How success is brewed in today’s electronics market
Apple has become a tech giant over the past decade thanks to their successful marketing and high quality products. The iPod became the player of choice for millions of consumers worldwide, the iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market today, and now the iPad tablets are touting the same success. Apple reports over 3 million iPad mini units have been sold in the 3 days since launch. Can any other competitor give Apple a run for its money?
Today hardware is not the only selling point of popular electronics. Instead, the apps available in the store for download provide users with a richer experience on the product. An article on tech blog tech2 reveals Apple’s app store currently has over 700,000 apps to offer, as does Google’s app store. After Google introduced their Android platform, many developers quickly became supporters because it is open source. Android devices also control a significant portion of the market for smartphones and tablets.
Meanwhile Microsoft’s solutions are struggling to find the same success in the smartphone and tablet markets. Their tablet, the Surface, is running a brand new operating system and their app store is tiny in comparison (around 120,000 apps). Some may also pinpoint RIM’s decline to the lack of new content / apps for the Blackberry. Some may point out that Apple has had plenty of experience to perfect their products. Microsoft made a huge step in taking charge for the hardware and software for the Surface, while they are primarily a software company. They took a stab at the portable music player market with the Zune, but again, it failed to catch on with the iPod already at the top. Consumers will not be likely to purchase a new product unless their current one fails.
This is an example of information cascading because most consumers had iPods, saw others with iPods, or commercials for iPods while Zunes were pretty much non-existent. New buyers did not know how the others made their decision, and it’s possible many bought it because everyone seemed to have it. Other devices offered greater storage space for cheaper and more built in features such as FM radio and voice recording. One rational explanation for Apple’s success was the iTunes store. This was a new concept of being able to purchase individual songs or albums online. No other mp3 player competitor could match this for a period. Microsoft eventually created a music store for Zune, but Apple quickly took another step ahead with the iPod Touch, with support for apps and of course an app store.
And today apps are one of the main selling points for electronics. Is it right to judge an app store based on its size? Surely one user will not use more than a handful of apps on a daily basis, or for more than a short period of time. At this point I will return to the struggling Microsoft and discuss their partnership with Nokia to deliver a feature packed smartphone running a Windows Phone OS. Nokia is a veteran in the phone industry, having existed since 1998. Their newest line of Lumias (820/920) boast incredible hardware including an excellent camera with various new technologies in video stabilization for example. After Apple introduced the Retina displays for their products, Nokia responded with their own colorful and high resolution display for the upcoming Lumia 820/920. They even developed their own set of apps for their Lumias including a working maps app, a GPS app for driving, a public transit app, and a music app. These apps are intended for everyday use. The music app has settled licensing to be able to input up to 3 artists and download a new generated playlist each month for offline, unlimited play. I am not aware of any other music app making offline play available.
If I didn’t get the chance to use a Lumia 900 this summer, I would not have learned of all the features it offers. One way I can counter an information cascade is to inform others of my thought process by writing about my experience and showing it to others.
http://tech2.in.com/news/apps/ios-android-app-downloads-to-cross-85-billion-by-2016/557422
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Microsoft-Google-unveil-new-smartphones-3991232.php
-Markus Salasoo ms933
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