Introduction Smartphone market is an emerging important market and is experiencing a wave of transformation with the emergence of new players (Basole and Karla, 2011). The competition among the smartphone markets is no longer simply through physical devices but though ecosystems, or platforms. This essay is going to look at the evolution of the market so far including how it will evolve in the future, whether a few firms will eventually dominate the market as well as the core business strategy is applied to the firms. The two main economic theories I will employ are the theory of monopolistic competition and the theory of network effects. While the former will give an understanding of the first stage of competition in the smartphone market, the latter will explain the evolution of the smartphone market. Moreover, the integration of these two theories will give a clear illustration of how competitions change from physical products to platforms. At the end of the essay, we can have an insight as well as a prediction of which firm is likely to dominate in the market. The early smartphone markets as a monopolistic competition Edward Chamberlin and Joan Robinson (1930s) defined the monopolistic competition as ‘a market structure from which firms produce differentiated products but serve a similar purpose’. Smartphone market is a monopolistically competitive market as it serves a similar purpose, communication for customers but owns different features, such as colours and
Besides, there are always many new entrants enter the market with the flow of labor and capital (Laudon, 2014, pp. 124). Although the requirements for the entry to the mobile market is relative higher than others, the number of new entrants are considerable while customers are more selective. As a result, those companies like the T-Mobile in this case that are lack of competitive advantages will be omitted by customers. As for the substitute, the development of entertainment tools decrease the desire of the mobile phone although there is little instrument can replace the mobile phone
The sensation of the iPhone is obvious in person; everywhere you go, someone has one of these devices in their possession. With millions of units selling every year, it is no wonder that the device is becoming highly ubiquitous and iconic. Like other Apple products, the iPhone is something that is easily recognized all around the world. The same phone has been selling for over four years now with cosmetic and hardware updates for each year’s new iteration, along with an operating system that is becoming more refined. Since its release in 2007, the iPhone has been a massively successful product for Apple, who has sold more than 100 million units in the iPhone's first four year, including 18.6 million in the first quarter of 2011 (Artman). Other competitors make smartphones that are better than the iPhone in many ways, yet Apple is selling more than ever. Other companies release new phones faster than the yearly refresh of Apple’s iPhones, but the latest isn’t always the greatest. It isn’t the technology that makes the iPhone successful, but rather the cool factor that the device expresses (Mintz).
- The smartphone industry is very capital intensive due to high research and development (R&D) costs and expensive manufacturing facilities. This raises the barrier of entry and makes it difficult for small companies to enter. Many of the firms that compete in this industry have existing long-term contractual relationships with mobile carriers and benefit from their significant brand equity. These companies also have a great deal of knowledge and experience through economies of learning, which gives them a major cost advantage over smaller entrants. New entrants will have difficulty getting carriers to adopt their phones because many carriers are already in profitable deals with the large mobile phone manufacturers.
Trends in the market include the growing number of people within the 15-29 age range. Also, phones are being used for much more than just calling, other functions like texting and music playing capabilities have dominated much of a user’s data usage. As for market characteristics, the mobile industry has reached almost 50% penetration with about 130 million subscribers, and reaching its maturity. The cost structure has been very confusing for consumers, with hidden fees, overcharges, and lacks to reward users who do not use their plans to the max. And finally, channels include all service provider stores and retail consumer stores, for example, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy.
