On October 27, 2016, Twitter announced that they will be discontinuing Vine. For those that are unfamiliar with the popular social media app, Vine is a short-form video sharing service where users can share six-second videos that play on a continuous loop. Vine was founded in 2012, and in its 4 year lifespan it has accumulated over 200 million users. The app owed its success to content creators who captured interesting moments of their lives, made various sketches, parodies of trends, etc. It was a shock to me when I first found out about the news because of Vine’s heavy cultural impact in our generation.

Fellow COMM101 blogger Suprahbe Ballary’s post, “Growth vs. Sustainability”, explains the importance of companies to adapt new technology to their products and services in order to maximize productivity and stay competitive. I could not agree more. Vine’s failure is a testament that companies must keep up with their consumer’s desires and strive to gain new competitive advantages.

Although there were several problems that led to Vine’s downfall, the most prominent issue that they all fall under was their inability to adapt to changing users’ desires. McGrath’s Transient Advantage Theory explains how Vine’s stagnant approach to their service led to their demise. The Transient Advantage Theory states that a company must constantly adapt to volatile customer needs by always looking for a new competitive advantage over competitors. This especially applies to the social media industry because of the consumer’s unquenchable thirst for new content to satisfy their boredom.

The first issue that Vine faced was that the producers of content felt they were not being compensated for their work. These “Vine Stars” generated a lot of traffic for the app by amassing billions of views on their videos. DeStorm Power, a prominent Viner who had over 6 million followers, explains in a video below that despite their contributions to the app’s success, Vine did not monetize their content or provide support to content creators for more opportunities. As a result, many Viners chose to shift their focus to other platforms which did financially incentivize their partners, such as YouTube.

In 2012, Vine was the predominant social media application for sharing short videos. However, other social media apps caught on and included video sharing as one of their services. For example, Instagram made it possible for users to share 15 second videos and with that, Vine lost its unique competitive advantage.

Instead of expanding to possible new features, Vine remained stagnant and stuck to their guns. With other social media apps, taking over their market share and content creators shifting to other platforms, the app died on the Vine.

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References

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/25-things-know-vine/87383/

https://hbr.org/2013/06/transient-advantage

https://blogs.ubc.ca/suprabheballary/

Apple is undoubtedly the market leader in the the smartphone industry with the iPhone but they should watch their back because Google is hot on their heels. Google is stepping foot into the smartphone industry with their newest phone, the Google Pixel. There is no better time for Google introduce their new flagship phone as the market runner-up, the Samsung 7 Note, literally burst into flames, having “caught fire as many as 112 times after only one month on sale” (Hollister) ^[1]. The Pixel has the potential to take the number-one spot and cause a shock wave to the smartphone industry.

What the Google Pixel is expected to look like. Image link: http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/259412-image/google-pixel-and-pixel-xl.jpg

The Pixel’s specifications and new features certainly make it a candidate to be the iPhone’s biggest rival in 2017. The Pixel’s specifications not only match but in some cases outweigh their Apple counterparts. The Pixel competes with the iPhone 7 with a better camera, a longer lasting battery, and a higher resolution screen ^[2]. New features of the Pixel include the Daydream, a virtual reality experience made possible by the Pixel’s ultra HD screen; and Google Assistant, a voice-activated digital assistant similar to Siri.

Google was traditionally a tech company that focused exclusively on making software. They are most well-known for their software services such as Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail. The advantage of working solely in software is that marginal costs are thin which in turn gives the company a higher profit margin. However since 2002, Google has begun to develop hardware as well ^[3]. It may seem counter-intuitive for Google to move into making hardware but it was a necessary move for them because they had to find a way to extend their software services to their customers.

Google’s ventures into the hardware industry is an example of the company using a vertical integration strategy in the forward direction. Previously, Google had to rely on established hardware companies such as Samsung and Apple to make their services more accessible to users. These hardware companies have power over Google because they “get to decide which software comes pre-loaded onto their devices” (Vara) ^[4]. By making their own devices, Google eliminates the external hardware companies and is able to effectively offer users the full extent of their software services through their own hardware.

In Apple vs. Samsung: Competitive strategy ^[5], written by fellow COMM 101 blogger Makeda Adefris, she explains about how vertical integration can create a competitive strategy for tech companies. Samsung goes backwards in the supply chain and spends “a generous amount of money investing on […] capital expenditures” (Adefris) while Google goes forward in the supply chain to increase accessibility to users.

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References

1. https://www.cnet.com/news/why-is-samsung-galaxy-note-7-exploding-overheating/

2. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/google-pixel-price-release-date-8869704

3. https://www.google.com/about/company/history/

4. http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/googles-software-sell-for-hardware

5. https://blogs.ubc.ca/makeday/2016/10/02/apple-vs-samsung-competitive-strategy/

If there is one word to describe Kanye West’s place in the music industry, it would be legendary. He has used his influential status to not only build a brand for himself but to expand to new business ventures. Not only is he selling records and performing on world tours, Kanye West has expanded his brand by stepping foot in the fashion industry and starting his own clothing line.

Kanye West started his music career by producing instrumental beats and eventually soared to fame as he began rapping. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards making him one of the most decorated artists of his time. Through his thriving music career, he gained capital and worldwide fame and like many successful artists, he started his own record label, GOOD Music. However, what differentiated Kanye from his fellow artists was his vision to create something larger, outside of producing and making music.

Equipped with capital from his music money and the worldwide “Kanye West” brand, West pursued his passion of fashion. He is most well known for his collaborating with Adidas in 2013 to create the luxury YEEZY line of streetwear and footwear. The sales for his YEEZY line were extremely successful and Adidas claims that each sneaker that West has released has “played a major role in propelling Adidas to the most popular sneaker brand”. Kanye West has not only established himself as a music mogul but he is leaving a mark on the fashion industry as well.

Now in the fourth season, the YEEZY line continues to be a well known brand. Equipped with his name and business acumen, Kanye West will definitely continue to be a successful fashion mogul as he gains more experience in the fashion industry.

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References

http://fashionista.com/2016/03/adidas-2015-earnings

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/02/13/nyfw-what-kanye-west-gets-right-about-fashion-and-what-he-gets-wrong/?tid=a_inl