The iPhone in Europe: Lost in Translation
Remember Euro Disney case we talked about this week? The more Europe becomes powerful, the more businesses open there. Not only Disney, but also Apple is targetting Europe with its hot item, iPhone. Well, personally, I am a fan of SONY. I prefer to buy all of computer devices from SONY, because the very first thing I care when I buy something, is its design and I love the one of SONY. (simple + neat + professional!) No matter how much it costs, I mostly purchase SONY products because it gives me some of value and satisfation. In other words, I trust SONY.
But the problem is, besides design, there is no reasons I 'must' buy SONY product. Reliability? Warranty? Then why not Samsung? Probably Apple users have this kind of purchasing habit. I saw so many Apple laptop users in the United States, especially around college campus. Not only do they have Apple laptops, but they also have iPods and iPhones. Yes, if a certain company gives speical value to customers, those customers tend to buy other products from that company and I guess Apple is doing a great job with it in the United States. But hey, do you think iPhone is really differentiated and innovated?
This article tells you how Apple has been doing in Europe telephone market. Generally, wireless carriers such as Britain's O2, France's Orange, and Germany's T-Mobile are happy with introduction of iPhone into Europe. These three carriers sold a combined 350,000 iPhone in the fourth quarter last year. However, strategy analytics actually forecasted 500,000 sales for the last year, so it was not enough sales. More than that, the sales has been dropped to 300,000. I wondered why and thought of Euro Disney for a while. The price of iPhone is very high while most phones in Europe are subsidiezed. Do you know what customers say about iPhones? I read some comments about this article and most people said that buying an iPhone is such a waste of time and there's no reason to buy iPhone except for the design. Some people even mentioned that WIndos Mobile Smartphone is way better than iPhone because it is reliable and useful for personal and business use. I think people do not want to pay that much money ($600) for an iPhone whilch does not have 3G or GPS or other advanced features which other phones already have. Why iPod? Why iPhone? Just because of design.I know that design is very critical in marketing and production and that's why companies in Korea like Anycall can't compete with Apple. However, in order to succeed in Europe, Apple needs to do something and that's what we need to consider as a marketing student. In design part, Apple is already a winner as many customers love their design. Now, what makes them 'different' and 'innovative' should be something more than just design. It's the key of success.
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