THE BEGINNING

Apple Computer

Company was founded

on April 1, 1976, by

Steve Jobs, Steve

Wozniak and Ronald

Wayne

The Company’s first product was the

Apple I, which went on sale in July

1976 and was market-priced at

$666.66

Apple Computer, Inc. Was incorporated on

January 3, 1977, without Wayne.

Multimillionaire Mike Markkula

provided essential business

expertise and funding of $250,000

during the incorporation of Apple.

The Apple II was introduced on

April 16, 1977. It’s first killer app

“VisiCalc”, a spreadsheet

program, gave home users an

additional reason to buy an

Apple II

The company introduced the Apple III

in 1980 in an attempt to compete with

IBM and Microsoft , but failed due to

“100 percent hardware failures”

according to Wozniak.

This technical

problem made

marketing the

computer difficult.

On a visit to

Xerox PARC in

1979

Jobs and others

saw the Xerox

Alto.

Jobs was immediately

convinced that the

graphical user interface

(GUI) was the future and

this began the development

of Apple Lisa

On December 12, 1980, Apple went public at $22 per share,

generating more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor

Company in 1956 and immediately creating 300 millionaires

1984-91: SUCCESS WITH MACINTOSH

Lisa first commercial personal

computer with a GUI, but a

failure.

Apple launched Macintosh, the

first PC sold without a

programming language.

It’s debut, signified by 1984, a

$1.5 million television

commercial, hailed as a

watershed event for Apple’s

success.

APPLE VS IBM+MICROSOFT :

THE STRUGGLE

The GUI was a huge

success, until a year later, a

small company

“MICROSOFT”, shipped it’s

own GUI software to IBM,

which resulted in their

dominance over market

IBM, their direct competition,

started producing cheaper

PC, along with power

struggle within the company

and some major product

flops, Apple was led to a

major down flop over the

years.

Also, Jobs

resigned from the

company

ROLE OF STEVE JOBS:

REBIRTH OF APPLE

Jobs was brought by the then CEO Gil Amelio, as an advisor which went on to become a major game changer for the company.

Several acquisitions of software companies by Apple and major game changing ideas brought back the company from near bankruptcy.

PRODUCTS

Macintosh

iPod

iPhone

iPad

Apple Watch

Apple TV

In 2001, Apple

opened it’s first

official eponymous

retail stores in

Virginia and

California, marking

it’s independence

form other retailers

Same year,

Apple’s iPod was

launched.

It was an instant

hit.

Their silhouette ads did what Apple does best : it

created an iconic image.

Consumers immediately came to communicate

Apple and iPod

In 2007, Jobs announced that Apple Computer, Inc. would

thereafter be known as “Apple Inc.” , emphasising their

expansion in production of consumer electronics – iPhone,

Apple TV, iPod and iPad products

Marketing Lessons from

Apple Inc.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Customers and prospects don’t need complex marketing

campaigns overwhelming them with information.

They make their marketing as simple as possible.

Basically, they strip down to bare minimum, and display

simple graphics to translate their message.

CREATE EXPERIENCES, NOT JUST PRODUCTS

Apple adds sensory dimensions to their products.

By creating an emotional bond to their customers, they bring customer loyalty.

Usage of visuals have always been a major part of their advertisements.

The company appeal to the emotions by showing happy people using their products.

PRODUCT PLACEMENTApple has the budget to get its devices on television shows and movies,

but it's fine to start smaller too.

They let the people buy their products and the influencers share the

product details and show their followers how beneficial it is, and thus

seed is planted.

MYSTIQUE

Develop an aura of mystery around what you are doing.

Keep the products under the wrap.

The big unveiling of Apple products are nowadays a major long awaited event.

Sometimes, Apple leak some of the info to start rumours about their products and stir up the audience.

Even now, till date, the competition

has not been able to figure out

completely how Apple has

connected to their consumers.

DISCLAIMERCreated by Manish Gandhi, BIT Mesra, during a marketing

internship by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

See http://www.IIMInternship.com.