Cut Throat Competition In Mobile Handset Industry

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Contents

Abstract

Purpose - In today's world of Cut throat competition in Mobile handset Industry there are numerous players who are coming up with innovative products and devices in no time. The industry leaders with maximum market share are Samsung, Apple, RIM, HTC, LG, Nokia etc. Iphone5 from Apple, Galaxy sIII from Samsung, HTC One from HCT are running away with maximum sales as most of the consumers around the world are attracted towards these products.

Amongst all this competition and hundreds of mobile devices floating around in the market, Microsoft has recently released Windows Phone 8 (WP8) which is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system. Microsoft's earlier Mobile platforms were Windows Mobile and Windows 7. WP8 was released to manufacturing on 14th September, 2012 and released to consumers on 29th October, 2012.

Currently Windows phone 8 OS based phones are set to be launch by three OEM's i.e devices will be launched by three companies: Nokia, Samsung, and HTC. In India 1st phone based on WP8 was launched during Diwali (Nov 2012) from HTC followed by Nokia which is planning to launch N920 and Samsung. All the companies launching the subsequent devices based on the WP8 would expect WP8 should get a great success and acceptance by Consumers.

The aim of the project undertaken will be to access the market potential and Windows Phone 8 OS, find acceptance level of Windows Phone 8 OS on lines with Apple's Iphone series and Samsung Galaxy series also find what consumers expect from Windows Phone 8 and based on the finding of the projects and survey give recommendation. All this will be restricted to the India context and the main focus of the study will be on the youth with age group 17-30 as most of the consumers of the Smart phones are from this age bracket.

Keywords: Smartphone, WP8, Mobile Operating system, Market research, Mobile phone industry, Windows Phone 8

Introduction

Estimating the market potential is very important for any company planning to enter a new market or launch a new product. This is a process where an organization will try to estimate the attractiveness of the market for selling its products or services. Before venturing out into a new market or introducing a new product in the existing market and investing large sums of money, it is very important for an organization to assess the market in order to avoid the losses. Besides studying and assessing the broad market factors such as the size of the market, demographics, GDP and the spending power of the consumers in the market, companies should also analyze market specific factors such as customer’s tastes and preferences, customers openness to accept new product or changes in the existing products, the cultural factors, social factors, their willingness to buy the new products and so on.

Data regarding customer preferences and market specific factors can be collected through primary and secondary research or sources. Estimating the future market demand of a product or service of the company in a defined market is called sales forecasting. Over the years, importance of sales forecasting has been on the rise and has become one of the very important tool for companies entering into new markets around the world. Apart from the mathematical and historical models developed earlier, many new software tools have been developed which help in forecasting sales in a better way. Forecasting can be classified into two categories i.e qualitative forecasting and quantitative forecasting.

The methods used for qualitative forecasting are Nominal group technique, user expectations, Devil’s Advocate, jury of executive opinion, sales force composite, Delphi technique and test market. The methods used for quantitative forecasting are regression and correlation analysis, moving averages, exponential smoothing, multiple regression models, and time series analysis. Selecting the appropriate forecasting method is of great importance for a firm going for forecasting. The appropriate method of sales forecasting is selected on the basis of factors such as available time, pattern of data, accuracy, costs, experience of the company and requirements of the software.

For effective forecasting, certain criteria in terms of plausibility, durability, accuracy, flexibility, organizational participation, availability of statistical indexes, and demand patterns, should be achieved. Sales forecasting faces several difficulties such as lack of time, lack of adequate sales history, budget and qualified team or personnel. Ever changing customer attitude, customer preferences and changing fashions and fads also act as roadblocks to effective forecasting.

It has been two years since Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7, yet today it sits at the bottom of the list of Mobile Operating system in the Smartphone market. Even with two years of effort, Microsoft now holds a market share that is lower than that it was in 2010, things could have been much worse for Windows Phone if Nokia had not parted its ways with Symbian and opted for WP7 in 2011.

Recently Microsoft has launched Windows Phone 8, the latest version of the Microsoft’s 2-year-old Smartphone platform. It's Microsoft's latest attempt to regain a foothold in the Smartphone market and its third major push to gain momentum against its Android and iPhone alternative — something it's struggled mightily to do over the years, with a worldwide market share of less than 4%.

It is also another big step towards Microsoft's creation of an entire connected devices-and-services ecosystem. In that ecosystem, devices are designed to work well with each other, with the other devices in the ecosystem — a Windows Phone 8 Mobile handset, say — connecting the handset user to a whole host of Microsoft’s services on offer, from MS Office to Xbox to SkyDrive. But promoting the ecosystem concept is only part of what Microsoft needs to do to gain market share for its smartphone platform, says analysts.

