With the release of The Passport, the main complaint of the phone is the shape and functionality even though Blackberry prides themselves on offering a full keyboard. Saying that, Forbes does recognize its successful operating system saying, “The new BlackBerry 10 operating system has a focus on communication and enterprise, and pairs up well with this ethos.”

Blackberry continues to have a very businessmen-oriented product with an effective system for business professionals. However, it continues to lose market value. Apple has a high competitive dominance mainly because they were able to predict their target customers views and adapt to changes where as Jim Basille can be quoted saying “… the only app you need is the browser. You do not need an app for the internet…” This was very poor foresight and this delay to create apps for their phone, which they still struggle to do so and only have them, available through third-party methods, is/was a tremendous setback to the company as a whole.

This is the first phone released under the new CEO John S. Chen but once again, Blackberry releases a phone that is merely a physically reconstruction rather then a new product they are in desperate need of.

Spencer, E. (n.d.). BlackBerry Passport Review: An Uncomfortable Vision Of A Modern Smartphone. Forbes. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/10/05/blackberry-passport-review-an-uncomfortable-vision-of-a-modern-smartphone/

Keurig is the leading at-home coffee competitor and this is mainly because of their revolutionary K-cup design, which were the only ones to work in their coffee maker.  Now however, with the patent of these cup designs having expired 2 years ago, competitors jumped on the trend to enter the market. Keurig also recently released the Keurig 2.0 brewing system, which was only able to read K-cups to work initially. Competitors have figured out how to trick the system (for lack of a better term) and allow the machine to brew their coffee as well. The question is, can Keurig maintain its top spot with this new pressure form competitors?

Personally, I believe they can. I think Keurig maintained a monopoly on the market for so long that they have created a strong brand following and have clearly established a name for themselves.  Although they cannot take legal actions, since the loophole found was a scientific one in the way the barcode on cups is read, they did acknowledge the fact that the Keurig will function best with the pods designed for it versus new improvised ones. Keurig clearly has a strong understanding of the exterior threats and weaknesses the company has yet still views them as a strengths and opportunity’s by improving upon them while still being wary to maintain market fairness (unlike Nespresso and their competitor-suppressing techniques).

Buckner, D. (2014, October 5). Keurig’s coffee supremacy challenged by Canadian firm. CBCnews. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keurig-s-coffee-supremacy-challenged-by-canadian-firm-1.2787075

This article was especially interesting because of its approach on marketing. The market of Internet based thermostats in a generally new topic with Ecobee and Nest the leaders. However, although they are competing against each other, this competition has the ability to improve each company as a whole because of the discussion it creates. With Google now entering the race, Ecobee promotes their product by reiterating they believe they have the naturally stronger product.

Similar to Tesla, we see a new start up company start a new field in business and then have it swarmed by competitors trying to keep up with, or get in, the race. Both Tesla and Ecobee are the founders of the field, and both have higher prices. Ecobee (it appears) has not done much in terms of advertising and so again we see a comparison to Tesla where they are using social media and word of mouth to spread their product. While other countries are busy promoting and comparing their products to Ecobee, they are actually doing part of the promoting work for their competitors.

The article itself promotes Ecobee by talking about its competition. Before I found it, I had heard of Nest purely because it is a byproduct from Apple, but even though Ecobee is coming out with their third version, I had never heard of it. The power of marketing…

Canadian Press. (2014, October 5). Toronto-based thermostat company Ecobee faces heated competition.CBCnews. Retrieved October 5, 2014, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toronto-based-thermostat-company-ecobee-faces-heated-competition-1.2788317