1.Brief Summary of Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. was started by two high school friends, Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs. The Company is now based in Cupertino California and is a Fortune 500 company. The Company began in 1976 when Wozniak designed what would become the Apple I. (Apple Computer 2007).
The Company's principle activity is to design, manufacture and market personal computers and related software and networking solutions. The Company is committed to bringing the best personal computing and portable digital music experience to students, educators, creative professionals, businesses and government agencies. (Annual report 2006-7) The Company's business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own operating system, alongside with its strategic planning and choices of market segments. Today the Company still remains as the only participant in the computer industry that controls the design and development of the entire personal computer from hardware and operating system to sophisticated software.
English: Apple's headquarters at Infinite Loop in ...
04-02366 Donald W. Douglas and David R. Davis who ...
Diversification (marketing strategy)The Company sells it products worldwide through its online stores, its retail stores, its direct sales force, third-party wholesalers and reseller. The Company operates a total of 180 retail stores worldwide, including U.S., Canada, Japan and the U.K. (Annual report 2006-7)The Company introduced its digital music player (iPod) and online music store (iTunes) in November 2001 and scored a huge success. Today the Company had sold more than 100 millions of iPod and over 2.5 billions of songs, 50 millions TV show, and over 1.3 millions of movies were sold from the iTunes, making it the world's most popular online music, TV and movie stores. (Monaghan 2007)This study aims to analyze the strategic planning and its marketing effectiveness; it covers a rather wide scope as its covers the entire Company as a whole.
2. Marketing Effectiveness evaluationKotler et al. (2006 p.774) suggested the marketing audit in...