By Dyuti Ghuliani

Roll no 15
PGDM E-biz
AIRPOD’S ARE NOW APPLE’S MOST IMPORTANT
PRODUCTS
This article written by Lance Ulanoff describes how Airpods from being a question
mark turned out to be one of the most successful products fro Apple therefore
shedding light on Apple’s strategy of growing by introducing new products in the
market.

In 2016 when Apple introduced airpods, it was considered a joke and concerns of them
falling off the ear were raised . However in a span of two years, Airpods became a
success and a key aspect of Apple’s future innovations.
The success of Airpods drove Apple’s wearable segment (watch and beat) to $10
billion in revenue between 2017 and 2018.
Lance Ulanoff himself reviewed the airpods in September 2016 and his perception
turned into reality when he realized that these never fall off nomatter what he did .
According to him ,like most of Apple’s products Airpods simply worked, but that was
not the only reason. Airpods were successful because of the features it possessed .
Firstly they fitted better than people had expected. Secondly it had a five hour battery
life. Moreover the charging was effortless and it had Siri integrated like Apple watch .

This article also talks about the anticipations and expectations of people regarding
Airpods2.Most people expect Airpods 2 to have W3 wireless chip, noise cancellation
ability and improvements in connection speeds . It was also anticipated that
Applewould integrate some health related features just as Samasung had done, hence
bringing the Airpods into life essential category and making it a serious product
Even though Airpods is a huge success ,but still it is behind the Sevice market of Apple
which generated a revenue of around $29 billion in 2017.
In the end I would like to say that Lance Ulanoff has beautifully brought out how
innovation drives growth .Even though initially people were sceptical about using the
Airpods, it has now become one of them ost successful products . Another aspect
brought out beautifully is that its not only the brand but also the features that has
contributed to the success of the Airpods.
 APPLE’S PRODUCT LINE IS A MESS
This article by Paris Marx describes how Apple’s product portfolio has become a
jumbled mess and how hoe the company’s focus has shifted from developing new
products to just increasing share prices.
This articles describes how Tim Cook has always delivered to its shareholders by
funnelling cashinto strock buybacks to boost the share price and by running
campaigns to force the US government to slash the corporate taxes. Apple is the first
public company to hit $1 trillion valuation.
The irony shown in the article is that even though the company’s profits are always on
an upward trend, the American consumers however are witnessing a stagnancy in
wages and hence a need has been generated to differentiate between the cheaper
and the more expensive products .
There is a particular mention about Steve Job’s leadership .The article mentions how
when Steve Job’s returned to Apple in 1997, he preached the philosophy if saying No,
not only to ideas one did like but also to ideas which did not work within the larger
vision.
Paris Marx has distinctly described how jumbled and confusing the different product
lines if Apple had become.. Starting with the Iphone, the article mentions how even
after the launch of 3 new models Iphone XS, XS max and XR, the older models were
being sold. According to Paris this was done to boost Apple’s sales not only in
developing economies but also in US.
There were quite a few issues with the product line of Iphones that the article mentions.
The very first being the confusion reflected in the manes which just seemed a series
of jumbked letters and numbers. Moreover the screen size did not match the price
points hence portraying lack of focus on the product.
Same goes for Ipad and Mac. Even though Ipad started off as a simple product but
the launch of a better product line of Ipad pros completely lacked focus. There was a
similar situation with the Mac book and the Apple desktops.The only bright spot left in
Apple is the Apple Airpods .
According to Paris under Job’s Apple had a defined purpose and focussed on
innovations and products but now their focus has shifted from products to share prices
which has mad Apple a Golaith.
In the end I would like to say that this article clearly describes how not focussing on
the product innovations and only unreasonably expanding the exsisting categories
might lead to increase in profit margins but definitely will lead to reduced customer
loyalty and lack of trust in the company
 PRODUCT PLANNING BY NETFLIX: FROM IDEA TO
EXECUTION
This article describes the journey of Netflix from a DVD store to one one the most
famous online streaming websites. This article puts light on how just an idea, millions
of investments and a few correct but risky decisions can lead to a successful business
.
In 1999 Netflix was a DVD store where one could buy or rent DVD.s with 20 employees
and a customer base of 300000 employees. But it had stopped growing because they
had already been selling their services to all people who didn’t have access to the
Blockbuster stores.
Kate Arnold, the product manager of Netflix then came up with a special offer of
subscription by paying a fixed fee per month. Even though it was a profitable idea for
customers but it did create problems for the company as they had to keep many copies
of the dvd which increased their cost .
In 2007 Netflix implemented its rating and recommendation system .To make users
stay on the website The netflix team came up with an algorithm that predicted what
users would watch next. This lead to increase in customer loyalty hence making Netflix
the number one TV series provider,
According to the author the success of Netflix is aresult of hard work, risks, creativity,
and planning.
Netflix became success because it believed in personalizing content for its users.
Netflix tried t5o develop a product for its exsisting users by keeping their preferences
in mind. Moreover Netflix created its own eco system by becoming the first online
platform to launch its own branded series.
In the end I would like to say that this article describes that a business can become
successful by understanding what the customer requires and by simply providing it to
them . Netflix’s success lies behind its conmstant effort of providing what the
consumers want to watch .