Apple's MacBook Pro Release

Apple has had a difficult year. With the iPhone 7 sales not being as high as they were expected to be, Apple reported their third consecutive quarterly decline. This was Apple's first annual revenue drop since 2001. The iPhone 7 sales were not as high as anticipated, and have been a lot slower than the iPhone 6 sales. 

This chart above shows the decrease in Apple's sales over the most recent quarters.

However, five days ago, the new MacBook Pro was released. This new release might just be what Apple needs to bring their sales up. Apple is expected that their new releases always have new features and be different from the rest of the market. This is due to Apple's brand image held by their consumers that expect new and innovative  additions will be incorporated into their products. The iPhone 7 did not include remarkable new features, and therefore the sales were not as high as anticipated. However, with the new MacBook Pro release, Apple and their stockholders are hoping that the Macbook Pro's sales are successful and can help Apple boost their total revenue.

This video gives a summary of the price and new features in the new MacBook Pro.

The new MacBook Pro includes new features and a new design that is impressive in the computer market. The new MacBook Pro features "the brightest, most colorful" display, as well as a TouchBar. This TouchBar feature is new to Apple's products, and this is a strip of glass built into the laptop that allows for easy access to different tools and functions on the Mac. 

There has been controversy over this new TouchBar, because although the idea of the TouchBar is new and exciting, Apple did not go all the way and create a touchscreen on the MacBook Pro, like some laptops have. Customers were hoping that Apple would add a touchscreen as well as the TouchBar to the new Mac. 

The main factor circling around whether or not this new product will be successful is the price. The price is the reason why the current sales from the MacBook Pro are muted. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with 256GB of storage is listed for $1,799.00, and the 13-inch MacBook with 512GB of storage is listed for $1,999.00. Apple has used odd-even pricing as a strategy that will hopefully appeal to and work for their customers. Odd-even pricing is helpful, especially when the list price is very high. Apple may also be using the skimming strategy where a company uses a high initial price to help the company recover the cost of development, and also capitalize on the price insensitive of early buyers. 

Whether or not those pricing strategies will be effective towards sales is up in the air. On one hand, Apple has many loyal customers and has developed brand loyalty where their customers are committed to their brand and will make repeat purchases in the company's item over time. Apple has also developed brand equity that gives added value to Apple as a brand beyond the functional benefits provided in the product. This provides a competitive and financial advantage, that consumers are willing to pay a higher price for. 

On the other hand, the price is very high, and according to a survey taken by 19,346 people, the top two answers that total to 55.43% of the voters say that they are not buying the new MacBook Pro because of the price; 28.35% says they are going to wait for the prices to fall in a year or two, and 27.08% says that they are going to stick with the older models. 

I can see this new MacBook Pro being successful among millennials, where new technology is always exciting and intriguing to them. Millennials are either in college, just out of college, or working their way into their career. Laptops are necessary for this target market, and Apple will most likely have a success appealing to millennials if they market the product well, have great reviews, and possibly lower the price to be more appealing towards consumers. 

Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/apple/2016/10/25/13407418/apple-q4-2016-earnings-report-iphone-mac-sales 
https://www.apple.com/mac/
https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7360831/touchbar2.0.jpg
http://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/18819-18326-161028-MBP-l.jpg
http://logok.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Apple-logo-grey-880x625.png
https://9to5mac.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/apple-macbook-pro-touch-bar-2016-models.png?w=1024&h=0
https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/31/poll-macbook-pro-reason-for-not-buying/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/apple-revamps-macs-to-reclaim-lost-pc-market-share
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iDHIihzGwaZU/v0/740x-1.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTg45HAnTwc