Essay about Apple AirPods

Apple Inc., a company out of California, is one of the most popular technology companies in the industry leading in phone manufacturing and the creation of other personal technology like computers, headphones, television, tablets, watches, and music/music players. Looking through a corporate standpoint, the company operates with a mission that states, ""Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store.

Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad""(Investopedia 2018). This mission statement varies a lot from the founder’s, Steve Jobs, in that it focuses more on the technology rather than the company’s core values and purpose like it once did. Aside from their mission statement Apple Inc. does highlight their values on their website which are accessibility, education, environment, inclusion, diversity, privacy, and supplier reasonability (Apple Inc. 2018). Despite the lack of cohesiveness between the values of the company and their mission statement, Apple Inc. is known for improving their products by making new upgrades that progress with the consumer demand.

On September 7th 2016, Apple launched the AirPods. AirPods are wireless headphones that connect with apple products such as iPhones, iPods, Mac Computers, and Apple Watches. This product consists of two white headphones that magnetically connect to a white pod like charger for storage and charging purposes. Before the creation of the AirPod, Apple Inc. had created wire headphones that are closer to what people traditionally use. In 2001, along with the iPod, Apple Inc. created a stylish, white headphone that set their headphones apart from others in the market. Following in 2007, with the launch of the iPhone, Apple Inc. also launched a new headphone that comes with all iPhones that included a volume remote control and microphone. In an attempt to reinvent the headphone, Apple then launched the In-Ear headphones in 2008. These headphones had the same look, but had the detachable gel piece seen on most headphones that are supposed to fit snug in the ear. Following this, Apple Inc. made yet another update in 2011 that now integrated Siri voice commands that were activated through the microphone. In 2012, yet another update to the headphones was the innovation of the EarPods. These headphones had a new design to increase listening experience by molding them better to the human ear while still displaying the stylish white color (Kinports 2016). Then in 2016, Apple Inc. developed the new and revolutionary AirPod.

As described by Apple Inc., the AirPods are wireless, effortless, and magical (Apple Inc. 2018). These characteristics come through in their AirPod advertisement campaign. The first advertisement that promoted the AirPods was a commercial titled Stroll. This advertisement shows a Lil Buck dancing on walls and sides of cars wile using the AirPod. The commercial was filmed in black and white with vivid imagery and made the audience feel like they were apart of the music experience. The ad gave that audience a sense of limitless with the slogan at the end that states “Practically magic”. With this advertisement campaign, Apple wished to reach their target market with their product. Their ideal customer is a male or female ages 20-45, that are working professionals making a high in come in the upper or middle class. The ideal lifestyle of this person allows them to be an aspirer, explorer, and a succeeder whom seek achievement, belonging, self-expression, and advanced features and capabilities in their products. They also wish this person is a loyal customer or a switcher and has a determined and ambitious personality who either lives in the United States or Internationally (Dudovskiy 2018). Being that this is Apple Inc. ideal consumer of their AirPods, one can ask what AirPods bring to the table to attract this customer.

The strength of the AirPod product does not only come from the popularity of Apple Inc. The product is innovative with its wireless Bluetooth features that do not have a traditional cord that tangles up. Not only that but AirPods sleek design make it stand out from the competition because it’s exclusive to Apple. Reviews from consumers via the Apple website mostly describe the strengths of this product is the clarity of sound and its fast connection. With upsides to any product come downsides. This product doesn’t keep its charge as long as it’s supposed to, and being that it is not waterproof the tiny headphones wouldn’t survive if they got wet. If upgrading the battery life and making the product waterproof the direction that apple will go in next, they need to avoid raising the price of AirPods. These tiny headphones are a $160 product and some consumers already don’t think that this price is reasonable. An increase in price could lose customers. One potential consumer of the product, Kate, said that she would use buy them if they weren’t so expensive and easy to loose. Another user of this product, Justus, said that he wishes that they didn’t come out of his ear as much while exercising.

Though the product doesn’t match every consumer’s standards, they still have opportunities to grow. In the technology industry there is a current demand for Bluetooth products. Being that AirPods are Bluetooth they could strengthen the pairing ability of their product. AirPods being an Apple Inc. product also opens up more opportunity for exposure because Apple Inc. is such a high recognized and used brand globally. If Apple continues to keep the design of the product sleek, and the using ability simple, they perhaps could turn switchers like Kate into a brand loyal customer along with the other switchers that buy Apple products. There are also some potential treats that might hurt this product in the future. One of those treats being the ever-changing trends of the market. In the future, Bluetooth technology might not be as innovative and Apple has to adapt to any new form of tech that is popular in order to please consumers. Other headphones in the market also currently threaten AirPods. Though sold by Apple, Powerbeats3 Wireless by Beats by Dre is a similar product that uses Bluetooth technology. What makes them a treat to AirPods is that they have a more functional design that allows people to do more activities like working out with out worrying if they’ll fall out. Along with Beats by Dre, but Sony and Bose also make wireless headphones that are more on the functional side like Powerbeats3 Wireless. Apple cant control what their competitors are doing or the never-ending trends of the market but what they can control is making improvement to their product so that they keep their loyal customers happy.

Citations

1. Apple. (2018). AirPods. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.apple.com/airpods/
2. Dudovskiy, J. (2018, January 27). Apple Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://research-methodology.net/apple-segmentation-targeting-and-positioning/#_ftn1
3. Investopedia. (2018, January 08). What is Apple's current mission statement and how does it differ from Steve Jobs' original ideals? Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042315/what-apples-current-mission-statement-and-how-does-it-differ-steve-jobs-original-ideals.asp
4. Kinports, N. (2016, December 27). Earbuds to AirPods – A Timeline of Apple's Iconic White Headgear. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://lonelybrand.com/blog/apple-headphones-timeline/

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