Launching an iphone

1. Organize and analyse the facts

* Apple was founded on April, 1st 1976 * 1977, the Apple II was introduced * 1980, the company went public * Stiff competition with IBM which introduced its own personal computer powered by MS-DOS

* 1998, introduction of iMac * 2001, introduction of the portable digital music player, the iPod * 2005, Apple first step in the business of mobile phone with Motorola * June 29th, 2007: Apple Inc launched its mobile phone, branded as iPhone in the US market (which was waited by fans) * Estimated sales from 500 000 to 1 million units in the 2 first days * Announced launch in Europe in 2007 and in Asia in 2008 * Best launch of any product thanks to branding and promotion * A cultural impact * Some competitor had better products, such as Nokia * New generations of iPhone

2. The problems/opportunities

* Highly competitive mobile phone market * Competitor with a lot of experience * Many modern technological advancements were embedded by the phones * Link to the initial success of the brand * Customers expected a lot * Very expensive

3. Formulate alternative courses of action

* Try to be different than the older models * Set an new standard * Develop a strong marketing strategy, a very focused campaign * Focus on markets

4. Evalue the alternatives

* The iPhone is a new model and much more than just a simple phone. Thus it is really an innovation, however those characteristics have to be point up to let the customer know about all these advantage. * Everybody won’t use the iPhone in the same way. Some will profit more or less of some uses offered by this product, and that depends on their job, their activities, their hobby, their age and so on. That is why it seems to be essential to develop focused marketing strategy in order to have a stronger impact. * Those