BHO2259 Product And Service Innovation

The first task for the team is to select a product or service which has been successful as a new or innovative product or service in recent years. Please choose your preferred product or service from the following two BHO2259 Assessment Guide Page 2 options. These examples where chosen because of their continuous innovation outcomes and commercial potentials and implications. 
1.Skype 
2. Apple Watch

Watch Your team needs to focus on a particular product or service of a company for this assessment and then analyse the marketing strategy for that particular product or service based on unit relevant analysis criteria. Broad generalizations and lack of focus on a particular product or services will result in lower marks.

Introduction

Innovation is one of the main pillars of Apple. Since Steve Jobs returned to the company in a very delicate time, the Apple brand has only grown thanks to this pillar, which has become a philosophy of life for this company. It all started in 2001 when the company introduced the iPod, an MP3 player that would forever change the way you listen to music.

Both innovation and aesthetics were some of the features captured by each of the company's designers, who worked for years with the aim of polishing each Apple product and distinguishing it from the rest of the devices.

Comparisons with competitors

Aside from storage capacity, screen resolution and price, the innovation behind apple's smartwatch is pretty run of the mill from what we have seen from other smart watches.  For example, the Sony smart watch 3and the LG G watch R have a double storage capacity as compared to the Apple watch (Nylén and Holmström, 2015).  When it comes to battery life, only Pebble steel has less battery life as compared to the Apple watch.  Thus there is nothing that the apple watch has that any android wear doesn't have.

Current competitive strategies/outcomes

One of the main strategies of apple is the use of Siri. Let us not forget that Siri is already used by 500 million users actively and is present in five very popular platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV. A detail that is often forgotten when talking about smart watches. Irrespective of Siri, the reality is that images transfer much more information to us than sound (Rothaermel,2015). Turn your wrist and see the time you are going to do today and tomorrow is faster than if I have to listen to be dictated word for word. A radiant sun and a couple of numbers supported by what Siri tells me are more enriching and faster than what a voice tells me. This is a brilliant competitive strategy that Apple watch uses (Berkhout et al.,2010).

In these markets, the gain of one is the loss of another, creating a zero-sum game where everyone wants to increase their market share. The companies end up competing in price and cost, throwing from the market those who are not able to support this game. It is easy to think of an ocean of this color because it is tinged with the blood of everyone involved.

Apple has held the top spot for the most innovative company for the last ten years according to the Boston consulting group. Cyclical innovation model used for apple watches is a new way of introducing 4G innovation model. By use of this model, apple watch has brought in functionality that together constitutes innovation.

It also shows that CIM is capable of giving insight into the complex network of companies involved, making clear how each company brings-in functionality that together constitutes the innovation (Saebi and Foss, 2015). This market is characterized by not having competition yet and where customers are willing to pay generously because they perceive a very high value, satisfying a latent need or that they did not know. Let's say it's the Holy Grail of every company. 

References

Berkhout, G., Hartmann, D. and Trott, P., 2010. Connecting technological capabilities with market needs using a cyclic innovation model. R&d Management, 40(5), pp.474-490.

Nylén, D. and Holmström, J., 2015. Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing and improving digital product and service innovation. Business Horizons, 58(1), pp.57-67.

Pisano, G.P., 2015. You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), pp.44-54.

Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.

Saebi, T. and Foss, N.J., 2015. Business models for open innovation: Matching heterogeneous open innovation strategies with business model dimensions. European Management Journal, 33(3), pp.201-213.