Apple’s Tunes Store

Hears. This also sparked the creation of Apple‘s tunes Store which saw songs available for $0. 99 and more than 5 billion downloads by 2008 (Wisped).

The history of the Apple pod has been continuously changing over the years. The first generation 2001 pod was presented with the marketing strategy of “1,000 songs in {Our pocket” but that changed quickly in 2002 as the software changed allowing the 2nd generation pods to hold up to 4,000 songs (Apple Inc. ).

With the release of the tunes Music Store and the introduction of the 3rd generation pod which was mailer, lighter and help up to 7,500 songs Apple sold more than one million songs in the first week and saw it’s millionth pod sold in 2003 (Apple Inc. ). 2004 was the start of the pod Nation epidemic as tunes was released internationally and Apple released the pod mini, an even smaller version available in multiple colors, and the pod 1.

12 Special Edition which increased the total amount of pods sold to 10 million Apple Inc. ).

The year 2005 introduced a new line of pods starting with the pod shuffle and the pod Anna. The pod Anna was used to replace the pod mini and grew o be the most popular music player ever sold (Apple Inc. ). The pod shuffle was geared towards athletic individuals because of its small size and sturdy build.

2006 Nas a huge year for Apple Inc. , with the one billionth song sold on tunes and the Nikkei+pod partnership release that included in-shoe sensors that tracked the Nearest workout on their pod Anna, Apple saw the total number of pods sold reach 38 million.

Minimal changed also seen in 2006 were the ability to purchase the pod Anna in 5 different colors along with the built in clip for the pod shuffle. In 2007 Apple released the phone, which linked to the tunes network, and also released the Pod touch. The pod touch was a huge improvement with a larger body and a Multi- Touch interface and built in Wi-If wireless access allowing for easy access to social networks and mobile applications through the App Store (Apple Inc.

).

From 2008 to 2010 no major improvements or releases in the pod world were seen, except for Improvements in processing and display systems. However, in 2010, Apple released the new pod touch with Retina Display, Peacetime video calling and HAD video cording and Game Center (Apple Inc. ). Apple also introduced a new pod Anna with Multi-Touch interface and built in heritability and the pod shuffle released the Normal’s smallest pod (Apple Inc.

). The pod is an amazing devise that was and is the backbone of Apple Inc. ‘s branch into the consumer electronics world and allowed Apple to branch out and become larger.

The product is currently in the maturity stage because a decline is not readily seen but with competition raising and consumer expectation becoming more focused on high quality, low price. Apple has seed the years to modify the existing product using line extensions while not Changing the product completely and losing name value. It is also seen that Apple’s advertisements are not only geared towards the consumers but the reseller’s, like Anal-Mart, Best Buy and Price Club, as well. Apple Inc. Has also been brilliant in their packaging for the pod units.

Because the cost of packaging increases the sale price of the product, Apple chose to use thick plastic casings with all the product information provided in a small booklet inside the units package. The packaging is ingenious for eye appeal to potential consumers.

They are provided with a clear plastic case, with information printed on a leaflet in the back panel with the product information provided, while the front shows the product, appearing to be suspended so that the front, top, bottom and sides can be seen and examined by the potential consumer.

A small adhesive is also stuck to the screen, easy to remove with no damage caused, that provides a version of what the unit will look like when turned on so that consumers will know what they should expect when the unit is in use. To cost consumers the pod packaging has tremendous positives, which can be seen Ninth the 275 million sold by September 2010, such as eye catching appeal of seeing the actual product that is being purchased, instead of hoping the item is in good shape inside a box.

There are negatives that some consumers do take away from the packaging such as it being small. May consumers like larger packaging because it makes them feel like there are lots of extras involved with the product that they are purchasing. Because pod cases are small some people feel they might be cheated on extra goodies.

Also small packaging means the instruction booklet will be printed Ninth small text and will be hard to read. The pricing strategy that Apple uses for their pods is hard but as the saying goes, Mimi get what you pay for. Other 16 KGB music players are out there, and cheaper, but none come with the same level of technology involved. When comparing pods we used the pod Anna and compared it to the Sony Milkman and the Phillips Gorger. It was found that the Walkway has the same hard drive size but it larger, weighs more and doesn’t have a Multi-touch interface. The eager is very large, weighs more than twice the amount of the pod Anna, doesn’t have Multi-touch interface and cannot play videos.

Because the price of production is higher for the pod Anna the price is higher than most competitors, however, the consumer willingness to by the product balances out the high cost to produce and allows Apple to sell the product at a higher price without fear of losing their consumer base. Apple Inc. Has consistently used the value-based pricing strategy to drive its sales. Apple’s mission is to provide the best, top quality products to its nonusers through their mission statement, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with SO X, life, rework and professional software.

Apple leads the digital music revolutionary phone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with pad. ” (Apple Inc.

). Through this strategy they have consistently delivered the best quality product for the best price so that their consumers can get the most out of their purchase. The current pricing strategy used by Apple is a positive for consumers because they are receiving the highest laity goods tort the best price.

This does however mean that Apple doesn’t sell as many products as they could if they lowered the price and lowered the product quality. At the current time the pricing of the product is appropriate for the products life cycle because the pod is significantly farther ahead of its competition in its design.

I wouldn’t change the way that Apple currently works to price their pods as I think it is more than accurate for the value of the product being offered. References Apple Inc. (2012). pod + tunes Timeline. Retrieved from http://www. Apple.

Com/pr/ products/podiatry’s/