Essay: Comparing iPhone, Google, and Samsung Phones in the Business to Consumer Market

More specifically, iPhones are one of their notorious product, if you don’t have an iPhone you at least know what it is. IPhones serve both the business to consumer and the business to business markets, iPhones can be sold through Apple, or phone service companies like AT&T and Verizon, or they can also be sold at places like Target or Best Buy, this paper focuses mainly on the business to consumer market and compare iPhones to both Google phones and Samsung Galaxy phones.
IPhone’s are a huge product and they are a product that most of the public, both consumers and businesses have become reliant on as technology advances. Strengths of the iPhone include; brand equity, customer loyalty, software innovation and apple pay. Comparatively, Samsung smartphones strengths include, high research and development expenditure and design capabilities (they have designed ecologically friendly products). Strengths of the Google phone would include, the camera and the performance. Apple is one of the most well-known brands in in the world, they have a reputation for extremely high quality and reliable products and people are more likely to move to a brand/stick with a brand that they have heard of and that they trust. Comparatively, Samsung smartphones strengths include, high research and development expenditure and design capabilities (they have designed ecologically friendly products). Strengths of the Google phone would include, the camera and the performance. Another great strength that the iPhone offers is new software innovations “iOS 12 is designed to make your iPhone and iPad experience even faster, more responsive, and more delightful.” (Apple website). The world is not only becoming more technology dependent, but it is also becoming more impatient. No one wants to wait in line or wait for slow internet and with these new software updates it is making for a better experience for the consumer. Both Google phones and Samsung Galaxy phones run on a google android operating system and iPhones run on iOS systems. Whether it is an iPhone, Google or Samsung Galaxy Phone, they run better when their operating systems are up to date. According to an article by Simon Hill, “Almost 80 percent of all iOS devices are now running the latest version. By contrast, we don’t know how many Android devices are running the latest Android 9.0 Pie, but it’s a very small percentage of the total.” This shows that the iPhone is updated much more than the other operating systems causing for a faster and better experience with their phones. This is appealing to customers because customers want a good experience with their phones and the iPhone is shown to be updated more often compared to the other system. Lastly, a huge strength for iPhones is the ability for apple pay. According to an article by MIT, Robert Hof Stated “transactions that once brought out the wallet are disappearing into the phone, where they are faster and should be more secure. You can use your existing credit card accounts, but you never have to pull out the physical cards.” Many people are turning to their phones for payments and is making it much easier and more secure to do so. In comparison to Google and Samsung, Samsung currently does not have its own wallet, however, both google, and Samsung can use google pay on their phones and is very similar to apple pay.
The iPhone, Google phone and Samsung Galaxy also have their weaknesses. Some weaknesses of the iPhone include, their high pricing, variety and the removal of the headphone jack. Compared to both Samsung and the Google phone, iPhone are outrageously high priced, and this can be a big turn off to consumers. Although customers are happy to pay more for better quality products, they are also going to be more likely to switch to companies that sell phones of similar quality but cost a lot less. The latest version of a Samsung Galaxy phone costs about $900, compared to the newest iPhone costing anywhere from $1,099 to $1,400 depending on how much storage you would like your phone to have. Because the iPhone is so expensive, it could cause people to move over to Samsung or Google just based on price. The iPhone is very consistent, but this could also be a weakness due to no variety. Consistency may is good for some people but for people who like a little more variety in their phones may switch over to competitors like the Samsung phones or the google phones. The iPhone has also removed its headphone jacks in all new iPhones past the iPhone 6. This has caused a bit of an upset with consumers in many ways. Consumers who play their phones through jacks in their car now have to spend more money on an adapter that you can only get through apple and they need to buy new headphones. This is something that customers would rather not have to spend extra money on when they just spent so much on the phone itself.
The iPhone is compared to none when it comes to their opportunities in the market. Opportunities of the iPhone include their accessories, dependency on technology and their payment options. The iPhone is making so many accessories that only compatible with iPhones, including things like air pods, apple watches, mac computers, etc. Why this is a good opportunity for the iPhone is that if you have already invested in these other products you are going to be much more likely stick with iPhones so they don’t have to spend more on other products to sync with different phones. Another opportunity, this one actually applies to all the competing companies, is dependency on technology. The world is becoming so revolved around technology that newer technology is a way to keep consumers involved and interested in your company. As long as the iPhone can start creating new innovations in their software they can stay ahead of the game.
