APPLE WATCH (Essay Sample)

Apple Watch Introduction Apple watch is among the leading innovative company globally. The company embarked on extending its brands with an aim of entering different industries. Initially the company dealt with phone, computer and music markets, then later shifted to wearable technologies like Apple watch which was launched in 2015. The apple watch is smart wearable that integrate health features and other fitness tracking capabilities. The innovation of smart watch was a game changer for Apple company.it was virtually inimitable, for being augmented though the company hardware and software ecosystems. However, in the mid 2016 the company chief executive officer noticed that the apple watch did not meet the expected market impact. the management through it options thought of reconfiguring the market mix inorder to realign the marketing strategies of its company as a way of managing the apple watch resistance. The major causes of innovation resistance were due to high prices, product utility restrictions, limited social acceptability, low value perception and late market entry. The market impact was more persistent in the developing countries due to less disposable income among the consumers compared to more developed countries. The company accounted for 55% sales in second quarter of 2016 a decline from the previous year. The wearable industry constituted of smart eye wears, fitness bands and smart watches which accounted for a 59 % of the total wearables shipments in the year 2016. The market share was estimated to increase to 70 % by the year 2019, while the entire global wearable industry was set to increase its compound annual rate to 35% in its previous years. The high tech watches were set to extend traditional time keeping to offer other utilities extension of sending messages, making calls, and internet browsing. This could be made possible by incorporation of operation systems capable of combining multiple functions in the smart watch device. Greater strides were witnessed in the smartwatch market due to continued innovation. The five common operating systems included pebble, apple’s watch, tizen, android and android spin off. Out of the five, the most popular was Watch Os and the android wear remained in the second position. The unique software, luxury feel, finely tuned design and premium material make of Apple watch helped to gain its competitive edge. Apple watch was ever the first watch to be produced during the leadership period of Cook. A second generation of the watch was launched mid of 2016, which was designed so as to connect to other IOS devices like iPhone with goal of pushing and receiving and pushing content. Although the second generation had advanced capabilities of fitness and health tracking features, the consumer perceptions regarding the features. With a water resistance feature, the smart wearable gained market share momentum among surfers, swimmers and other water sports participants. It offered cheaper version as well as high end models. Also the company made a collaboration with Nike and Hermes so as to provide its customer base with exclusive bands of software, and face watches. Situational Analysis With previous smartwatch hit in the market, Apple watch was not the first, but it was a unique high tech wearable. Based on scientific metric, the differentiating value and referencing value estimation of apple watch could be measured. The reference value represented ability of the wearable to act as a common time piece, while differentiating value entailed voice and texting features. While the reference value could be classified into potential buyers as who wore preferred traditional watches and others with customization tastes and opted for other platforms like android wear. Compared to traditional watch, apple watch offered a regular and accurate time piece. Also it offered voice calling and texting features to its users where by a tap of their wrists, they could respond to incoming messages or calls and had a better and faster visual information summary. Apple watch was to function as IPhone shadow and at the same time offer digital services through apple pay. Instead the company emphasized on the watch capabilities to offer health and fitness monitoring. And in pursuit to offer this value, apple managed to develop powerful applications of health and fitness by combining captured data in iPhone watches and sensors. Through Health kit, care kit and research kit programs consumers were able to track their personal health, identify appropriate medical care and support medical research. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats High market share Customer dissatisfaction Reduced international market entry cost competition Strong business models Ineffective communication strategies Growing market size due to Increased phone usage Consumer postponement Large customer base/geographical coverage Lack of workforce diversity High internet penetration Consumer resistance Innovation ideas Low value proposition Consumer segregation Low consumer income Innovation resistance The apple watch innovation was received with mixed responses, as a several opposed it and others were prepared to adopt it if not currently in their future. The company anticipated with more upcoming versions and offered value the market could eventually accept. The idea was with smart phones consumers did not need smartwatches as the operations were almost similar. Apple failed to notice the watch value likely resulted to asymmetric information between potential customers and Apple. Thus need for change to avoid growth of uninformed buyers who would be reluctant to pay premium prices for differentiating value they never understood. There was need for the company leadership to draft more meaningful proposition value and communication plans to help reduce the asymmetry problem thus stimulating customer’s willingness to pay for apple watch price. The innovation encompassed three resistance forms namely; rejection, postponement and opposition. And this made the company to make product modifications and relaunching processes with the hope for market acceptance as a result of product improvement. innovation attributes, determined the extend of consumer resistance. Postponement was a common resistance, where consumers delayed using apple products, instead continued to prefer traditional devices. Managing Innovation Resistance Innovative resistance refers to an unfavourable behaviour or opposition towards a new product usage and adoption as consumers or target people aim at maintaining status quo. Inorder for apple to manage the consumer resistance there is need to conduct SWOT analysis of the company so as to determine the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats to formulate strategies that can manage the resistance among its customers. Apple being a global high tech company has been able to penetrate the global market thus its increased market share. The company in its second generation launch, advanced the smart watch to include cheaper version and high end models. Thus the company has attracted a huge customer base out of its launch of health and fitness tracking feature of the Apple watch and water resistance feature has attracted many sports participant’s customers. Innovation is another strength that enabled the Apple company to embark on extending its brands with an aim of entering different industries, and as a result launched the smart watch in 2015. The company has faced immerse weaknesses, many of which have led to resistance among its customers. Low value proposition as perceived by its customers as it offers limited utility and consumers have been unable to change their pre-established norms and beliefs towards the watch. Ineffective communication especially from the company leadership has led to greater resistance, as due to lack of information customers have opted to postpone the device usage as they are uninformed thus being reluctant to pay premium prices for differentiating value they never understood. Also inadequate workforce diversity in the company has hindered innovative changes. With the company global penetration, there is need for workforce diversity that will promote potential success of Apple watch in the international market. customer dissatisfaction is another weakness faced by Apple company, as the company has been unabl...