...By 2002, an industry-wide transition to smart phones was on the horizon. Smart phones integrated PDA functionality in a wireless telephone. Whereas some PDA models had wireless phone capabilities in the form of a clumsy phone module, smart phones emphasized the styling characteristics of a mobile phone, and thus were more comfortable for use as a telecommunications device. However, unlike regular cell phones that have some organizer capabilities, smart phones had larger, sharper screens that could display regular Web pages rather than the small subset of Web pages designed to be readable on cell-phone displays.7 They also typically enabled users to take pictures and download music or other data. Smart phones had higher margins than PDAs (at least initially); however, the convergence of PDAs and mobile phones also meant that companies that produced PDAs (such as Palm and Compaq) were now to be pitted against very large and established mobile phone rivals such as Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung. Over the next five years, Palm, Research In Motion, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and HTC battled each other for the rapidly growing smart phone market, with each generation packing in more features and memory while simultaneously trying to whittle down the price to capture the consumer market. By 2006, analysts were estimating that just over 13 million smart phones had been shipped in 2005, while PDA sales had virtually ground to a halt. Nearly all of the smart phones relied on tiny keyboards...
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...Task 2 Internal Audit I shall perform a marketing audit on Blackberry; this involves both an internal and external examination of the company. A marketing audit can be used to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of a business and how it is affecting their ability to meet their overall aims and objectives. An internal audit is broken down into 5 main categories, these include: Resources- The resources of a business can include their Technical resources, financial resource, their organisational structure as well as their managerial skills Research in Motion has created value for its customers through R&D for the last 10 years, and they have as a result used their R&D as a distinctive advantage. As an innovator in wireless email solutions in the late 90’s they were able to establish assets such as licenses and patents related to data security, wireless transmission of data, and what they are known best for; their push email service. By securing these licences and patents it has given Blackberry an edge in the market with the features it offers, and allowed them to establish a target market which was business people and professionals, before moving into the general market. The major stakeholders of the company are two of the founding members, who currently serve as Co-CEOs of the firm. RIM performs well financially on a consistent basis, with revenue figures reaching $4.2 billion in 2011, although this is down 15% from the previous quarter. In the USA RIM...
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...I. Introduction: The assignment calls to analyze the decision making process of consumers while they purchase a certain product or a service using the principles of consumer behaviour. I have chosen to analyze the making process of consumers while they purchase a mobile device. The brand under study is Karbonn mobiles. In order to better analyze a consumers buying behaviour I will be working under two assumptions through the assignment. One – the consumer is an under-graduation student with low disposable income from India (cost conscious consumer). Two – he is interested in purchasing a touch phone which has a lot of “fun” features like apps for social networking, games, media centre etc., II. Karbonn Mobiles: The Karbonn mobile company was started in the year 2009 in Bangalore as a joint-venture between two Indian telecom powerhouses – the UTL group (United Telelinks Limited, Bangalore based) and Jaina Marketing and Associates (Delhi based). The UTL group is one of the leading suppliers of landline telephones, telecom equipment to cellular operators and in building and operating state wide area networks for governments (erstwhile supplier for the governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab). The company has also represented international mobile manufactures like Alcatel, Nokia, Samsung and Virgin in India either as regional or national distribution partners. The Jaina Group is a reputed distribution house with interests in telecom and consumer durables. The company...
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...the Internet, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks. Application stores developed alongside Web 2.0 and began with Apple’s App Store. The store’s huge success has since attracted other players to the market. As of October 2009, the App store has earned over US$ 2.4 billion for Apple and the independent developers the store uses. Over 93,000 applications are currently available, and over 2 billion downloads were made. There are two kinds of application store depending on the type of platform provider used. . Handset and OS vendors: Currently, most top smartphone vendors have launched their own application stores. Examples include Nokia’s Ovi Store, RIM’s BlackBerry App World, Palm’s App Catalog, Google’s Android Market, Microsoft Windows Marketplace for Mobile (WMM), and Samsung’s Mobile Innovator. Mobile carriers: Examples include China Mobile’s Mobile Market, China Telecom’s AppMarket, and Shanghai Unicom’s Wo-Store HIGHLIGHTS Most smartphone and OS vendors are becoming involved in the application store market because of the huge success of the App Store. Most platform providers use the 30/70 revenue share model, under which the platform provider takes 30% and the developer 70%. Licensing, application localization, and payment systems will be the most crucial factors for platform providers in China. China Mobile’s Mobile Market will be one of the winners in China’s application store market because of its competitive payment system and strong developer ecosystem. Regarding the huge...
