As I scrolled through Facebook for the past month or so, I noted that my apps-crazed friends constantly updated their newsfeed by posting images of personalized cartoon versions of themselves. Every picture was different, from hiding a dead body to travelling on a magic carpet, and it’s something I’ve never seen before.

Turns out these cartoons are made from an iPhone app called “Bitstrips”, and of course, I jumped on the bandwagon and downloaded it, too.

Relating to Porter’s generic strategies, how Bitstrips is gaining competitive advantage is by expanding on their product uniqueness in a broad industry. The iPhone apps industry is indeed very large due to innovative entrepreneurs and the low barrier to entry, so it is essential for the company to differentiate themselves from other apps.

In this article, the writer voices his discontent with Bitstrips, complaining about how the system is “slow, clumsily laid out, and buggy”. I, however, could ignore the flaws and simply focus on the uniqueness and creativity of the comics. After all, a picture says a thousand words, and what could show my emotions better than a cartoon version of myself freaking out about homework?