Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Apple started developing the first iPhone back in 2007, If you take the first generation of the iPhone and compare it to iPhone 7 that we have today you will see major changes that were made. The way Apple manages their product is by meeting all seven characteristics of successful product intro and these are:
- listening to the customers
- vision of future market
- obsession with producing the best product
- strong leadership
- commitment to new product development
- team approach to new development
- getting every aspect of product development right.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Apple's targeting market is as follows:
-Teenagers use iPhone 7 to socialize with friends, listen to music and go on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, twitter etc
-Business people use iPhone 7 to finish work efficiently and to communicate with clients easily
-Adults use iPhone 7 for their everyday needs such as phone calls, map directions, internet connection, documents and cameras.
Overall because of Apple's user friendly software IOS , Apple targets these consumers the most.

Ch. 15 - Marketing Communications

Apple uses print and media advertising extensively to promote its new products. For example in 2016, Apple promoted  iPhone 7 via more than 15,000 billboards in 73 cities in 25 countries. In their promotions it is mostly just the picture of the new iPhone in a big billboard. While promoting on TV, they show the new features and benefits which the new product brings, like the one with the guy taking pictures with new iPhone 7 during the rain (water resistance feature)  

Ch.10 - Product Concepts

There are some product modification for IPhone 7 compared to IPhone generation before 7, both style modification and quality modification have been made:
CPU (proccessor) has been changed from Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister on IPhone 6s to Quad-core 2.34 GHz, battery life has been changed to 2 more hours on IPhone 7, and the home button on IPhone 7 is equipped with Taptic engine, which means better experience (more smooth). Overall Apple is evolving rather than degrading

The steps in the selling process for the IPhone 7

According to Carmine Gallo of the Forbes, these are the steps Apple Sales Associates use in order to sell an IPhone 7
Step 1: Approach with a personalized, warm welcome.
Step 2: Probe politely to understand all the customer’s needs.
Step 3. Present a solution for the customer to take home today.
Step 4. Listen for and resolve issues or concerns.
Step 5. End with a fond farewell and invitation to return

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

The Apple spends a lot of money for marketing and advertising of the IPhone, In a year of 2014 alone they spent $1.2 billion and year before that they spent $1.1 billion. Every year they are spending more and more money on advertising, with every new IPhone product, the price of marketing it rises with it.

Customer service and Atmosphere of the Apple ( Located at the Oculus)

I visited the Apple store on Oculus with few of my fellow classmates, customer service was decent, mainly because there were so many free employees, when we entered the store one of the employees came up and asked if he could help us with anything. Atmosphere in the second floor was crowded compared to the first floor where there were less people. Overall staff was friendly and kept a smile on their faces.