Raymond Tang's Blog

The recent collaboration between Nokia and Microsoft and the Windows Phone 7 Lumia devices have caused quite a stir amongst carriers, retailers, and most importantly, consumers. The range, currently consisting of Lumia 710, 800, and 900, are critical in improving  Nokia’s position in the market after releasing lackluster and unappealing solutions against its competitors armed with Android and iOS devices. There’s no question that Nokia can design phones that are appealing and of high quality, heck their old models have earned the reputation of indestructible phones on meme sites such as 9GAG; yet their sales figures is still a far cry from making a dent in the smartphone market. So what is wrong with their formula? Why are their phones not getting traction in the smartphone market when many, many, many reviews praised how attractive the Lumia 800 and 900, Nokia’s latest offerings, yet there’s something missing in the overall appearance and impression as a whole that will hinder its sales and ultimately, Nokia’s desperate attempt to recapture market share.

Their main problem isn’t the hardware, it’s the software. Reviewers and many individuals alike have praised the higher end 800 and 900 for its superb build quality – single-piece polycarbonate shell – and a screen that “melts in to the housing”, yet the inconsistencies in the Windows Phone operating system have severely reduced the appeal and failed to win consumer’s hearts as a platform they are willing to support as the prospects in Android and iOS are so much more worthwhile. So how can Nokia attempt to resolve these  issues? To simply bundle their phones with other products and services and give them away. Like with the Lumia 900, which is due for release this Friday, is giving away the phone for free on AT&T on a 2-year contract for any new subscribers to their service. As for AT&T’s employees, they can get the phone for free to motivate them into promoting the platform. In other parts of the world, ac

To further dilute the Nokia brand, the marketing department have created many campaigns to stimulate the interest in the Windows Phone 7 platform, including Facebook phone giveaways, pitiful campaigns such as the Nokia Army, and bundling their phones with the XBOX 360, with none making a substantial impact in the sales figure for the phone. The problem not only lies in the poor PR and software problems, but also on the sales price. At the current price point, the Lumia models only come with a single-core processor and WVGA resolution screens while competitors are offering dual-core processors with Retina or HD displays at the same price, and this is without taking into consideration of the app market, which is also a major factor for consumers when choosing a smartphone.

Eldar Murtazin from Mobile-Review has a very good article highlighting the ways Nokia tries to bluff and glorify their sales figures and current company situation in the market. With the current CEO’s dermined stance on the Windows Phone 7 Platform, his stubbornness to consider other solutions, combined with noncompetitive price and underwhelming technical specs,  Nokia really needs to find a new solution to save themselves, and they will need one quick.

There is no denial that Asia has become an increasingly important market for high end luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hermes. Such demands for luxury goods even push these powerful companies into making products specifically for a certain demographic, such as Herme’s Saris crafted specifically for India, and Audi and BMW‘s extended models specifically tailored for the  Chinese market. Despite the exponential growth as a result of market expansion into Asia, there are still lessons to be learned for each luxury company as they are still unfamiliar with the marketing they are breaking into.

As mentioned in Timmy Cheung’s blog post, customer service is a key attribute  in the luxury goods sector; however the amount of customers that go in and out of the store has seriously deteriorated the supposed quality of customer care as employees fight for commission instead of focusing their time on providing customers with a satisfying experience before, during, and after a purchase. Furthermore, in some areas like in Hong Kong, the employees target mainland Chinese and foreign customers, neglecting the local rich Hong Kong residents that are possibly just as well-off. As a result of this, these potential customers feel mistreated, if not unwelcomed.

In one extreme case a Hong Kong reporter was threatened to have his camera destroyed after he took a picture of a new D&G store that opened recently, then being told that anyone but Hong Kong residents are allowed to take photos of the store. This led to a outrage and thousands gathered in front of the store demanding an apology for the discrimination against the locals. The poor PR handled by D&G has ostracized many potential customers, and the freedom of press in Hong Kong has allowed such news to spread globally, potentially damaging the company’s image and its core values. Forbes has a good article that outlines the disaster as a result of this action, notably on the failure of delivering a proper apology. It is likely that D&G will have to deliver an official apology at some point, but by the time they come up with one  the damage cannot be reversed.

Although it may seem like McDonalds is everywhere wherever you go, you might be surprised to learn that their penetration in Eastern Europe and Russia is predominantly low. Now, with the neighboring regions starting to recover from the recession that struck them late last decade, McDonald’s is on a path to break into the new markets and get their share in the the fast-food industry.

McDonald’s total investment in these two regions is a good indicator that they are being serious in being a threat for its competitors in those regions. In Russia alone they plan to open 45 new restaurants, totaling $120 million, while spending another $15 million to renovate its 300 current locations. By 2016-2017 they have ambitious plans to open 75 new restaurants per year. In Eastern Europe where their presence is next to non-existent, the fast food giant is set to open a number of restaurants throughout countries to seriously increase their presence and accessibility, and not only in capital cities of the countries that make up Eastern Europe.

As these markets fall under the medum-to-high income groups, McDonalds’s low price meals should create a strong formula for success in the region, but only time will tell if the world’s largest fast food chain will successfully make a breakthrough into the new markets.

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Five years ago, no, three years ago, if you weren’t an avid mobile phone enthusiast you probably haven’t even heard of the brand HTC, but fast forwarding to today, those who are in the market for a new smartphone must have come across this brand for its unique Android and Windows Phone 7 solutions. How did such a company go from almost non-existent in the market to global smartphone hardware leader within half a decade? The answer lies in the CEO and founder of the company, Peter Chou.