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...1. Introduction There is this saying that states “nothing is permanent in this world except change.” According to (Kanellis 2005) in this age where technology is advance and is still rapidly improving, change happen every day. Changes can be viewed from two different points, the first point would be that of the people that are making the changes, while the second point would be that of the people that are experiencing the changes (Prosci 2004). To cope with these changes, people especially those in the working world that are the one affected the most, need to create plans to manage this unforeseen change in their different industry (Johnson 2008). This report aims to evaluate the situation Nokia is currently facing, follow by recommendation for Nokia to gain back their share in the telecommunications market. The key point that this report will focus would be, (1) the challenge in the telecommunications market, and how poor change management leads to Nokia’s downfall; (2) How to help Nokia gain back its market position by using Culture-Excellence approach and Organizational Learning, using of human resources practices to promote this culture and learning capability; (3) What are the potential resistance from Nokia workforce to this change and how should Nokia go about solving them. 2. The Challenge in the Telecommunication Market In today’s market, when an industry is encountered with tremendous changes, it is advised that the companies are to take fast and agile reactions...
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...What are the main issues of the Battle? Apple is trying to protect its patent. “A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by the government,”(piperpat.com) usually for a new invention/product. Apple have many patents, however they cannot protect them all as there is a constant change and upgrade in technology that only specific new features can be protected such as their ‘pinch and stretch’. Apple won a court battle after suing Samsung for “$1.05billion due to patent infringement.”(Opinion,2012) However they only won the battle as Samsung copied their ‘pinch and stretch’ trick. Below shows the courts ruling over certain patent claims by Apple towards Samsung. Samsung retaliated by trying to claim that Apple copied some of Samsung’s patents. However the judges ruled against Samsung. The key factors, in this patent battle are to prevent the other from gaining more market share and stealing their ideas. Both companies are large and have a large share in the tablet and smart phone market. The paperwork is based around a battle for patent, it is clear that it’s a battle over market share, reputation and a fight for dominance. This is why neither will back down, or accept they are at fault. The court battles are costing them millions and if it carries on the costs will damage the company’s reputations and profit’s as these costs need to be covered someone. Who are the main actors implicated and what are their claims? The billion-dollar patents dispute between hi-tech...
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...The smartphone rage is catching up in the country, especially in urban India, says a survey conducted by Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights. There are 27 million smartphone users in urban India – a total of 9 per cent of the entire mobile user base in the urban demography. India is considered to be one of the fastest growing mobile markets with around 900 million mobile phone users, according to TRAI estimates. The country’s mobile handset market witnessed 6 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2012 while the smartphone market in the country surged by 17 per cent, says market research firm Gartner. As consumer usage on smartphones goes much beyond voice calling and texting, that market has become a veritable hotspot for content consumption and mobile advertising. “For the first time ever, we have seized the opportunity that smartphones hold for mobile advertising in India. It now enables marketers to increase investments in the mobile medium, catering to a large enough market that consumes both rich media and advertising,” says Farshad Family, MD (Media) of Nielsen India. The survey has also covered the usage pattern of smartphone users. While 22 million people use their smartphones for social networking, 24 million use it for online searching, 21 million for looking up app stores and 19 million each use these devices for chatting and mailing, respectively. Around 16 million users view streaming videos; another 16 million use smartphones for maps and navigation while...
