Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

As I've stated before Apple is often in category of it's own when it comes to strategy, advertising, retailing, and products, additionally in the way consumers view Apple and its products. Apple products can not be quite completely pigeonholed into one specific type of product.

The new MacBook Pro - Called "the last notebook you'll ever need" by InfoWorld

An Apple product can be called a shopping product, because it is "more expensive than a convenience product and found in few stores," yet Apple products enjoy the status of specialty products. If one were to call a Mac a "computer," than it could be called a shopping product. It would be a heterogeneous shopping product, because the "prices, quality, and, features [of computers] vary so much." This could be said for someone that is concidering a Mac and might compare it to other computers, but to some to even compare a Mac to other computers would be blasphemy.   

The way Apple has been marketed and branded consumers do have this concept of an Apple product being a specialty product. Those that are Apple users, particularly Mac users are very reluctant to accept substitutes and Apple definitely has an exclusive image. Apple is "cool" – most importantly cooler than the "other guy" – Apple is quality, Apple is "magical" (as Steve Jobs loves to repeatedly tell us). The Apple stores help create this image. They almost have this boutique feel as any exclusive product would, and yet Apple products feel attainable. This is where Apple has achieved greatness and is the envy of many marketing professionals. Although Apple products are more expensive and have this very stylish, elegant, and upscale feel they still feel reachable and accessible to what one might call the "average" person. The products that have helped launch the brand into this status have definitely been the iPhone, iPod (in particular for it was the first Apple product to truly get Apple in everyones sight and hands), and now the iPad.

A magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price