3. Branding

Apple: The Worlds Most Sought After Tech Brand

Apple is the world’s largest technology company. Within the last year, the company has reached the goal of being worth $3 trillion. That is worth more than Walmart, Disney, Netflix, Nike, Exxon Mobil, Coca-cola, Comcast, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, IBM, and Ford combined. 

Apple was founded in April of 1976, as Apple Computer Company by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The company was developed to sell the Apple I computer. It was made for Wozniak to use the ARPANET and play games. Not long after, the Apple II was developed which eventually lead to the creation of the Original Macintosh.

Apple I microcomputer (1975)

The Original Macintosh (1984)

The Macintosh was announced in a critically acclaimed advertisement “1984” directed by Ridley Scott. The commercial found a place in the 1984 Super Bowl advertisement lineup. This commercial was what boosted the brand's image initially. Fans of Apple argue it was the best Mac ad ever.

In 1985, Jobs got pushed out of the business and eventually had to resign. He moved on to found NeXT. Which was actually a strategic plan to show Apple they couldn’t be successful without him. A little over 20 years later, Apple began to struggle, and to resolve this issue they bought NeXt. Now with Jobs back on their team, he leads the company back to the top, with branding and introducing a momentous advertising strategy. 

Since the beginning, in 1976, Apple has introduced the iPhone, iMac, Macbook, Apple Watch, Airpods, iHome accessories, and more. Back in the day iPods were super common. Even though iPods aren’t used today it's cool to learn how Steve saw the opening for a market and took it.

Apple has become more than just products. To go along with the iPods, a database to download music was needed. This led to the creation of iTunes. iTunes made it easy for users to burn discs and organize their digital music files. Because of iTunes, record labels began to lose money and that turned into Jobs making deals with five major record labels to sell their content. 

After other streaming services began to compete with iTunes, Apple launched Apple Music in 2015. Apple Music is a subscription-based music platform. It offers over 90 million downloadable songs. Apple Music runs about $9.99 a month, but they offer family plans and also student discounts. So, I only pay $4.99 before tax.

Apple has also recently added another subscription streaming service for movies and television shows. Apple saw the market for online streaming and inserted itself. Apple TV+ was launched in 2019, so the service is extremely new. Unlike other popular streaming services, Apple TV+ only features Apple Originals unless you pay extra for other shows. Despite not having a huge selection, it’s safe to say that the service cares more about quality than quantity. Last year alone, Apple TV+ won 7 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Apple TV+ costs $4.99 before tax per month. But it is free with the student Apple Music plan.

Apple Orginal "State Boys"

Apple also offers another service called Apple News, which costs 9.99 per month. Apple News has become a huge resource for the average joe trying to check out the latest news. Apple News offers readers access to thousands of different magazine brands. While doing research, I found that Apple also releases articles and those are free to readers. News readers complain that pdfs of magazines are hard to read on an iPhone, which is one of the many kinks Apple is trying to work out. The New York Times and The Washington Post both have still refused to join Apple News TV+. In 2020, it had 11 million subscribers and is estimated to grow to a whopping 19 million subscribers by 2023.

Apple has become one of the biggest brands in the world, despite being founded by two college dropouts. Apple’s branding strategy has always focused on the want in the market. The team sees openings and takes them, which is something that stands out. It has prioritized fans and always made their wants come first. They also do a great job at keeping up the hype. For example, a new phone is released every year and each reveal in September is super exciting for techies. 

What their products do isn’t what brings in sales, but instead the exclusiveness of owning an Apple product. When you get down to the nitty-gritty of it all, Apple’s products are no better than the other thousands of things on the market, but people see that logo and pay for it. No other brand in technology can say that consumers buy their product because of the brand.