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...1865, and have since then evolved to the company it is today. Nokia became market leader in mobile phones 1998, and held that position in 14 years, until 2012. They nearly five-folded their turnover between the years of 1996-2001! But in 2007 something happened, smartphones were introduced on the mobile phone markets, and Nokia being a market leader in the mobile phone market was caught sleeping. Nokia has since then struggled to be a part of the fast growing smartphone market, but efforts have been fruitless leaving Nokia with a decrease of smart phone sales of 25% between 2010 and 2011, and inJune 2011 Nokia was overtaken by Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker by volume. Why: 2. General evaluation: market size, growth and share The smartphone market is big - and growing fast! 2011 the smartphone market stood for 31% of the mobile communication device market, and in the fourth quarter of 2011 the sales year-to-year grew with 54.7%. Nokia’s market share was in the first quarter of 2012 8%, going from 23.8% the same period previous year. Q4 2011 3. Degree of turbulence 4. Green strategy 5. Factors affecting many industries: PESTEL analysis 6. Growth: Life-cycle analysis The smartphone market is without doubt in the growing phase of the industry lifecycle with a growth last year of 54,7% insertgrowthhere 7. Factors specific to the industry: Key factors for success 8. Factors specific to competition: Five Forces analysis Suppliers:Low...
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...phones. More and more people now switch from normal phones to Internetenabled smart phones whose performance is as high as that of a computer. How the smartphone developed Although devices combining telephony and computing were conceptualized as early as 1973 and were offered for sale beginning in 1994, the term "smartphone" did not appear until 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a "Smart Phone". The first cellular phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers on 16 August 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", even though that term was not yet coined. In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive facsimiles, emails and pages through its touch screen display. Simon included many applications including an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, games, electronic note pad, handwritten annotations and standard and predictive touchscreen keyboards. 1 The Apps A mobile application (or mobile app) is a software application designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. They are usually available through application distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the...
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...global telecommunications equipment. Vertu is the product at hand. This is a luxury mobile device that is targeted towards the rich. There are many aspects of the phone that allow it to do so. Such as; stainless steel, diamonds, gold, ceramic, sapphires, and even stitched leather. The company has shown impressive sales growth in a market that is actually growing, with companies such as APPLE and Android. The question is, at their current stance can they survive? Synopsis of the Situation Dr. Ken Kwong-Kay Wong (2011, Pg. 1) states “On February 11, 2011, Stephen Elop, the new CEO who had been at the helm of Nokia for only five months, announced a new mobile strategy to adopt Microsoft’s new but unproven Windows Phone as its primary smartphone operating system”. The market didn’t care for this too much. This was a system that had not been proven to be worthy yet. The share price for stock took a 14 cents per share dive. Key Issues Although, Nokia was doing good, this market was getting smaller. There were some company issues as stated by Dr. Ken Kwong-Kay Wong (2011, Pg. 1) “Elop cited a lack of accountability, leadership and internal collaboration as key reasons for Nokia’s inability to deliver products in a timely manner”. Stephen Elop was brought in to create a better company and product. Unfortunately, the company’s current systems were Symbian. Elop chose the new technology of window’s based phones, that had not been fully presented to the market yet. Define...
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...Management Summary Samsung wants to introduce a new line of mp4 players. This plan is a detailed analysis on how Samsung can best introduce this product in The Netherlands as well as in Germany. First there is internal analysis of Samsung than external analysis will follow, which will focus on the Netherlands and Germany. Samsung wants to introduce this product in an already very competitive market, the MID market (Mobile internet device). One of the main competitors of Samsung, Apple, is already active in this market and Samsung wants to know how they will be able to compete. Samsung has always been a very innovative and technical company. Right now their technical and innovative strengths are there main competitive advantage. Samsung has a global product structure, with its main focus on their different product lines. Samsung has a geocentric predisposition, with subsidiaries all over the world. Table of Contents Preface 2 Management Summary 3 Internal analysis 7 Organizational Structure 7 Innovations 8 Technical superiority 10 New product possibilities and opportunities 10 Patents 11 Technologies 11 Finance 11 Quality of top and middle management 12 Company culture 12 Strategic goals/Strategies 12 Company values of Samsung 13 Core values 13 Business principles of Samsung 13 Entrepreneurship 13 Planning 14 Management of workforce 14 Personnel 14 Attitude and Motivation 14 Marketing 14 Product quality 14 Width/...
