Boston Matrix: Apple’s Portfolio

Boston Matrix: Apple’s Portfolio

•Stars: The iPhone is the star of Apple’s
portfolio.
•It has a high market share in a market that is
still growing.
•The iPhone generates significant profit but still
requires investment to transition to into
tomorrow’s cash cow.
 Boston Matrix: Apple’s Portfolio
• Cash Cows: The iPad and MacBook are the cash cows of
Apple’s product portfolio.
• These products have a high market share but the market
for these products isn’t really growing anymore.
• They require relatively little investment for them to
continue to be profitable.
 Boston Matrix: Apple’s Portfolio
• Dogs: The iPod is the dog of the portfolio.
• The market isn’t growing as people tend to use their
phones to listen to music and podcasts these days.
• This change in consumer behavior results in a shrinking
market share.
• Thus, doesn’t make sense to invest into the iPod.
 Boston Matrix: Apple’s Portfolio
• Question Marks: The iWatch is the one product in
Apple’s portfolio with a question mark hanging over it.
• It certainly has the potential to become as big a
market as the phone market, but there are still many
unknowns.
• Apple will need to analyze the iWatch against its
other up and coming products to decide where to
invest for the future.
Homework questions
1. What are the 4 P’s of the marketing mix?
2. What are the 5 stages of product development?
3. Explain the difference between goods and services (using examples)
4. What influences packaging decisions by companies?
5. How important is packaging to a product?
6. What are the main phases of the product life cycle?
7. What is meant by the term extensions strategies?
8. What are the 4 categories of the Boston Matrix?
9. What do we call analysis using the Boston Matrix?
10.Why is it important for a company to invest in question marks?