The iPhone also has certain threats in the market. These threats include, the Android phones, many people are seeing that Samsung and Google are of comparable quality, cheaper priced competition, and their innovations becoming obsolete. Samsung and Google phones are immensely cheaper than the iPhones, this can be a threat due to consumers taking the cheaper competition and still have a phone of good quality. In regard to innovations becoming obsolete, apple has not come out with any top-notch innovations in the past few years and consumers expect new and exciting things in their technology. If they continue to stay back in this innovation market, it may become a problem for them in the future, especially with its competitors coming up with new ideas.
The iPhone does a very good job of market segmentation, according to the Marketing Plan Handbook, “market segmentation is the process of grouping customers within a market according to similar needs, habits, or attitudes that can be addressed through marketing.” The iPhone does this in many ways including their online and on TV ads and commercials. I have included a commercial that targets college students: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjZ16zVyPXgAhUOq4MKHfD9A9MQtwIIKjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dd8LJXcQhD0k&usg=AOvVaw1jXGH8g4PCG_uNqBZxuqg- This commercial is able to target them by showing active people running through the streets with a catchy tune to go with it. The iPhones targets college students by making their products light (easy to carry), easy for note taking and recording and they are better for organization as well, which is extremely important within the college world. Not only that but the iPhone makes it incredibly easy to sync all of the devices and as a college student, it makes it a lot easier to communicate with other devices and be able to access your notes and be able to share those notes and ideas with other classmates and people with similar needs. In terms of placing their iPhones, Apple uses multichannel marketing to place their products. Because Apple has such a large variety of customers it is important that they market on multiple channels so they can have reach to them. They channel to the TV for commercials and to phones and on the internet, but they also channel to retailers and distributors as well. They use intensive distribution in order to get “maximum market coverage.”
Apple iPhones use a skim pricing strategy to sell to their markets. This is because it is a system that Apple already has in play. When we look at iPhones, Apple already has the one up on other companies based on its brand recognition, everyone knows apple and most Americans own Apple products. Apple sets its prices high because they promote the concept of better quality for higher prices. They would never need to use the penetration pricing because they are already such an established brand that this strategy would actually reduce its profits in the long run. They are nearly doubling their profits and by using their skim pricing strategy, they can keep upping the price when new technology comes out, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean spending more to actually make the product. The skim pricing to the Apple iPhones is a smart strategy that they use because they are already established in the market for their good quality products and they have brand recognition on their side as well. Apple will continue to profit off of this strategy in the long run because it will help take them through the process of growth, maturity and decline and old products become outdated and as new products and technologies advance. Comparing this to Google and Samsung, they both use a cost-based pricing strategy whereas, Apple uses a value-based strategy to price its iPhones.
There are many types of promotion being used by Apple. In terms of advertising they have many ways they do it, they put out commercials on multiple channels and they have internet ads as well that promote their phones, this is in order to reach a larger audience. In terms of their sales promotion, a new service that they offer is their iPhone return policy. Apple has come up with a service that promotes people to bring in their old iPhones in order to get a discounted rate for a new phone. This is a good strategy because it rewards people for having iPhones and rewards them for getting new ones by rewarding repeat purchases. In terms of public relations, Apple strives to have a good reputation with its customers and partners. Apple sends out mass emails to everyone who have iPhones and Apple products, these emails go out to show what new products and services that Apple is offering. This is important because the emails give you the one click ability to go to the product you like and it promotes immediate sales. In terms of personal selling, there are many platforms that apple uses to do this. If you are having issues with your iPhone, you can make direct appointments with sales people and they are able to help sell more products.
Apple’s marketing plans are continuously working very well. The apple stock continues to remain stable in the market and especially over the last year. According to an article by Daniel Sparks, “Apple stock crushed the overall market over the last 12 months, with shares rising 24% (including the stock’s post-earnings sell-off last week). During this same time frame, the S&P 500 gained only 6%. As investors look back over Apple’s strong performance recently, here are seven impressive metrics from the fiscal year.” This shows that Apple continues to soar as a top company in the market and according to CNN, “The 32 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Apple Inc have a median target of 175.00, with a high estimate of 245.00 and a low estimate of 140.00. The median estimate represents a +1.21% increase from the last price of 172.91.” This shows that Apple will continue to grow through 2019 and will remain one of the stocks to stay invested in.