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...Memo To: CC: Date: December 11, 2010 Re: Part II Team Paper Apple’s New Innovative Product Worldwide mobile device sales were reported to 1.6 bill units in 2010. This was a 31.8 percent increase over sales the previous year. Of those 314.9 million units sold Apple posted 8.7 million in sales that quarter which was a 100 percent unit to the previous year and a market share of 1.2 percent. But the technology sales market place is not just about mobile phones it also includes other mobile devices such as the tablet. In 2010 there were 15.7 million units sold with an estimated increase of 400% by 2012. (Tudor & Pettey 2010.) This means to stay competitive in the market place Apple needs to do several things which includes pushing the limits of the Apples latest iPhone 4’s capabilities, create a green alternative to support devices, add features like an SD memory slot to make the iPad more user friendly, and to lead the way in the mobile device market place launch the iPhone5 which will have true 4g capabilities. This memo will recommend a new project added to Apple existing device portfolio. Also, we will explain the selection process and methods used to evaluate and justify selected project to be launched by midyear 2010. Portfolio Management Process (including selection criteria) The Project Management Office, during its guidelines, strategies and Apple’s innovative business advice will present current and future projects to the executive leaders and board...
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...Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android mobile software system dominated the U.S. smartphone market in 2011, representing a share of about 53%, according to research firm NPD Group. Android phones and Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone continued to take market share from former market leader Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM, RIM.T) and others this year. Apple's share reached 29%, while BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's share fell to 11%. "The competitive landscape for smartphones, which has been reshaped by Apple and Google, has ultimately forced every major handset provider through a major transition," said Ross Rubin, an executive director at NPD Group. "For many of them, 2012 will be a critical year in assessing how effective their responses have been." Research In Motion, which accounted for half of all smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2006, had slid to an 8% share in the third quarter of this year, NPD said. The company, which is preparing to introduce smartphones on its next-generation platform, has been making incremental improvements this year with its release of the BlackBerry 7 system. Research In Motion is now No. 5 among smartphone original-equipment manufacturers, behind Apple, HTC Corp. (2498.TW, HTCXF), Samsung Electronics (005930.SE, SSNHY) and Motorola. Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI) has benefited from the adoption of Android, which boosted its share of smartphone sales to 16% in the fourth quarter of 2010, before it settled back to 12% in the third quarter...
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...Blackberry Storm is one of RIM’s most profitable product), and the word “crackberry” had become synonymous with the workaholic professional. Yet, as the mobile telephony market for professionals started showing promise, RIM found itself besieged numerous competitors all over the world. RIM had a distinct first mover advantage in the market and was well known for its ultra-secure enterprise software. However, this advantage was rapidly eroding in the face of high R&D investments from RIM’s largest competitors such as Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft. This was problematic as it foreshadowed the question of whether or not RIM was well positioned to continue to meet expectations, deliver award-winning products and services and maintain its lead in the smartphone market. Oftentimes, Wall Street expectations for technology driven companies were also linked to the technology spend and RIM was clearly not ahead of the game in terms of this metric. Just to maintain status quo, it was clear to RIM’s CTO, Mr. David Yach, that he would need to hire 1,400 software engineers in 2008. Essentially, Mr. Yach faced the unenviable task of having to select the best options to deliver the growth expectations of RIM. These options included: (1) doing what they did, only more of it, (2) building on their existing and satellite R&D locations, (3) growing through acquisition or (4) going global. In this paper, we will examine the pros and cons...
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...Summary: This case is about the history of a Canadian multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, that designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile and telecommunications market. RIM provides platforms and solutions for access to information, including e-mail, voice, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), Internet and intranet-based applications and browsing. RIM’s portfolio includes the BlackBerry wireless solution, the RIM Wireless Handheld product line, software development tools and other software and hardware. History: Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) was founded in 1984 in Waterloo, Ontario, by Mike Lazardis. Lazardis, the son of Greeks who immigrated to Canada from Turkey in 1967, was 23 at the time. The company's first contract came from General Motors of Canada Ltd. for industrial automation. For several years the company survived by moving from contract to contract. By the late 1980s RIM had about $1 million in sales and about a dozen employees. RIM became interested in the long-term potential of digital wireless devices after it received a contract in 1987 from Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications, Inc. When RIM introduced its Inter@ctive pager in September 1996 at the PCS '96 trade show in San Francisco, the pager was able to use both the Ardis and RAM wireless networks. Released commercially in 1997, the Inter@ctive pager quickly became RIM's best-known product. RIM introduced...
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