Developing and Managing Products

 

  The secret behind Apple's success is their ability to keep on innovating the market with their new products. Apple is a company that never stops coming out with new ideas of how to make their products better and more efficient in order to satisfy the market's needs. Since the iPod's first introduction to the market in 2001, Apple has developed 22 different types of iPods; every one of them being superior to the model before. For Apple, innovation is a priority; the latest iPod Touch features 2 cameras and HD capability. Their products evolve with the market, and their worldwide recognized brand name gives them a competitive advantage that is hard to beat by their competitors.
   CEO and founder Steve Jobs is a visionary, he saw that before the iPod the mp3 market  only had devices that he descrives as" big and clunky or small and useless". He immediately ordered his hardware engineering chief Jon Robinstein to assemble a team to design the iPod's product line. The product development process took less than a year, always with the supervision of Mr. Jobs.The new product was introduced to the market on October 23rd, 2001; with the advertising campaign that fallowed the slogan "1,000 songs in your pocket". At first adoption of the iPod was slowed down because it was only compatible to Mac OS operating system;  this limited a large amount of early adopters from getting the revolutionary device. Apple saw the problem and developed iTunes to solve the it, allowing Microsoft users  to  finally be able to use  the iPod with their PCs.
   The iPod's life cycle  is now at its maturity stage but due to Apple's ability to perceive changes in the market it is still far aways from it's decline stage. The latest version of the iPod product line was released last September; by coming up with new and improved  products every year Apple creates a planned obsolescence that makes you look at your old iPod as useless (even if it's still in good conditions) and makes you want to get the new version as soon as its released. Without a doubt Apple has done its market research and strategic planning right in order to stay the competitive advantage that they hold in the mp3 market. It is Apple's ability of making new innovative products that surpass their competition, its incredible advertising campaign (which features silhouette of people like you and me listening to their iconic white ear buds) that has kept the iPod product line alive for almost a decade.