Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Competition in the mobile phone industry
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Competition in the mobile phone industry
There are many industries where companies are beginning to focus their activities on the acquisition and protection side of their company’s intellectual property. Strategically many companies are realising that intellectual property is one of the most important parts that differentiates them as an individual organisation. The essay addresses the logic behind the focus on intellectual property and evaluates how this now impacts on industry and the firms involved within it.
The essay will focus on the mobile phone market with many companies having leading brands in the market. This industry is interesting to evaluate as it is very fast paced with many well-known companies engaging in patent wars. Recently competition within the market has got so fierce that many firms are entering into acquisitions with competitors to increase dominance within the market. The main findings of this essay should reveal the impacts on firms, and the industry, now that companies are focusing their strategic activities on the acquisition and protection of intellectual property.
Background
Since the introduction of the smartphone the mobile phone industry has taken off with many companies trying to succeed in the battle to have the best quality phone. In the third quarter of 2013 smartphones accounted for 55% of overall mobile phone sales, with worldwide sales of smartphones up 50%. (Johnson, 2013) However before the creation of palm sized smartphones there had been a large amount of different versions of mobile phones going all the way back to 1938 with the SCR-194 and 195. This was the first portable AM radio produced by the U.S. Army signal Corps Engineering Laboratories, which was considered as the first “walkie talkie”. (Meyers, 2011) The tech...
... middle of paper ...
...rting to look rather bleak with competition growing and growth shrinking. Once cheaper handsets are manufacturered then prices will be driven down and penetration will increase which will shrink margins for the manufactuer as consumers will still demand high quality devices. Overall the activities from firms undertaking acquisitions and proctection of their intellectual property won’t stop the industry from declining unless these firms can innovate something exceptionally good that’s completely new. By the looks of it the mobile phone industry is bound to see a slump as many of these companies are already pumping billions of their revenue back into R&D without succeeding. The only way forward for these companies is to find a new strategy or prepare for a decline in sales, which will impact the industry by many firms leaving as there is no more profit to be made.
Cellphones have changed physically and technologically throughout the decades. From the militarized phone bags that were used to give orders during war to the more modernized, smaller, multi-use cellphones where anything can be found
The principal conclusions of this report show that the iPhone is a successful product that combines interesting features: iPod, internet browser and mobile phone, which satisfy the customer’s needs moreover it is also exceeding their expectations thanks to its fashionable design. However the UK current mobile market is very competitive, so Apple will have to deal with tough competition against established mobile phone manufacturers. The report finally comes up with some recommendations that can help improving Apple’s performance and the marketing environment for the iPhone, these are mainly:
When a firm is articulating their innovation strategy, determining how to keep control of their intellectual assets is crucial. That is because companies who are heavily reliant on research and development inherent value in intangible assets and other intellectual property (IP) compared to material assets (Henkel and Reitzig, 2008). But, of course this varies between different industries in managing those valuable resources to a business i.e. pharmaceutical and biotechnology) heavily rely on patents (Thomas, 2003). A patent gives an inventor a period of 20 years to stop other corporations from making, using or selling the invention in question without the permission of the investor (Out-Law.com, 2016) hence giving the investor a short-term monopoly. The main purpose of the patent system is to encourage innovation and the improvement of industrial techniques (Out-Law.com, 2016). However, this is open to debate, Boldrin and Levine (2013), claim there is no empirical evidence that patents serve to promote innovation and productivity. In the UK and other economies, patent ‘trolls’ are misusing the patent system which then serves as a hindrance to innovation. This leads to the question – are patents hurting innovation? I will critically explore patenting, patent sharks and consider recommendations made by authors for policy-makers.
In today’s current economic state, the likelihood of a company entering into a global market is inevitable. Multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Vodafone are required to standardise their Research & Development activities throughout the world in order to penetrate the market. This is achieved by obtaining new technological opportunities, such as the most up-to-date phones, thus maintaining a competitive driver in the market.
