abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Apollo Computer, Inc., founded 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts by William Poduska (a founder of Prime Computer), developed and produced Apollo/Domain workstations in the 1980s. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo was one of the first vendors of graphical workstations in the 1980s.
Apollo dn330 at Chelmsford, ca. 1985
In 1981, the company unveiled the DN100 workstation, which used the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. Apollo workstations ran Aegis (later replaced by Domain/OS), a proprietary operating system with a POSIX-compliant Unix alternative frontend. Apollo's networking was particularly elegant, among the first to allow demand paging over the network, and allowing a degree of network transparency and low sysadmin-to-machine ratio.
From 1980 to 1987, Apollo was the largest manufacturer of network workstations. At the end of 1987, it was third in market share after Digital Equipment Corporation and Sun Microsystems, and ahead of Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Apollo's largest customers were Mentor Graphics (electronic design), General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Chicago Research and Trading (Options and Futures) and Boeing (mechanical design).
Apollo was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 1989 for US $476 million, and gradually closed down over the period 1990-1997. But after acquiring Apollo Computer in 1989, HP integrated a lot of Apollo technology into their own HP 9000 series of workstations and servers. The Apollo engineering center took over PA-RISC workstation development and Apollo became an HP workstation brand name (HP Apollo 9000) for a while.
The 4Ps are:
* Product (or Service)
* Place
* Price
* Promotion
A good way to understand the 4 Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define you marketing mix. Here are some questions that will help you understand and define each of the four elements:
Product/Service
* What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
* What features does it have to meet these needs?
o Are there any features you've missed out?
o Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
* How and where will the customer use it?
* What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
* What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?
* What is it to be called?
* How is it branded?
* How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
* What is the most it can cost to provide, and still be sold sufficiently profitably? (See also Price, below).
Place
* Where do buyers look for your product or service?
* If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via a catalogue?
* How can you access the right distribution channels?
* Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?
* What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?
Price
* What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
* Are there established price points for products or services in this area?
* Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin?
* What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
* How will your price compare with your competitors?
Promotion
* Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?
* Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshot? Through PR? On the Internet?
* When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider environmental issues that suggest or dictate the timing of your market launch, or the timing of subsequent promotions?
* How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?
Apollo dn330 at Chelmsford, ca. 1985
In 1981, the company unveiled the DN100 workstation, which used the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. Apollo workstations ran Aegis (later replaced by Domain/OS), a proprietary operating system with a POSIX-compliant Unix alternative frontend. Apollo's networking was particularly elegant, among the first to allow demand paging over the network, and allowing a degree of network transparency and low sysadmin-to-machine ratio.
From 1980 to 1987, Apollo was the largest manufacturer of network workstations. At the end of 1987, it was third in market share after Digital Equipment Corporation and Sun Microsystems, and ahead of Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Apollo's largest customers were Mentor Graphics (electronic design), General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Chicago Research and Trading (Options and Futures) and Boeing (mechanical design).
Apollo was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 1989 for US $476 million, and gradually closed down over the period 1990-1997. But after acquiring Apollo Computer in 1989, HP integrated a lot of Apollo technology into their own HP 9000 series of workstations and servers. The Apollo engineering center took over PA-RISC workstation development and Apollo became an HP workstation brand name (HP Apollo 9000) for a while.
The 4Ps are:
* Product (or Service)
* Place
* Price
* Promotion
A good way to understand the 4 Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define you marketing mix. Here are some questions that will help you understand and define each of the four elements:
Product/Service
* What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
* What features does it have to meet these needs?
o Are there any features you've missed out?
o Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
* How and where will the customer use it?
* What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
* What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?
* What is it to be called?
* How is it branded?
* How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
* What is the most it can cost to provide, and still be sold sufficiently profitably? (See also Price, below).
Place
* Where do buyers look for your product or service?
* If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via a catalogue?
* How can you access the right distribution channels?
* Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?
* What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?
Price
* What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
* Are there established price points for products or services in this area?
* Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin?
* What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
* How will your price compare with your competitors?
Promotion
* Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?
* Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshot? Through PR? On the Internet?
* When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider environmental issues that suggest or dictate the timing of your market launch, or the timing of subsequent promotions?
* How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?