My Paper Topic

As of now, my topic for this paper is going to be the consumer electronic industry and its use of marketing to understand consumer behavior, underlying buying decisions, why people upgrade, switch brands and want the “top” new products even when a better one is going to come out in a few months. I want to examine the entire industry, but want to focus mainly on Apple products for innovation and customer loyalty. I think this is an important segment of the consumer electronic industry, especially with their huge outbreak into the phone industry. The whole campaign and brand has changed the way we look at phones TOTALLY. I want to know how Apple does it.

I chose this topic because my my electronics and my phone are a very important part of my life. I use my iPod almost everyday, if my laptop died it would also be the death of me, and my cell phone is my little security blanket. Also, this personal entertainment technology is an interesting topic because it has grown so much in the last fifteen year that, as consumers, we are still relatively unaware of why and how we should purchase the products that we do. For example, are we buying the new products because of word of mouth or a great marketing campaign? Or do we like the product itself or the affiliation to the brand? Or why do we need the newest product when something better is sure to come out if we wait? Also, are these consumers using online reviews and other forms of accessible technology to gain insight on these products? One technology’s ability to drive sales for another technological product is such a staple of how our generation works in deciding purchasing decisions. It is pretty amazing, really! Additionally, I chose a specific focus on the phone industry because I have always had slim pickings for which phones I can afford, but I always want the best one on the market. I use my phone a calendar, for texting, for pictures, for an alarm and for phone conversations to keep in touch with people all across the United States. It is my life! It has always been hard for me to go into the Verizon Wireless store when I know that there are phones that I like from other companies such as Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, etc. I also only upgrade when I am eligible for a free phone so I do not have the limitless options that many other people have. This is why it astonished me that so many people across the globe, and that I know personally totally gave up their service to buy the iPhone…even when they couldn’t afford it.

This is a great topic for my Customer Insights class because I have a limitless number of people to survey in my target market to better understand what they love about their electronics, what gets them to buy or upgrade, and why they chose the phone they did, especially if it is the iPhone. I also think it will be a good topic because the research and online articles about the electronic industry are plentiful. I will be able to find scholarly articles about technology without any trouble. I think that I will be able to reach the core of consumers beliefs.

I found lots of articles on the iPhone, but I chose to post this personal article (possibly a blog) http://searchengineland.com/apple-iphone-craze-a-search-volume-look-11569. It has some statistics on the demographics of people who have visited the iTunes website, who have searched the iPhone on search engines and other links to blogs and articles about this piece of technology. Although I am definitely going to take time to research on a more broader level of technology purchases, I think that this is a good start in showing the demographics of the iPhone purchasers. I can’t wait to find out more about my topic through thorough research. Maybe by the end of the paper I will have convinced myself to buy some sort of new technology. Who knows!