Introduction
Sale of Smartphone has been on the rise in the recent past in the world over and in particular Qatar. This paper will discuss SWOT analysis for two of the famous Smartphone, blackberry and iPhones, compare them and discuss their advantages and disadvantages as used in the Qatar market.
SWOT analysis for Blackberry
Strengths
- RIM (Research In Motion) technology which centers on radio technology and mobile technology
- The ability to do research and development
- Ability to develop a relation with community, technical support and discussion forums
- Ability for the phones to have a software package for users to access and use email anytime and anywhere.
Weaknesses
- Prices for blackberry are very high
- Blackberry need to come with some solution to better their products than Motorola
- Slower internet services
- The services by RIM are not application development
- Hiring of third parties to develop the application for their phone devices
Opportunity
- Blackberry phones has a lot of features
- Blackberry has a great advanced technology
- Able to fulfill customer with his/her needs and wants
- Leading-edge radio technology
- Knowing what their customer wants
- There were among the first in the market for their famous “Blackberry”
Threats
- Heavy competition especially with Motorola
- Competition with the Nokia the largest cell phone provider
- Motorola are good marketers
- Some other phone brands like Nokia, Ericson and Motorola have email components
SWOT analysis for iphones
Strengths
- iphone’s unique look and feel
- its mobile operating system
- Phone sensors that work with multi-touch screen
- First computer phones in the era
Weaknesses
- The iphone is not a 3G device
- Some of its features are not particularly impressive like a par-camera and irremovable memory
- High cost of the phones bar many people from purchasing them (they cost 500-600$).
- The company’s choice of distribution channel limit only to Cingular and Apple retailers
- The phones purpose has not been fulfilled; is it for entertainment purposes or to fulfill corporate duties
Opportunities
- High demand for better mobile computing experience as the phone tries to combine powerful computing and entertainment into one system
- The Mac OS can easily be adapted for the iphone thus being a step towards an Internet Protocol Based Network.
- Emergence of Wi-Fi networks that which pushes for visitor fees instead of provider lock in users
Threats
- Major threats is from such companies like Nokia, Sony and Google which have their respective products that the iphones provide
- Presence of Smartphone in the market that iphone does compete with. This is coupled with the fact that these phones can run on 3G networks also puts iphones behind in the competition race
- The iphone’s pricing is relatively unaffordable by the majority of people in Qatar
- The infringement of Cisco vs. Apple that may have taken away the product launch.
Comparing iphones and blackberry
Comparing weaknesses
- The prices of both of these devices is too high for the common people
- While blackberry does support 3G devices, iphones do not
Comparing strengths
- Ability to access such services like emails is an added advantage for both phones
- Ability for both companies to do research and development for the mobile operating system
Advantages and disadvantages of iphones and blackberry
From the SWOT analysis of the two phones, we can make out the advantages and disadvantages between them
- The iphone has the disadvantage of not enabling 3G network unlike blackberry
- Both though have the disadvantage with the pricing- too high
- Blackberry’s slower internet connection is its big disadvantage as compared to iphones.
- Iphones have the advantage of touch screen is a big plus unlike for blackberry
Blackberry sales
Research In Motion reports that although there are some available several models of Smart phones available in the market, sales for blackberry continue to increase. In its 2009 report, it reports that expects a 40 percent increase in sales growth. Due to increase in sales, revenues are also expected to increase. (Gallagher, D., 2009).
Iphone sales
Apple’s iphones have reported that their persisiting efforts to expand sales in the year 2009 paid off when Vodaphone announced a deal with Qatar. In the month it was launched, a whole 100,000 signed up for the iphones in the month of September alone. The report by Sambdige shows that sales for iphones will increase by a great deal. (Sambidge, A., 2009). According to the latest report in 2011, the Smartphone iphone has helped Vodaphone to increase its sales. The company, Vodaphone, increased its sales to £11.9 billion in the world. This was the third consecutive increase in quarterly and represented Qatar’s progress in bringing new products and acquiring new customers (TradeArabia).
Qtel being the first mobile subscriber in Qatar and being government owned has had its growth increase over the years. The sales decreased little bit with the introduction of the UK Company Vodaphone.
