Friday, November 22, 2013

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

            Apple is always coming up with new innovative products or updating old ones to satisfy its consumers as it mission statement says, “Apple is committed to bring the best technology experience to consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. "  As the textbook says, Apple was selected to be the one of the most innovative companies in 2011. There is no doubt that Apple is one of the very few firms that achieved a newly established product that have shown innovation in features and design that became very popular and profitable.
           Categories of New Products:

       New to the world products: these products create entirely new market such as Iphone, and Ipad. Maybe someone will question that Apple wasn’t the first company to introduce these two products. That’s true, the iPhone wasn’t the first smart phone, and the iPad wasn’t the first tablet to the market, but when we compare these two products to the first smart phone and tablet, they have really incomparable advantages and features. 

       New product lines: these products, which the firm has not previously offered, allow it to enter an established market, for example, Ipod series. Mp3 market existed before Apple had its mp3 player.
Additions to existing product lines: this category includes new products that supplement a firm’s established line. For example, Ipad mini is expansion of Ipad product line. Ipad mini has exactly same features and functions as regular Ipad but the size. The purpose of Ipad mini is to satisfy a special group of consumers’ expectation of its products.

       Improvements or revisions of existing products:  the “new and improved” product may be significantly or only slightly changed. Apple is always coming up with its revisions products every year replace obsolete items.

       Repositioned products: these are existing products targeted at new markets or market segments, which may be done to boost declining sales.

       Lower-price products: this category refers to products that provide performance similar to competing brands at a lower price. The purpose of Iphone 5c is to gain market shares in developing countries through its lower-price strategy. However, Apple hasn’t reached its goal yet because it still doesn’t have competitive price in those countries.

            Apple is so admired today for it’s innovation, not just because of their products, but the innovative ways they are used and interacted with and all the other innovations they have sparked.


This is the framework on which every Apple product development is hung:
Design: Every product at Apple starts with design. Designers are treated like royalty at Apple, where the entire product conforms to their vision.
A start-up team: Once a new product has been decided on, a team is organized and segregated from the rest of the company by secrecy agreements and sometimes-physical barriers.
Apple New Product Process (ANPP). Once the design of the product has begun, the ANPP is put into action.
Products are reviewed every Monday. The ET (Executive Team) meets every Monday to go over every product that the company has in process.
The EPM mafia. Once a product begins production, two responsible people are enlisted to bring it to fruition. The engineering program manager (EPM) and the global supply manager (GSM).
Once a product is done, it is designed, built and tested again. At times there are leaks that display versions of a product like the iPhone that we never see released.
The packaging room.  A room in the Marketing building is completely dedicated to device packaging.

The launch is controlled by the Rules of the Road. An action plan for the product launch is generated, called the Rules of the Road.

Work cited  http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/01/24/this-is-how-apples-top-secret-product-development-process-works/

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