies indicate that developing effective marketing strategies are relevant to the audience needs. It is important to understand how individuals interpret marketing strategies, activate product knowledge, and integrate knowledge from stored memory thus enhance the integration process. Apple iPhone uses the market insights in marketing its products thus retain competitive edge in the market. In most cases, Apple iPhone uses cognition to understand its target audience.

Apple iPhone values cognition-based strategy thus creating product that focuses on developing a simple design, eye-catching, and use complex technologies thus benefiting consumers (McGregor, 2014). Apple has positioned products by emphasizing innovations and communicates differentiated benefits. Apple has used the best methods in communicating with clients thus creates confidence, trusts, and shared beliefs thus inspire consumers to make purchase. With its marketing strategies, consumers can create confidence thus motivate customers to purchase quality products. The shared beliefs between consumer and Apple are positive products are critical in creating brand in the consumer’s mind (Sorescu, Frambach, Singh, Rangaswamyd, & Bridges, 2011).

Targeted market that includes students and business people aspire and value this market because of their perception and self-actualization attributed to the brand. For example, the company pay attention to premium charges because the firm believes iPhone is well engineered and effective thus benefits customers beyond the reproach. At the same time, other customers have felt the presence of reality distortion effect around this brand. To the critics, other users view Apple iPhone as bugs. The iPhone is branded as premium and exclusive thus allows customers to buy it in monthly instalments. the manufacturer has made the targeted customers believe that the results are self-actualizing. With iPhone, the business people, teenagers and college students think differently as expressed in the firm’s advertisements (McGregor, 2014).

The manufacturers including Apple have exploited the aspects of self-esteem and love as part of creating a desire in their customers. the company has built the Maslow’s hierarchy and created an interactive product for every layer of this model. The manufacturer has applied this model by building a pyramid in reverse thus making iPhone a genius production and giving it a sense of belonging and love (Meyer, 2015).

Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra (2006) “as a shopping orientation” define brand consciousness (p. 227) that characterises the level of consumer orientation is well known to this branded product. Customers use brand consciousness to make decisions by linking it to brand perceptions and consumers’ gender consciousness. Northen (2000) believes that consumers with high degree of consciousness hold that brands such as iPhone represent prestige or status. Besides, Liao and Wang (2009) argue that brand names have become the consumers’ language thus determine their decision-making process. These branded products are symbol of the customers’ status. The targeted customers are people whose lifestyles are exemplary and opt for fashionable products. To attain this status, they always seek solace in iPhone because they want prestige and recognizable status. It thus appeals to this segment without criticism and these potential customers would spend fortunes to acquire iPhone.

Attitude defines the feelings or mental positions that individuals develop about services, products, institutions, issues, or ideas (Alden et al., 2006). in most cases, attitudes are enduring because they depend on people’s beliefs and values thus making them hard to change. According to Northen (2000), marketers try to change customer’s attitudes towards their products.  For instance, through extensive marketing programs, companies try to ensure that customers develop positive feelings about their products. Indisputably, customer’s attitudes shifts and companies must be worry of such behaviours. For example, during the economic crisis of 2008, many customers’ attitude shifted regarding banks. The U.S government opted to bailout its major banks thus provoking the wrath of the U.S citizens (Mantone, 2009). Therefore, customers’ attitudes can determine their purchasing decisions because the decision-making process would be depend on the positive feelings about a product.

The feelings and mental position of professionals or youths are essential in justifying their buying behaviour. These groups or targeted market always value products, which satisfy their feelings. The Apple iPhone offers a positing feeling thus encourages them to buy them. Since the majority of the targeted market is fashionable and tech-savvy, they would feel comfortable with iPhone smartphones than other brands. To this effect, the organization has established loyalists.

The company has used the 4Ps marketing mix to serve the needs of its targeted customers. The four Ps including Product, Price, Place, and Promotion have helped the company to appeal to its customers thus influence their purchasing decisions as reported by Wiles (2010). Apple has used the Ps to market its iPhone App.

In any marketing project, products are critical because it contain something of value and unique in offering a competitive advantage. Apple product mix determines its business output (Wiles, 2010). The company has focused on various product lines including iPhone, iPod, Mac, iPad, Software, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. The company’s products that are available in the market confirm its strategic diversification strategy. However, its products are based on an intensive growth strategy as the organization continues to develop new products like electric vehicles that it is developing in collaboration with Tesla Motors (Wiles, 2010). To this effect, the organization has served the needs of its targeted customers. Nevertheless, the organization needs to improve and modify its iPhone App thus give it the best chances of surviving (Constantinides, 2006).

Apple iPhone app are offered at premium market prices thus makes these products unique.  Recently, the company opted to offer its iPhone App at the lowest market value of $.99 (Wiles, 2010). However, it was missing out significant aspects of profits. Nonetheless, the company needed to cheapen the value so that it can attract more customers who are loyalists and love its product. The organization needs to create a simplified version for its targeted audience before introducing an interactive version. According to Danaher, Hardie, and Putsis (2001), the App pricing is vulnerable to manipulation with in its stores. For instance, the company can lower its prices during weekends thus generate buzz and improve rankings.

Apple must review its distribution channels by compelling its developers to allow accessibility be more than a phone. For example, the organization can introduce an online portal as a second place to access the iPhone App. in the case of Foursquare; the customers can use their phones to enjoy the community experience on the website. These used would get updates (Wiles, 2010). Therefore, the company should allow its developers to build a website where customers can interact with the developers. The move will allow even the non-iPhone users to break-up creativity beyond the iPhone (Wiles, 2010).

Conclusion

The business world has become competitive as expressed in this article. Apple iPhone is a product line and brand that has attracted the attention of many customers, especially the young professionals, students, and business people. In response to their needs, the organization has segmented its market to meet their expectations. Advertising and marketing agencies have invested in determining motivations of consumers who buy its products. Interestingly, the motivations of customers vary and may depend on the themes that can facilitate marketing and manufacturing decisions. Based on the Maslow’s hierarchal of needs model, the purchasing decision depends on safety, security, needs, conscious choices, and culture. Apple has maximized these factors to offer the best product and brand thus creating loyalists in the market. Although the company’s iPhone product remains high, it offers the best quality and appeals to the lifestyle, especially for the targeted customers.

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