It also needs to get the message across to the consumers about what makes the phones different and better than the ones that are already available in the market, for starters have more OEM’s onboard, have more carriers opt for WP8 based phones, get the carriers to promote the WP8 based phones and also assist in training carriers' and retail store staff about the platform's features.

Overall Mobile Phone Industry

The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing Industries in the world besides the Internet. Mobile phones have gone through evolutionary changes since inception, unlike cell phones of the 90’s today’s mobile phones can be used as a handheld computers, store data, make presentations, watch videos, play games, install and run hundred’s of applications which can do almost anything which a latest desktop or a laptop can do and are constantly evolving as innovator around the world are constantly working to meet the consumers demand and expectations. Mobile phone market has also expanded globally in terms of usage. Since 1990, the cell phone industry has increased from 12 million to over 6 billion subscriptions till Jan 2012, penetration up to 87% of the total world population.

The mobile phone market is increasing very fast and quick with today’s technology and innovation in improving cell phones. Today’s consumer is hungry for advanced technology and innovative products and everyone wants a piece of the latest technologies. Mobile phone industry is still expanding and growing larger day by day because it has become a necessity, in one of the survey carried out by Times Magazine in US found that 84 % of respondents said that they could not go a single day without their cell phones. Parents are increasingly buying mobile phones for their children because both the parents are away at work and cell phones become a way to be connected with their children also they would to communicate in case of an emergency. All these factors are helping increase the no of buyers and in-turn increases market size around the worldwide.

Mobile Phone Market World Wide

In the smart phone market, Android continued to increase its market share, as it went up by 19.9% in the third quarter of 2012 compared to previous quarter. Riding on the huge sales of Samsung SIII and also because of the festive season during December the market share of Android is expected to increase further during the 4th quarter. Although RIM lost market share compared to last year, it climbed to the No. 3 position as Symbian OS is nearing the end of its lifecycle, whose market share dropped to mere 2.6% as compared to 16.9% during the same period last year. With the launch of iPhone 5, it is expected that the iOS share will grow strongly in the fourth quarter of 2012 because users held on to their replacements in many markets ahead of the iPhone 5 wider roll out. When we look at Windows phone 7 OS its share weakened quarter-on-quarter as the expected launch Windows Phone 8 launch dampened demand of Windows Phone 7 devices, but as analysts believe Windows will increase its market share as windows phone 8 will be rolling out sometime in November this year.

Table: Worldwide Mobile Devices Sales to End Users by Operating System in 3rd Quarter 2012

Operating System

3Q12

 Units

3Q12 Market Share (%)

3Q11

 Units

3Q11 Market Share (%)

Android

122,480.0

72.4

60,490.4

52.5

iOS

23,550.3

13.9

17,295.3

15.0

Research In Motion

8,946.8

5.3

12,701.1

11.0

Bada

5,054.7

3.0

2,478.5

2.2

Symbian

4,404.9

2.6

19,500.1

16.9

Microsoft

4,058.2

2.4

1,701.9

1.5

Others

683.7

0.4

1,018.1

0.9

Total

169,178.6

100.0

115,185.4

100.0

Source: Gartner (November 2012) 

Mobile phone Market in India

According to Gartner, Inc Mobile handset sales in India are believed to reach around 251 million units in 2013, an increase of 13.5 % sales of 221 million units over previous Year. The mobile handset market is expected to grow at a steady rate through 2016 and it is expected that the end user sales will exceed 326 million units.

"Indian mobile phone market is very competitive with more than 150 mobile handset manufacturers selling their devices to consumers. Most of these manufacturers are local and Chinese device manufacturers who remain focused on the low-cost feature phone market which constitutes over 91% of overall mobile phone sales, offering a huge market to compete in for those manufacturers," said Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner.

The Smartphone market within India is growing at a fast pace. Within the last few years, its growth has been phenomenal. A recent report by Cybermedia Research details how the Smartphone arena in the country has expanded over the years - Android is by far the biggest player and has a huge lead over its competition.

According to one report ‘Indian Mobile Handsets Market Review 2Q 2012’, Android holds 56.4% of the total market share in Smartphone segment. Its closest competitor is Symbian with a 17.4 % share though symbian is at second place but the market share is going down very rapidly since Nokia has done away with symbian and opted for Windows Phone OS for its future devices. Next up is BlackBerry with its 12.1 % share, followed by Bada which is developed by Samsung is as 8.5% market share. At the fag end of the list are Apple iOS with its 3.0 % share and Windows Phone Mobile at a 2.6 % share. The report’s findings are based on the 5.5 million Smartphone units shipped to the country between January and June 2012.

