“The smart phone industry is moving fast and all players including newcomers are
building upon ideas that have been around for decades” (Vascellearo, & Clark, 2012). All
players in the industry including the newcomers operate on one of five operating systems.
They include the iPhone market, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Blackberry market, and the
Android Market. Of the five, the two most widely used systems for smartphones are the
iPhone market and the Android market. The iPhone market was obviously developed by
Apple and is used exclusively by Apple products. Google developed the Android market
and it is used by all other smartphones on the market. The smartphones that are operating
on the Android market are in an alliacnce called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). The
OHA is a consortium of 48 different companies that includes, T-Mobile, Motorola,
Samsung, Intel, and QUALCOMM (Shih, Lakhan, &Nagy, 2010). Currently, the OHA in
reference to the shipment of smartphones are accounting for 68% of the smartphone
market, compared to 17% for the Apple iPhone (Shih, Lakhan, &Nagy, 2010).
In regards to actual smartphones, Apple Inc.’s biggest competitor is Samsung and
currently the competition could not be anymore intense. According to Moritz and
Fenner, “the mounting competition puts pressure on Apple to step up its pace of product
releases” (2013, p. 5). Samsung’s main strength is that they release more phones in a year
than Apple, so they almost always have the advantage of bringing innovations to the
smartphone market more quickly (Phelan, 2013). Samsung’s features are also a strength
for the company. Their newest product Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is sure to bring some heat
to Apple’s market. The phone promises to have a five inch screen, a higher density 13
mega pixel camera, and a quad core chip that will allow the phone to handle multiple
tasks at the same time . One of the multiple tasks that many users will find appealing is
the fact that the user will be able to access both of the cameras on the phone at the same
time. If one is at a concert, they will have the capability to record the concert and their
reaction to the concert simultaneously (Phelan, 2013). Samsung has also incorporated
“wellness features” to the phone. A pedometer is built in and it can detect if you are
running, walking, or climbing stairs. There is also a sports band feature that measures
your heart rate (Phelan, 2013). The company’s only weakness in regards to the
smartphone industry is that although they have the attractive features, Apple was still the
first company to come up with the smartphone. In essence no matter what they do they
are still “in Apple’s shadow”(Moritz and Fenner, 2013). This was especially proven
when Apple sued Samsung (and won) for copyright infringement for their smartphone
designs and elements that were similar to the iPhone.
Despite losing the lawsuit, Samsung Electronic Co. is still considered the biggest player
in the smartphone world, as it now possesses 20% of the market share, while Apple Inc.
only possesses 18.4% market share (Merritt, 2012). Samsung became the worldwide
leader in the mobile phone industry last year although Apple still remains the leader in
the United States (Moritz & Fenner, 2013). Apple’s sales growth the past two quarters
have been the slowest that the company has seen in 2 years. This is an obvious sign that
the company is losing its competitive edge in the smartphone industry. In regards to this
information, Apple Inc. should without a doubt seek to revamp their new iPhone 5S that
is set to be out in the late second to early third quarter of this year. The applications that
were once offered only to the Apple market are now being offered on the Android
phones as well. In order to keep the attractiveness in the industry, Apple will need to
incorporate
something different. Otherwise, Samsung will not only be the leader worldwide but also
in the United States.
