SMART PHONE MARKETS

Smart Phone Market Analysis and Business Settings

Smart Phone Market Analysis and Business Settings

Introduction

The twenty first century has brought about a boom in technology with it. Tasks have become easier, markets have become diversified, competition has increased, and technology has become a man's best friend. Along with many technological innovations and advancements, came the modern communication device known as the smart phone. Although customers love this new innovative assistant, telecommunication companies are facing excessive competitive challenge.

Every company launches its own smart phones in the market, and each of these phones has its own unique set of features. The differences between these phones exist on the basis of their operating systems, set of software, hardware advancements and most importantly the brand names attached with them (Puthawala, 2002, p. 16). In order to better understand the current market scenario of smart phones and the different competing forces acting within the market, in depth discussion is below.

Market Analysis

Market analysis is a tool that different companies use in order to better understand their market of operations. It can be seen as the most initial step of the development of a marketing plan. It involves gathering of relevant information from the market and then analysing it on the basis of priorities and budgets etcetera (Hillstrom & Hillstrom, 2002, p. 714).

Smart Phones

A Smart Phone is an advanced version of a basic mobile phone. It is a mobile electronic device that runs on very advanced operating systems and is extensively flexible allowing customers to install new applications of their choice. It is with the internet and provides updates wherever the customer might be (Cromar, 2010, P. 4). Its advancement lies in its extensive processing and communication capabilities with the power to run multiple applications at a singular time. The market of smart phones is in the phase of continual development from the moment the product was.

Position of Key Companies in the Market

Multiple players with their own brand equities and customer perceptions have been competing with each other for the past few years. Different companies operating in the smart phone market include:

Research in Motion Limited (RIM)

Research in Motion Limited (RIM) is the producer of the famous brand blackberry. Blackberry has been a famous brand since the launch of its first two way pager known as the Blackberry Z10 in 1999. The pager was seen as a massive innovation since it was the first of its kind.

Continuing with the brand's fame and raised equity, Blackberry ruled the mobile phones markets till a few years back. When the smart phones hit the communication market, blackberry despite its brand name lost its popularity. Analysing the growth rate of RIM from 2011 to 2012, we can see that the company declined on its sales by around 38%, and as per 2012 held only 4.2% share of the total mobile phones market (Epstein, 2012).

Nokia and Microsoft

Nokia is a Finnish multinational communications company and a well known brand throughout the world. Nokia phones were initially known for their reliability and durability because of their ...