Smartphone in India recorded a growth of 12.2% during January and June in 2012 while the market share of feature phones too grew at a rate of 16.9 %. Not surprisingly, Samsung lead the pack of Smartphone players with its 41.6% shipments, followed by Nokia at 19.2 %. RIM accounted for 12.1 % of the country’s shipments.

What will be the future of Mobile Phone OS?

"The era of Desktops and PC has ended. Employees are becoming more and more mobile and looking for ways to still be connected wherever work has to be done" ( by Phil Redman, research VP at Gartner). The ease of convenience and the productivity gains that mobile devices bring to the table are too tempting for most the companies and their employees. The biggest challenge for this will be securing corporate data on mobile devices, but one that companies must and should embrace to stay in the hunt. Good thing is Enterprises are working towards as how to support and secure this dynamic workforce.

Over the next five years, 65 % of enterprises will adopt mobile device management solution (MDM) for their corporate workforce and liable users. With increased functionality of smartphones, and the increasing popularity of hand held devices and tablets, much of the network traffic and corporate data that was once the primary domain of enterprise desktops and PCs is now being slowly shifted to mobile devices.

Gartner predicts that by the end of 2017, 90 % of enterprises will be supporting two or more mobile operating systems and most of the work will be completed using the mobile devices onsite. In the past year, many companies have opted for Apple's iOS as their main mobile device platform, with many others to follow over the next 12 - 18 months. As enterprises continue to offer support to multiple platform, and also as new platforms such as Windows 8 continue to emerge, Mobile Device Management needs will continue to grow.

The release of the Apple’s iPhone in 2007 marked a shift towards a mobile dominated future. "With the tablets and Smartphones becoming a platform for the delivery of applications and information, and not simply a tool for communication, the era of running applications solely on desktops and PCs and laptops is rapidly being superseded by a fast-moving, diverse era of ecosystems that spans across consumer electronics, fixed-location clients, business computing and mobile devices / clients."

"This shift towards computing with mobile devices, the ongoing trends towards consumerization and as they say 'bring your own device', mean that IT support teams and application development teams need to take a multichannel approach to applications across [B2B] business 2 business, [B2E] business 2 employee and [B2C] business 2 consumer channels," said Mr. Smith. (www.gartner.com)

What does Windows Phone 8 offers?

Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 offers better integration with the Windows platform and that should make life easier for developers to develop better faster applications. It also means solid and stronger enterprise management support and a big potential for enterprise adoption.

The terribly strict hardware restrictions which were laid down by Windows Phone 7 have been ditched so there is better support for hardware and with WP8 there is lot more room for differentiation for OEM’s. That includes multi core CPU’s, three screen resolutions, and microSD cards. Now the OS also has the ability to take screenshots whenever you require and there are lock screen notifications which are tied directly to specific apps which support push notifications, bringing it up to speed with that of Android and iOS in a few ways. You’ll also find features like NFC support for a digital wallet payments, more customization options for users with improved Live Tiles, and a array of lenses for onboard camera effects, Nokia Maps, Internet Explorer 10, and Skype with VoIP integration, and most important part new platform looks a lot better than the old one.

According to Microsoft’s Spokeperson, "These were only a few select features of WP8, but you can already see that WP8 is the only one Smartphone with Live Tiles to keep you closer to the people and things that matter most to you and makes it easier for user to navigate and use them. Windows Phone 8 adds an even more dynamic and customizable Start Screen, IE-10 based browser, hardware capabilities like dual core chips and NFC and support for a wide range of business scenarios with the addition of encryption and the new Company Hub."

Claims like this have some predicting big gains for Microsoft in mobile, including IDC and Gartner, who predicted that Windows Phone would overtake iOS to claim second place in the smartphone market by 2015. (www.digitaltrends.com)

Limitations

The survey study is exploratory in nature and the results are not appropriate for drawing concrete inferences from the data obtained but the same can be used as foundation for drawing further hypothesis and future researches.

Significance of the Study

This study serves as the first comprehensive description of the market Potential for Windows Phone 8 based phones in India. Its significance derives from two main characteristics of the research: (a) this study serves as the foundational research for all the future studies involving Microsoft phone 8 OS based research, (b) this study provides a means for marketing managers, practitioners, students to develop a better understanding of the consumer behavior and market research for WP8 based phones and (c) this study provides the information necessary to begin researching the effectiveness of advertisements of WP8 based phones on the consumer purchase decisions.