In 1990, Nokia Mobile Phones (NMP) was the smallest of the five business divisions of Nokia, with annual sales of $500 million and 3,051 employees. Jorma Olilla, the new president of NMP, in the same year led the division to become the world's second largest manufacturer of mobile telephones after Motorola in just a year and half later. Motorola and NEC, the close third competitor, were the dominant players with a combined 33 percent global market share, compared with NMP's share of 13 percent. During this period, the main customers of mobile phones were business users who could afford the high prices. The everyday consumers were not overly attracted by these high prices and limited functional phones. Despite these limitations, the cellular market was growing rapidly, which brought more Asian producers into the competition. To make the matter worse, there was much proprietary technology and equipment required for analog standards around the globe. The emergence of digital technology provided a hope for a uniform communication standard. As a result, NMP had to make a difficult decision regarding which technology to commit significant resources to.
This is because there is high research and development on the smartphone industry. This is also because of the competitive market in the smartphone industry, making the firms to have more research as to try to improve the technology on smartphones. Thus, it will increase the quality of the product as more development on the product gives them a better chance on making supernormal profits. Furthermore, supernormal profits were achieved on producer perspective as consumers will buy the smartphones from the large firms in the market. Based on the Figure 2 kinked demand curve graph below, supernormal profit is achieved after deducting the total costs and output. This is because the barriers of entry on the smartphone industry are relatively high. New firms will find that it is very hard to enter the market as existing large firms has control over the industry. Resources are also allocated efficiently, as they have a high set up and advertising cost to promote their firm brands. This is to enhance brand loyalty of the customers from existing brands. This will block the accessibility of new firms whom wants to enter the smartphone industry. Another cause for a high barrier is that existing firms already have legislations such as patent, license and copyrights on the industry. This will make it extremely difficult for the new firms to innovate as the existing firms have control over the required materials in
Since today, Nokia only opens up a few small, niche (emerging) markets, then success in these markets will not be enough to sustain significant growth. Nokia can be said to have lost its market core competence.
...es with android and internet surfing features. It lost market share as it was not able to keep up with technology and now with mounting losses and sellout even die hard fans of the manufacturer have lost confidence in its products. However in partnership with Microsoft the firm has brought in several interesting smart phones which are slowly helping it regain its lost status and reputation. Even while making expensive smartphones the maker knows that it is the low end durable phones with basic features are what its customers’ desire therefore makes them too and tries to add latest features to make them viable. Whether this strategy of Nokia will help it through to manage competition and stay in the competitive cell phone market remains to be seen.
The global demand for cell phones has increased significantly over the years-from 284 million in 1999 to 410 million units in 2000 to 510 million units in 2001.
Summarizing above report indicate that Nokia has faced tremendous issues and challenge after the beginning of the smartphone series launch. Nokia was the leading position in headset market but introduction of apple iPhone in 2007 brought misfortune for Nokia. The drawback of Nokia actually was because it fails to meet the need of its consumer demand. Any organization must have effective and quick strategies to sustain and retain its consumers as an example from Nokia failed from the area that it had the stronghold.
There are many reason that why is it important to protect one’s intellectual property. Some of the reason are Creator being accused as a theft, Loss of Reputation, Loss of income, Loss of Asset and Loss of Authority Rights.
"The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983-2009." Webdesigner Depot RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Protection of intellectual property rights in India continues to be strengthened further. The year 1999 witnessed the consideration and passage of major legislation with regard to protection of intellectual property rights in harmony with international practices and in compliance with India's obligations under TRIPS.
The smart phone was innovated heavily towards the late 2000’s and a lot of the newer features on them made their value skyrocket. There was a time when phones could only make calls, and even then the service was not that reliable. Eventually, companies start innovating with better resources of technology and start giving consumers more of a bargain for their dollars. The early 2000’s come around (2000-2004) and cell phones start to innovate text messaging, and some basis for PDA computing. The PDA industry did not last long because of the quick innovation ...
When phones became available to the public they were not considered to be mobile in today’s sense of the word. They were available to have installed in an automobile, they were big and bulky, and they needed and consumed a lot of power to use. The phone networks would only support a few simultaneous conversations. Cell phones since then have made vast improvements in their efficiency, abilities, and size. The first handheld mobile phone wasn’t produce until 1973. The origin...