Apple

The company I selected for the final project is Apple. Apple is currently a powerhouse in the Fortune 500 with the impressive rank of #4 (fortune.com, 2020). They were founded in 1975 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Los Altos, California. While the first product ever offered was simply a processor and motherboard, the company has grown exponentially over the years, with the creation of the iPad, iPhone, Macbook, and more. 

I chose Apple because I have been an avid customer of their since I was 16 years old with my first iPod Nano.

I own an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro, and cannot see myself owning another brand of electronics in my life. My favorite feature is in the ability to have all of my information (texts, contacts, notes, etc…) all sync in one cloud across devices. Apple has been a pioneer in creating an excellent user experience, which has in turn gained a large amount of loyalty from customers. 

Proposed Product Idea

The product that I would consider launching for Apple is iPet. iPet Feeder is an electronic pet feeder with an attached camera that allows users to interact with their pet while they are away. It allows users to keep track of their pets nutrition, calories, activity level, and monitor their activity all from their favorite Apple device. Through the use of face recognition, iPet feeder also allows you to set different feeding schedules for different pets, the feeder will only dispense if the correct pet is in view of the camera. According to the American Pet Products Association the pet industry generated $95.7 Billion in expenditures in 2019, it is a very profitable market to branch into. Apple has consistently created amazing products for humans, it could be time to expand into the world of pets. 

Research Objectives

With the introduction of the iPet Feeder to the market, we must first conduct some research before launching. My research objectives include specifying target consumers/demographics, learning current customers interest in pet products, and to narrow down pricing for related products. I believe these three objectives are important when launching a product, we need to first see who would buy this product, would our current customers have an interest? And if so, how much money are they willing to spend?

This would be an exploratory research design, as this is a new product launch for Apple. I plan on using primary research for this product as it is a new product, and a new product line. I plan on heavily using pilot studies such as focus groups, questionnaires, and surveys to hone in on the interest from current customers in pet related Apple products. We can also utilize them to see if non Apple users may have an interest as well. This is also a great way for us to find out about features people might look for, as well as pricing ideas. 

References

Apple: 2020 Fortune 500. (2020, August 17). Retrieved from https://fortune.com/company/apple/fortune500/

Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

Weinberger, M. (2020, August 19). Apple just became a $2 trillion company. Here’s how it came to rule the world, from its early struggles to beat Microsoft to the launch of the iPhone. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-apple-in-photos-2015-8#the-companys-first-product-was-the-apple-i-which-was-just-a-motherboard-with-a-processor-and-some-memory-intended-for-hobbyists-customers-had-to-build-their-own-case-and-add-their-own-keyboard-and-monitor-as-seen-in-the-picture-it-sold-for-66666-seriously-the-apple-i-was-invented-by-wozniak-who-also-hand-built-every-kit-5