Research Question and Hypothesis

The study examined the overall attitude of consumers towards phones based on newly launched Windows Phone 8 OS among the youth in Indian sub-continent. It is evident from the research survey that Android continues to be the major phone OS used by the respondents which almost accounts up to 45% followed by Ios at 15% and symbian at 15% while Windows phone 7/8 comes at a distant 5th place with a share of 10%.

The respondents were also asked to the recall of their favorite OS 62% of the respondents recalled android followed by Apple Ios at 13% and then windows at 4th place with 10% of the respondents recalled Windows 7/8 as their favorite OS.

Overall my entire objective was to understand as how different age groups, income groups, genders, responded to windows 8 based phones when it comes to familiarity of Windows phone 8, Interest in buying, likely hood of purchase and their responses to the advertisement of Windows phone 8.

Based on the above factors hypothesis were developed and testing was carried out.

Is there a significant difference between age groups when it comes to familiarity with respect to windows 8 based mobile phone ?

Ho (1): There is no significant difference between age groups when it comes to familiarity with windows 8 phones.

Is there a significant difference between age groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones?

Ho (2): There is no significant difference between age groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

Is there significant difference between income groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones?

Ho (3): There is no significant difference between income groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

Is there significant difference between different users or consumers when it comes to decision to purchase in a mobile phone next 3 months V/s interest in buying windows 8 phones?

Ho (4): There is No significant difference between different users or consumers when it comes to decision to purchase in next 3 months V/s interest in buying windows 8 phones.

Is there a significant difference gender when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones?

Ho (5): There is No significant difference gender when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

Methodology

To achieve the objectives of the project, a detailed survey questionnaire was designed and developed based on the findings of the literature review. The questionnaire was pre-tested with the help of friends and batch-mates and revised accordingly. The survey consisted of five parts covering the following issues:

demographics;

brand awareness;

general\common;

advertisements;

purchase intention and product pricing

The questionnaire was carefully divided into 5 parts and utmost care was taken to make it interesting for the end user. In the first section of the questionnaire, the demographic information regarding the respondents, such as age, gender, level of education, and monthly income were collected. In the brand awareness section there were four items in which respondents were asked to recall the brand which comes to their mind, how familiar are they with windows 8 based mobile phones, and from what sources they have heard of windows 8 mobile phones. In the general section the users were asked on what OS does there mobile phone runs, how often do they change their mobile phones, who influences their purchase decisions and where do they look for information when they are looking to buy a mobile phone. In the advertisement section the user was asked to have a look at one the advertisements of WP8 based phone and asked to respond to the no of times he has seen the advertisement in the past one month, the information regarding advertisement's creative/interesting, informative, memorable, influential were carried out using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) strongly agree to (5) strongly disagree. The last section of the questionnaire gathered information regarding the purchase intensions of the respondents, i.e how likely are they were likely to buy the products based on wp8 using a Likert scale, the price they would pay to own a product based on wp8 and what price the product starts to looks expensive.

Sample Characteristics: The respondents comprised of the "Population" of users of Smart-phones in phones in India. The survey was randomly administered through an online survey tool through (www.docs.google.com). The survey questionnaire and the detailed demographic data of the survey respondents are presented in Appendix I and II respectively. SPSS tool was used for analysis of the data.

Research Design and Sampling Method: Research Design is considered as the heart of market research project. Without a proper well-organized research design, it is impossible to complete the project and reach to any conclusion. The project on the market Potential of WP8 based phones was based on detailed study of existing literature and a well structured survey plan. The main objective of survey was to collect appropriate data, which will work as a base for drawing conclusion, getting result and providing necessary inputs for future surveys.

The Research conducted is exploratory type in nature. Research data has been collected from 70 different individuals, though an online questionnaire which was shared to friends, colleagues and random internet users. Due consideration was given to the respondents from various demographic backgrounds. The research was limited to the Indian context. Survey and Questionnaire method was used to collect the primary data. Open and Close Ended types of Questions were asked from the target respondents.

Data Collection: A structured Questionnaire was developed and used to collect primary data, a copy of which is enclosed in annexure. Secondary data was collected from the review of technical websites and industry publications, company official websites and press releases.

Result and Analysis

The results of the data analysis are displayed for each hypothesis as below:

Ho (1): There is no significant difference between age groups when it comes to familiarity with windows phone 8 phones.

It is always important for any organizations which are launching new products or models in to market to know whether the consumers are aware of the brand or the product to be launched. If the consumers are well informed about the product or aware of the product, it makes that much easier for the product to be accepted by the consumers.

