Assignment 2: External Environmental Scan

Market Position Analysis

By: Melissa Caba

As a market leader it could be a leader by brand name, firm or by a distinct product in which a company has the largest total sales percentage in total revenue. The market leader regularly dominates in the industry when in comparison to its competitors. As a market leader some areas that are distinguished are customer loyalty, distribution coverage, and image, perceived as well has high a better product value, product pricing, the organizations net profit ad expenditures.

In order to be a market leader the company needs to demonstrate innovation and be revolutionary in that industry. The market leader objective is the expansion of the company’s total market by continuously having a new customer base. Having a defense strategy as a market leader would assist in any obstacles that could cause any threats to the market leader position of the company. The market leader also needs to maintain and protect their product market share. Being able to attain and continuously maintain and or increase the market share of their product is another objective of a market leader. Examples of some company’s who are market leader: Coco-Cola (soft drinks), McDonald’s (fast food), Caterpillar (large construction equipment), Kodak (photographic film), Wal-Mart (retailing), and Boeing (aircraft).

Apple iPod the product that I will talk about will be Apple’s iPod. First, I will list down what are the available products. The reason is because I am a vivid apple user and have multiple products that they offer. Apple’s iPod and Apple iPhone are some are some of the top products sold. It has managed to stay at the top because of their unique software and design that keep consumers wanting it. Their uniqueness is in Apple’s iTunes software in which it is able to transfer music to the iPod devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes is able to store a music library on the user's computer and which can play, burn and rip music from a CD. It’s also to a lot of files like a PDA. "Now let's talk about the iPod. It's doing really well. They're... rather strong." Teehee. "We've sold over 110m to date... and you'll notice the place where the sales curve is strongest is during the holiday season... today we're going to refresh or replace EVERY single product in this lineup to get ready for this holiday season." Currently the iPod have a variety selection available. . Currently are on sale, are the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic and the brand new iPod touch. The iPod shuffle is a digital audio player that is designed and marketed by the company Apple Inc. The purpose for this model is to create a budget model for Apple's iPod family. It was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 11, 2005, using the tagline "life is random." This model is a new design as instead of storing data on a hard disk, it has been changed. In 2007, as a preparation for the Christmas holidays of 2007, Apple launched a new color, which is red. Now currently, the iPod shuffle has nine colors, which are:

There are nine different colors available for the second-generation iPod shuffle. The iPod nano is one the four portable media player that is designed and marketed by the company Apple Inc. The introduction to the first generation iPods was released in 2005.

It also uses flash memory, just like the iPod shuffle. However, this comes with a miniaturized version of the display screen and has "click wheel" found on the iPod classic. The model has been updated twice since its introduction. This above version is the 3rd generation iPod nano. Steve Job, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc., showing off the new iPod Nano "It's incredibly tiny, this is the new nano, and it’s incredibly thin. It's REALLY nice." Huge applause. "Let me show you some bigger pictures of it... comes in beautiful colors. So what's the video like? New nano: larger 2-inch screen, it's going to look the same as it did on the iPod video, it's the same QVGA resolution. We've achieved this with a screen with the highest pixel density we've ever shipped."

Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc., showing off the new iPod Classic. "A little video for everyone, that's what we set out to do with the new nano. We hope you love it as much as we do... That brings us to the iPod. The iPod... it's got a... it's got a funny name. It's got a funny name. It's time to give it a name: we're calling it the iPod Classic because it's the original iPod." Ha! The App Store ability and variety that is not offered with other products s an upcoming application for the iPhone and iPod touch that is created by Apple Inc. This allows users to browse and purchase applications that were developed for the iPhones & the iPod touch has the same multi-0touch interface the iPhone has. Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO of Apple Inc., demonstrating the iPod touch "Let me go ahead and show you the new iPod touch. Again, slide to unlock. Here we are -- let's go into music."

Apple’s iPod sales have been increasing over the steady flow of years. Since October 2004, the iPod has been dominating United States digital music player sales. Based on the market for hard drive-based players Apple has been able to manage and maintain well over 90% of the market and well over 70% for all types of players in the market. From 2004 to 2005 the United States market increased from 31% to 65% and in the summer of 2005 it was measured at 74%. In 2007

IPod market share finally reached 72.7% according to Bloomberg Online. With such sales, it is obvious that Apple’s iPod has become a market leader in portable music players in the United States. If Apple iPod wants to remain as market leader, they would have to continue maintaining their pleasing customers with quick response to any troubleshooting problems, making sure that their products have no problem in a product and even after launch, making sure that the products are quickly dealt with. Apple’s iPods are considered a product innovative. This is because so far no one has managed to fully copy the iPods functions. What makes it such a special product? It is because of their software system. Apple’s software is one of the hardest software to be able to modify. Also Apple has created their own jukebox application where users are able to sync songs, photos and videos unto their iPods. This application is the only way an iPod can receive it songs. Thus by doing that, Apple has managed to not only create own portable media players but also a specialized digital media player application for their iPods only. As Apple is not the first of creator of portable media devices, they have rose up to be the first in the United States because of a visionary leader; Steven Jobs. Apple iPods are called consumer products. Consumer products are products or services that are brought by final consumers for personal consumption. Marketers usually classify these products and services further basing on how consumers go about in buying them. What makes iPods so widely acceptable? It is because of their design and style of the product. This is called Product Style and Design where the style can be eye-catching to a consumer and the design is more of a skin deep concept where this is the very heart of the product. Apple has also decided to co-branding with Nike. Co-branding is the practice of using the established brand names of two different companies on the same product. Co-branding has many advantages. When the two products combine, they create a broader consumer appeal and also greater brand equity. In conclusion of this, Apple has managed to become the market leader in portable media players through various ways. Ways such as being a product innovative, having a visionary leader like Steven Jobs and co-branding with brands such as Nike.

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Table Showing Apple Market Position

	Apple iPod	Mp3 Player
Satisfaction	2	1
Storage	2	2
Durability	1	0
Quality	2	2
Software	2	1
Total	9	6

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