Vertu is a maker of luxury mobile phones that cost from $6,000 to $12,000. It features sapphire crystal faces, and titanium, gold or platinum bodies. Some don’t think it makes any sense to either make or purchase such an expensive phone. An increase, however, has been witnessed of the sales of Vertu recently.

Why did that happen? I think the main reason is that Vertu started using the latest version of Android: 4.2. I admit that not a lot of people would want an old Vertu with gaudy appearance but dumb functions. However, today, by using Android 4.2 to strengthen its POP, its POD(luxurious appearance) finally differentiates itself from other smartphones and improves its sales. Vertu used to be seen as uncompetitive not because of its luxurious appearance but the lack of functions. By contract, its luxury has always been and will be a strong point.

As Vertu’s chief executive officer, Massimiliano Pogliani said “There are people who appreciate certain things, and there are people who do not. And if you do appreciate this sort of thing, and you can afford it, then it’s your choice how you spend your money.”

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/vertu-ti-official.jpg

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/12/vertus-first-android-smartphone-will-cost-7-900-euros/

Zappos has been named as the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 5 years in a row. It has become a representation of employee-centric companies by highly valuing its employees and organisational culture.

By watching the video showed in class, I knew that Zappos has an area providing its employees with free drinks and snacks. Also, the company usually organizes some activities which enables the CEO and employees interact and communicate in an easier way.

In this way, despite the higher costs, Zappos gains employee loyalty which cuts its turnover cost. Also, by being more motivated, employees work more efficiently and provide customers with better services, which protects the company from losing customers. Finally, I think the most important thing is, this kind of organisational culture makes what Zappos is. It makes Zappos more unique and differentiates it from other companies selling similar product, which makes it more attractive both to customers and employees.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/img/1.0/sections/mag/fortune/bestcompanies/2013/snapshots/zappos.jpg

In terms of the most recent data from IDC, in Q3 of 2013 Android made up 81 percent of devices shipped. Apple’s iOS, however, made up only 12.9 percent.

Towards the figures, it seems to be rather obvious that Android dominates market share, but does it mean smartphones with Android system, such as Samsung, HTC and LG also dominate the market? The answer is, no. Data from Canaccord Genuity shows that during the same period the profit apple made made up 56 percent of the profit in the whole mobile device market.

Then, why did iOS only take in 12.9 percent? One of the reasons is apple is the only company who uses iOS, which can also be seen as one of its POD. Moreover, by selling its own APPs, iOS actually made more money than Android did. It shows that figures can sometimes be deceived. High market share does not mean high income. Also, rather than focusing too much on volume and quantity, what apple always does is to focus on quality, creativity and POD, which proved to be successful by gaining more revenue for Apple.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2013/11/15/android-dominates-market-share-but-apple-makes-all-the-money/

http://cowichansound.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/silver-apple-logo-apple-picture.jpg

Recently, snapchat turned down a 3-billion cash offer from facebook. A lot of people think Evan Spiegel made a dumb decision to turn it down. However, I think Spiegel’s decision actually makes sense. Messaging service market is definitely competitive, which can be assumed as one of threats of snapchat. It, however, has an extremely strong strength which can help it overcome those competitions, which is uniqueness.

The technology snapchat uses is not the most advanced one in the whole market but the ephemeral way it deals with all those messages attract already millions of users that share 350 million snap chats per day.

Messaging service is not a blank market. Ephemeral messaging service, however, is. These kinds of messages encourage people to be themselves since they are not permanent. Sometimes people post on facebook and twitter to only show people the stuff they “want” others to see but not who they really are. With such a strong POD, snapchat definitely has great opportunities and potential. As known, the customer base of snapchat keeps growing faster and faster. Evan Spiegel came up with an idea which nobody had ever thought before and it values not only 3 billion.

resources:http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/11/15/snapchats-smart-not-to-sell-out-to-facebook-or-anyone-else/

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/11/13/report-snapchat-turned-down-3b-offer-from-facebook/

http://socialmediatoday.com/sites/socialmediatoday.com/files/imagepicker/246411/snapchat.png

In course 17, we learnt the importance of IT which helps a company improve their products and services through gaining useful information from their customers. Nowadays, almost every bank has its online banking system and most work both on computers and mobiles. No wonder it is an efficient way both for customers (to get services) and banks (to offer services and gain information). However, there is something more important than that—consumer’s priority.

Mobile banking threat is on the rise. It is reported that online banking Trojans, which are used to steal banking information from the user, soared to a record high with more than 200,000 infections. Customers tend not to use online banking apps anymore with knowing this which may lead to losses of banks.

In this situation, a bank is supposed to partner with security firms with stronger brand names and better security systems, which creates a POD for the bank. It is understandable that security must be people’s priority when they choose a bank to use, so the bank must let consumers know that it’s the bank’s priority, too.

Resources: www.tibco.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hackers-With-An-Agenda.jpg

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/11/12/mobile-banking-threat-on-rise/