Executive summary Raising smartphone estimates Forecasting smartphones based on TCO Linking our TCO analysis to the addressable market Smartphone volumes to grow at CAGR of 26% Price point work also shows 1.1bn units long term Significant growth being seen in the low end A specific growth opportunity within China LTE could be a game changer Improving device availability LTE speeds could drive new services Coverage expansion of LTE networks Aggressive rollout plans in US and China An upgrade cycle like none before A war of ecosystems….. Apple – the iOS and Mac ecosystem Google/Android – a one trick pony? Windows 8 – what about the upgrade cycle? Developer dynamics are critical Smartphone economics Carriers have seen margin pressure Smartphone economics What can carriers do? Smartphones – winners and losers Apple scope for share gains exist on multiple fronts Samsung – a strong second Nokia – heading for third position in smartphones Multiple Android vendors may struggle HTC – still bleeding share Motorola Mobility/Google – losing steam in the US Sony – change of
Apple and Samsung are the major competitors in the smartphone field. We would, like to discuss why they’re leading and conclude which one is better. In the electronic industry these two companies fight are considered as the highest massive ever. They mainly clash for brand image and brand reputation but any consequences regarding this fight, the impact should be faced by both these companies in terms of brand reputation loss and also the loss of huge amount of money over the litigations We would like to discuss the following,
Innovation and R&D spending are signals of rivals’ competitive position. The key competitors in the Smartphone industry as of 2007 were RIM, Palm, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and Apple. Each company holds a patent on its own operating system (OS) or a system based on Microsoft’s Window Mobile OS. Safe and secure voice and data transmission is critical to building a good reputation among consumers. The appearance, design and
In the most recent market analysis from the NPD Group, iOS has assumed control of 43 percent of smartphone sales. The analysis further shows the market for basic phones has dwindled and that the cell phone market is fast becoming a smartphone market. The demand for anything other than smartphones is evaporating. This push toward high-end smartphones is helping not only Apple, but also Google and Samsung, which are benefiting from the desire of consumers to carry these all-powerful ‘mini’ computers in their pockets. With the connectivity these smartphones present, users are never left ‘out of
In the opinion of Baumol and Blinder (2011, p. 235), "monopolistic competition is a market structure characterized by many small firms selling somewhat different products." The authors in this case further note that the output of each entity is small in comparison to the market's aggregate output of competing but closely related products. With that in mind, the mobile phone market exhibits some key characteristics of monopolistic competition. In this market, customers in need of mobile phones are presented with a wide range of options to choose from. For instance, a customer who enters a mobile phone handset shop has the option of purchasing a Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry or even an LG handset. All these products despite being closely related are also largely differentiated. As Tucker (2010, p. 268) notes, "the key feature of
In the contemporary day, smartphone is no longer deemed as a luxury product as if over the past it has become very common among the society and nearly a necessity for every people. Thus undeniably, it shows that the people using the smartphone are rocketing in number and consequently to the competition among the sector. Thereof, gaining a clear idea
In this following report I will discuss the phone industry and analysed it in great detail. I will analysis the market structure and try and understand why the mobile industry falls to heavily oligopoly structure. I will highlight all the structures, however I will discuss in detail how, for example Vodafone can be incorporated in the porter’s five forces method to show how the mobile industry has devolved over the years and to understand if consumers are driven by the actual technology of the phone but if it driven more by style.
Smartphone market is fast-moving and very high competitive due to intense competition between two big smartphone producers, Apple and Samsung. At the beginning, Apple dominated this market solely by introducing a new innovative type of smartphone by Steve Jobs that has revolutionized people lifestyle and mobile industry. A few years after launching iPhone, a new fast following competitor, Samsung came into this market, and their sales have outperformed Apple from the year 2011 (According to Chart A1 in Appendix). In term of developing their product, Samsung has created its products by following Apple’s technology since the beginning of producing its smartphone, therefore there are many patent lawsuits between them. Since Steve Job passed away, Apple has continued to develop its core competence, which is an innovation of new type of smartphone that could help them to take back their market share from its rival, Samsung. Nonetheless, the competition between Apple and Samsung will still continue intensively in the future.
With Apple being so far ahead of their competition, the only problem one can foresee in Apple’s future is how long they can sustain such innovation before they plateau. Apple does a phenomenal job at releasing their innovative products before their competition, but if their innovation cannot hold steady, this may lead to changes in demand for their products considerably. This can be seen with their release of the iPhone, the first successful touch screen cellular phone. Although people swarmed to the iPhone when it was first released because of its advanced technology, as the years have passed, other similar designs, including those with android and windows based operating systems, have drawn a considerable portion of the market. A clear representation of Apple’s attempt to regain some of this market can be seen when the iPhone was released to Verizon Wireless’ customers in
In this report I will include all the positive areas and Recommend for market development for the iPhone to get maximum shares in smartphone market.
1. The Smartphone industry is a well established market and the threats of a new entrant is low, as technology needed to rival the devices already available is quite advance if they want to differentiate from them