The smartphone has often been thought of as a high end commodity. In recent years, due to the economic recession, smartphone sales have drastically decreased. As a result, as market research has shown, consumers leaned heavily towards cheaper phones. Nokia greatly benefited from the recession, due to their strength in low-cost phones. However, due to the large consumer demand and shortages in supply, Nokia struggled to meet consumers demands. As time moved on and consumer income stabilized, the sale of smartphones began to drastically rise. Contrasting from Nokias “cheap phone” image, Apple’s smartphone sales had significantly risen. There iPhone4, according to market research, shipped 14.1 million units in one quarter. This moved them ahead of their rival RIM (providers of BlackBerry) in quarterly sales. Market research is extremely important tool for companies. It gives them an idea of how much of their product to produce in order to maximize their profits while minimizing costs. Without it, companies may produce too much or too little of a product, which decreases the total utility of a consumer or supplier. It is important for companies to do market research from the past and present, to make the best judgments for the future.
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