Peter Chou founded HTC in 1997 along with Cher Wang in Taiwan and positioned themselves as a sole hardware manufacturer. Although in the early days the company’s success wasn’t astronomical, the company continued to produce unique, high quality Windows Mobile smartphones ages before iOS and Android came into existence. What makes the company phenomenal is Peter’s aggressiveness and willingness to take risks for the good of the company. HTC was the first company to produce smartphones for Google’s Android OS and was responsible for producing the first Google phone despite the uncertainty of the OS’s success. Furthermore, amidst all the criticism and backlash received in Nokia’s announcement of using Windows Phone 7 OS around the world, Peter Chou wittingly looks at the bright side of this partnership and compliments how this will bring a better future for Nokia, while strengthening the WP7 ecosystem, thus making HTC’s own WP7 phones easier to market as well. Kudos to Peter Chou for complimenting a competitor, it’s not something we see in any industry nowadays, especially in the lucrative mobile phone industry. Just like HTC’s motto, Peter Chou is “Quietly Brilliant”.

If you were recently in the market for a new Smartphone, or an avid follower of mobile phones (like me), then you probably heard of HTC, who’s responsible for the popular Nexus one (aka Google Phone) and the first Android phones (Magic and Dream). If you read a post a couple down from this one, I’ve listed some of their achievements. It’s outstanding that they rose to their current status within the last 5 years.  Think about it, 5 years ago, did the letters HTC ever struck you? Probably not (cuz they didn’t reach America yet).

HTC was still pretty mum in the American scene until last year when they release the “you” campaign, seen above. The launch was successful and the ad injected brand awareness in the American Market. Combined with their increasing demand in Asia and Europe, the Taiwanese company has been increasing in revenue and profit each year, as they are especially lenient with carrier subsidies. Their formula for success, and correctly identifying what the future demands were, allowed themselves to capture multiple competitor’s market share and gain the title as a innovative company within a year. Their software department is so awesome they injected Flash Support in Android 2.1 even though it’s not officially supported by the software or Google, which mean they did some serious coding. That’s how pro they are.

Good Job HTC, looking forward to your future products

As most of us knows, GM has been at the lower end of the spectrum for making exciting, attractive vehicles over the past decade. Surpassed by imports from both East and West, GM, along with Chrysler and Ford, were losing ground in their homeland. Looking at their current situation, it is possible that GM and the Big 3 in general is finally getting back on its feet by bringing successful vehicles in other continents into their home ground. These include the Buick Regal (Opel Insignia in Europe), the new Ford Focus, and the Ford Fiesta, all which are extremely popular in Europe.

These vehicles, although originally designed for Europeans, always appealed to American buyers as they were more exciting and radical than their beige counterparts here in America. Along with GM’s IPO raising $20.1B last month, GM’s prospects are looking good as investors believe their future will be promising. In the Reuters article linked above, it says “GM earned $5 billion in the first nine months… since 2004” shows that importing their European fleet of vehicles is better than continuing their current unattractive lineup despite any costs incurred during the import process. It’s weird, but I’m looking forward to some of their offerings, notably the Regal GS…. never thought i’d take an interest in driving a Buick haha =D

While researching around the internet for relative articles for the final case study for COMM101, I came across this article that recently said Bell is offering 2000 canadian atheletes phones and monthly services.

This offering is a joint offering made by Bell and Samsung, both which have desires to showcase their new HSPA network (Bell) and the new Galaxy Line (Samsung) Android Smartphones. The monthly plans include data; however the details on exactly what the athletes will receive are ambiguous.

Learning from case 3, we can see that Bell is taking an extra step in showing support for Canadian athletes as their rival Telus, have been securing sponsorship for sports events for years. What Bell is doing is attempting to capture the remaining openings in sports-related sponsorship or support. The tension between the two companies are rising, and despite their claims that their network is the best, ironically they both share the same HSPA network so neither network is superior than the other.

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HTC, as you may or may not know, is an innovative mobile phone company that has recently become extremely popular for its Windows mobile and Android smartphones . I consider HTC to be an entrepreneurial company because:

1) created first Microsoft-powered smartphone, first Microsoft 3G smartphone, and first Android phone

2) Leader of Android-based Smartphones and creator of the first 4G Android Smartphone

3) Risk: Adapted to new smartphone platforms without knowing the success of the platform

4) Speed of Wealth: ever since the introduction of Windows Mobile 6, HTC established its status in the Smartphone world, which was further strengthened by its range of Android Smartphones when the Android OS took off in 2007

Here I am, somewhat put off with my Computer Science homework but still had the motivation to continue.

THEN I come across this article.

Totally encouraging …QQ

Today in class we had an interesting lesson on MIS, and how it’s becoming increasingly important for consumers and companies for a variety of reasons.

This also applies to the widely known for the Android operating system for mobile phones and now, tablets and netbooks.

For those that don’t know, Android is provided for free to developers and is an open source program, so if you and I know how to program then we can get the program and mod it to our liking; however like the Disney photo album example, the development of the system certainly isn’t free, especially when they started from scratch and updates the OS version once in a while. So, how do they cover their costs?

Blatantly obvious answer: mobile ads

Everyone knows how much money Google makes from their ads on a bajillion of websites, and now through their mobile platform they can sustain the expenses of Android development, and even possibly earn an income on that even though they don’t charge users money for using their OS.

Read more about it here

Source: Newsweek