7 Reasons Why Apple’s Marketing Strategy is a Sham

We all love our aesthetically pleasing Apple products. So much, that we don’t even mind paying a premium for those products. Despite being a 3^rd or 4^th player in terms of the market share, Apple tops the charts when it comes to the revenue share of the industry. Graph below shows that most of the companies are not even close.

So is it just because Apple understands the consumer requirements and makes groundbreaking products? Or there is some other secret sauce? I am sure some of you would attribute this gigantic success of Apple to it’s marketing strategy. Undoubtedly, they are the best when it comes to market their products. But off late, there are endless reasons to believe that all of this has been nothing more than a sham! Let’s try to find some NON MARKETING ingredients behind the trillion dollar market cap.

1. Headphone Jack:

Apple got rid of headphone jack from 2017. Apple’s rationale behind getting rid of headphone jack was that phones have become so compact and thin, that there is not enough space to fit in a headphone jack. Okay, you know what’s inside better than anyone else. But, is it a coincidence that the same year Apple came up with wireless Airpods?

I am not denying the fact that Airpods is a revolutionary product. But Apple would have given it’s customers some alternative if they believed so. Just to give you a perspective, sale of Airpods is growing at a three digit rate each year since the launch. The graph below shows the sale of Airpods against company revenues of some of the giants in the industry. So, headphones earn more for Apple than entire Twitter does.

2. Glass Phones:

Apple makes its iPhones’ back panel of glass. It is believed to look prettier, supplements the touch and feel of the device, Apple says that it helps in supporting wireless charging. Inductive charging won’t work with other type of surfaces. But, the very same year they introduced wireless charging, Nokia came up with Lumia series. Lumia offered a plastic back which supports wireless charging too. Innovation much Apple?

3. Planned Obsolescence:

Back in 2018, Apple confirmed that it deliberately slows downs the older versions of iPhones with each new iOS upgrade. However, they refuse to admit that this is planned obsolescence. They claim that it is done to prolong the battery life on older devices. I am not sure if it was fair to decide on the behalf of the customers that performance can be compromised in lieu of battery life.

Apple’s share did tank momentarily after this news but the revenues are still intact till date. It is like Apple’s marketing strategy roofied you, looted you- all with your consent.

4. Repairability

Almost all Apple devices, especially the iPhones are made in such a way that it is hard to get them repaired. Apple’s policies are also in line with this. When I broke my iPhone X’s screen two years ago, nearest Apple store asked me to pay a staggering INR 32k and replace the entire phone. There was no repair policy as such.

There were times when my Nokia phone would fall on the floor and would be all over the place. I could just pick it up, reassemble and Voila! Times sure have changed now. I agree that technology has become more sophisticated in all these years but is it too hard for a manufacturer to factor in repairability while producing a phone? With so many cases of cracked screens every day, I think they must’ve given it a deep thought before going into production.

5. Charging Cables:

If you own an Apple device, you can definitely relate to this. The charging cables always break from the joint, no matter how carefully you use them. And last time I checked, an original new wire costs $20. And if it is my mishandling to blame, why are third party cables working just fine for me?

Talking of third party cables, how can we forget this pop up (image below). Why you so self obsessed Apple?

6. Fast Charging:

Apple’s apparent ‘market first’ strategy enabled fast charging from iPhone X onwards. While all other players like Huawei, Oneplus, Samsung had this feature way back, Apple decided to “Think Different”. Despite the feature being available, Apple did NOT include fast charger with their $1000+ handsets. So now, you need to do an additional purchase of $70 if you really wish to leverage the benefits of fast charging. Ironical!

7. Chargers

With the latest release of iPhone 12, Apple introduced wireless charging using MagSafe chargers for it’s iPhone line up. For no apparent reason, around the same time, Apple became so concerned about the environment that they decided to get rid of chargers from the iPhone box.

• This decision will help them reduce the plastic waste as they assume that most customers will already have old chargers and they’ll work just fine.
• This will also help them reduce the size of the box. Therefore they’ll be able to ship more in one go and hence reduce the carbon footprint.

But isn’t it a little odd when a MagSafe charger would cost $39? Also, if you plan to buy a case to protect your $1000 device I have a bad news for you. A case that would support wireless charging is a minimum $40 on their official website. What is happening here? Is this a part of the great Apple’s marketing strategy?

Conclusion:

I think I have enough reason to believe that Apple dupes it’s customers masked behind a beautiful marketing strategy. Again, I am not finding faults in the product. Apple has a great product at par with other competitors in the market. It is it’s extremely loyal fan base which makes all the difference in the revenues. Are you an Apple fan too? Did you think of this sort of conspiracy before? Let me know in the comment section below or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Until Next time: