Apple iPhone Marketing Strategy

The Apple iPhone is known throughout the world as being a stylish and futuristic phone.  Like all of Apple’s products, the marketing strategy is straight-forward and simple yet clever.  The plain and simple Apple icon lets customers clearly see that they are dealing with a trusted brand, whilst not being too overbearing and full of “fluff” like some company logos.  The iPhone was released in April 2007 and since then has gone on to become one of the most sought after phones in the world.

Television Commercials

Before the official release of the iPhone, Apple ran four television commercials throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and other areas in the world where their products are popular.  The commercials portrayed the phone as the next step up from the already popular iPod – which instantly attracted the attention of iPod fans.  The iPhone adverts also detailed the extra features that come with the phone – including the ability to find a seafood restaurant online and then use the same device to order food from there.

Rumours

In addition to the TV commercials Apple also released a number of very brief press releases.  The company were already doing really well with the success of the iPod and so took their time to release small bits of information in each release.  The information could have all been released in one go but by only officially saying small pieces of information at a time this led to the rumours about the product being huge – hence free advertising was given for the product, and many people were eager to buy the iPhone once it was finally released.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Apple iPhone was young men under the age of 35.  Apple believed that as around 50% of these people did not own an iPod, they may instead choose to buy the iPhone.  By targeting the product at young men, it went without saying that women were also interested in the product.  With a minimum price of $499 on initial release, the main customers for the iPhone were businessmen, jet-setters and small business owners.  When the price decreased teenagers were also large buyers of the product.

IPhone Applications

When Apple released the iPhone they did something on a large scale that had only previously been done on a much smaller scale – applications.  The variation of the different applications available opened up the target audience considerably – and the option to only choose applications that the individual wanted helped to do this.  Apple essentially claimed that there is an application for everyone and enforced this claim with the functionality that the phone could also supply.
When Apple released the iPhone at a rather expensive $499 it was a popular item by mainly businessmen who could afford such a hefty price tag.  With lower than expected sales, when Apple reduced the price this is when the iPhone really came into its element.  The advertising campaigns and marketing strategies really began to pay off as teenagers and other circles of people also took advantage of the new innovative technology of the Apple iPhone.