Environmental Analysis, Apple, 2005
The Apple Computer IMAC model selected for my professional challenge was released in its current form in 2004, ongoing a significant redesign from its predecessor in both form and function. The trends and impacts that have driven both the design and marketing experience with the IMAC can easily be mapped to the six distinct areas of Environmental Analysis. Surprisingly though, its success is about the useability offered by the IMAC and its software, rather than just the hardware product itself. There are faster machines, differing options, but few offer a user experience like the IMAC. It is this experience that allows the IMAC to carry a premium in this market space. Many of these trends not only apply to the IMAC product, but show synergy between the IMAC, software strategies, as well as coexistence and leverage of other products such as the IPOD.
The demographics of a typical Apple IMAC buyer have indeed changed and become more prevalent over time. Apple has traditionally appealed to graphic design users, as the software available and ease of use were strong benefits for those customers. There has been a distinct marketing effort, however, for increased usage in educational use, driving the strengths of ease of use to the student to fuel future sales of products to the family as well, which is where I see a tremendous opportunity to gain market share. As mentioned above, the IMAC has benefited in reaching a new family demographic by leveraging its IPOD in both simplicity and look of the unit. The IMAC’s design mimics the IPOD directly, again attempting to capture the attention of the MP3, player market for the purchase of a desktop PC to interface with, and in hopes that it will perform as well as the IPOD does among its competition. For the first time, Apple has seen a direct correlation, or halo effect, moving Apple up to fourth in PC sales, from the sales of the IPOD to the desktop, as noted in Analyst: 'iPod halo' helped foster converts...
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