I. Ad Age Digital, “Apple Expected to Increase Marketing Presence Abroad with Low Cost I-Phone.” 9-10-13
II. Statement of Key Point-Apple is expanding its market share by releasing less costly smart phones in China where their competition, Samsung, Android Network, etc. has become the leader in the smart phone market. This is not a way for Apple to downgrade its products, but rather expand its customer base where customers cannot pay premium prices for technology.
III. Synopsis of Current Events Topic-Samsung, Apple’s strongest competitor, has been dominating the lower-end market with their smart phone devices. Samsung offers smart phones that range from lower end market prices, and premium devices. Apple has positioned itself at the top of the market regarding premium priced phones. This has put them at a disadvantage in less developed countries where consumers are more concerned with price than performance. Now Apple is attempting to position themselves at the lower-end of the smart phone market, regarding price, to help capture new customers who cannot afford expensive technology. Samsung is currently dominating the foreign smart phone market with 30.4% market share, while Apple is lagging behind with only 13.4% market share. Apple was still able to market and sell their I-Phone 4 and 4S while releasing the new I-Phone 5 in the United States. This showed that Apple’s high-low strategy worked in the United States, which is a good indicator that this type of marketing position will work in foreign, under-developed countries as well.
IV. Statement of Impact on Class Matter Discussed-International marketing consists of taking commercial advantage of global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to meet global objectives and to expand a company’s market share by marketing outside of its domestic territory. This will allow a company to increase its revenues by taking advantage of a greater consumer population. Also, international marketing could possibly help a company find a niche market in foreign regions that would not exist in its home country. Apple is attempting to do this by recognizing that its premium pricing is not a