CASE STUDY

Final Case Study Assignment Based On Apple Cases

Final Case Study Assignment Based On Apple Cases

Competition in The Smartphones

In the initial days when PDA was introduced newly into the market, the calendar, address book and tasks lists were its prominent features along with being a wireless phone. As technology improved, the functionality increased. The device started supporting fax, e-mail features, Internet connectivity, third party applications; carrier oriented services such as the location based services and even synchronized with the desktop applications. With so many features and functionality embedded in it, PDAs gradually acquired names such as Pocket PCs and Smartphones. IBM came up with the first ever Smartphone in the year 1992, and exhibited the prototype in an industry fair. Later in 1993, the design was released as a consumer product by Bellsouth (Kavoori, 2009, pp. 250-263).

Studies reported that the smartphone seemed to promise social networking. In addition, the smartphone insured its users a strong control of their social networks. Some scholars argued that the smartphone provided a direct and private communication channel between parents and children and between users and close friends. Thus, the smartphone was often used to enhance social capital, especially by connecting their family members and friends, in spite of the fact that the smartphone was originally designed for professional and business purposes Broadly the components of a Smartphone are categorized as under Hardware, software, Network Protocols, Operating Systems, Servers, and Carriers (Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2003, pp. 242-261).

In-depth Analysis of Competitive Forces

When comparing Kindle with the competitive brands, it is important to state that the competition in this product category is very tough. This competition increased further when Samsung launched its latest hardware in the form of a 7 inches Smartphone tablet. Samsung is well known for its android hardware manufacturing and has a reputation as the bets company from the South Korean market. The Product is called Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Unlike the Kindle, this is not just a tablet but also incorporates SIM cards and is almost like a phone. This is not the end to the tablet war that is going on among Kindle and Galaxy Tab. More such tablets expected to come up by the end of the current year (Kavoori, 2009, pp. 250-263).

Nook Colour and Reader PRS-T1 have also been launched recently and add fuel to the fire of tablet wars. Barnes & Noble and Amazon Kindle are close competitors in that they both play on Android. When comparing the Amazon Kindle with the iPAd, Amazon Kindle is surely a killer. Though, it will take time for Kindle to fully kill iPad because of the numerous other features it has to offer its valued and much addictive customers, the new Amazon Kindle surely has the capability to outperform the Samsung galaxy Plus, the Sony's upcoming Reader PRS-T1 and Barnes & Noble's Nook Colour (Kavoori, 2009, pp. 250-263).

Screen Size

When it comes to the screen size both Amazon Kindle and Samsung Galaxy have the same screen size ...