Link to the article
http://www.thestar.com/article/693018
Summary of the article
This article talks about the return of Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs to an Apple launch event for the first time since his twenty six months long medical leave. Jobs urged everybody to be organ donors and later returned to unveil a new iPod Nano with a built-in camera, sound recording and speaker. Shares in Apple reached a 52 week high of US$174.47 in afternoon trading on the day of Steve Job’s return.
The topic(s) from syllabus that the article covers
2.5 Motivation, 4.3 Product, 4.2 Market Planning
Apply one business tool/theory/technique to the organization
4.3 Product
There are several product strategies involved in the article. Firstly, the return of Steve Jobs renewed consumer preference or even consumer loyalty of long time Apple customers. The 52 week high of US$174.47 for shares in Apple is evident of how Steve Jobs is such a phenomenal and spiritual leader to the company. He is also an icon of Apple who can ignite customers’ confidence in Apple’s products. Apple expands its iPod line with a new iPod Nano and cut down the price of existing iPod Touch models. The company constantly develops new products or enhances its existing products with new and improved features in order to stay competitive in the technological market, hoping to gain or maintain its market shares and staying atop as the market leader. With regard to the product life cycle, Apple’s iPod has been in the market for some time and has reached the growth/maturity stage and the company definitely wants to prolong this cycle. That is why Apple uses extension strategies such as price reduction and redesigning to attract customers to keep buying iPods and Apple products.