In this case I intend to check if there is any difference in familiarity w.r.t windows phone 8 between the youth and (17 – 30 years) and with people > 30 years

 

How familiar are you with mobile phones based on Windows 8

1

2

4

5

What is your age

1 (17- 30 years)

Count

3

44

6

2

Expected Count

4.6

43.4

5.4

1.5

2 (Above 30)

Count

3

12

1

0

Expected Count

1.4

12.6

1.6

0.5

Total

Count

6

56

7

2

Expected Count

6

56

7

2

Rating

How familiar are you with mobile phones based on Windows 8

5

I own a phone based on Windows 8

4

I am planning to buy a phone based on Windows 8

3

I have heard of Windows 8 phone and I might buy one if I feel the usability is good

2

I've heard of Windows 8 phone, but I prefer to buy other phones

1

I've never heard of Windows 8 Phone

 

Age Group

1

17- 30

2

Above 30

Chi-Square Tests

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

3.487a

3

.323

Likelihood Ratio

3.519

3

.318

Linear-by-Linear Association

1.980

1

.159

N of Valid Cases

71

Since the p-value (.323) > 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted.

The result indicated that there is no differences between the related samples were significant at 0.05 level. Therefore, null hypothesis was accepted. The analysis concludes that both youth are and older people equally know the windows 8 based mobile phones.

But the main point to be noted is out of sample of 71 respondents, 56 people have heard of windows based phone but prefer to but other phones. And total of 9 people have never heard of it.

Ho (2): There is no significant difference between age groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

In this case I intend to check if there is any difference in between the youth and (17 – 30 years) and with people > 30 years when it comes to interest in buying the WP8 based phones.

 

Overall how interested are you in buying mobile phone based on WP8

1

2

3

4

What is your age

1

Count

8

13

27

7

Expected Count

7

13.2

27.9

7

2

Count

1

4

9

2

Expected Count

2

3.8

8.1

2

Total

Count

9

17

36

9

Expected Count

9

17

36

9

 

Overall, how interested are you in buying mobile phone based on Windows Phone 8 if it were available?

4

Very Interested

3

Somewhat Interested

2

Neither Interested nor Uninterested

1

Not at all Interested

1

I will never buy this product

 

Age Group

1

17 - 30

2

Above 30

Chi-Square Tests

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

.808a

3

.847

Likelihood Ratio

.919

3

.821

Linear-by-Linear Association

.372

1

.542

N of Valid Cases

71

Since the p-value (.847) > 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted.

The results indicated that there is no difference between the related samples and were significant at 0.05 levels. Therefore, null hypothesis was accepted. The analysis concludes youth and older people are equally interested/uninterested in buying with the windows 8 based mobile phones.

But the main point to be noted is out of sample of 69 respondents, 36 people were some what interested to buy the product in but prefer. And total of 9 were very much interested.

Ho (3): There is no significant difference between income groups when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

In this case I intend to check if there is any difference between different income groups when it comes to interest in buying the WP8 based phones.

Count

PleaseanswerYesorNOtothefollowingquestionsregardingthe

Total

.0

1.0

Whatwasyourtotalincomeduringthepast12months

1.0

5

3

8

2.0

1

1

2

3.0

6

2

8

4.0

15

11

26

5.0

6

6

12

6.0

9

4

13

Total

42

27

69

Income Group V/s Interest in Buying

 

What was your total income during the past 12 months?

1

I am still studying or Searching for my 1st job

2

Less than 3 Lakhs per annum

3

3-5 Lakhs per Annum

4

5-10 Lakhs per Annum

5

10-15 Lakhs per Annum

6

15 lakhs or more

[Are you more likely to purchase the product offered?]

1

Yes

0

No

Chi-Square Tests

 

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

1.866a

5

0.867

Likelihood Ratio

1.903

5

0.862

Linear-by-Linear Association

0.001

1

0.971

N of Valid Cases

69

 

 

Since the p-value (.867) > 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted.

The results indicated that there is no difference between the different income groups is significant at 0.05 levels. Therefore, null hypothesis was acepted.

Ho (4): There is No significant difference between users when it comes to decision to purchase in next 3 months V/s interest in buying windows 8 phones

 

how likely are you going to make a purchase of a new cell phone (next 3 months)

1

highly likely

0

less likely

 

 

 

[Are you more likely to purchase the product offered?]

1

Yes

0

No

In this case I intend to check if there is any difference between users when it comes to decision to purchase when it comes to interest in buying the WP8 based phones.

PleaseanswerYesorNOtothefollowingquestionsregardingthe Crosstabulation

Count

PleaseanswerYesorNOtothefollowingquestionsregardingthe

Total

.0

1.0

howlikelyareyougoingtomakeapurchaseofanewcellphone

.0

33

21

54

1.0

11

6

17

Total

44

27

71

Chi-Square Tests

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Exact Sig. (2-sided)

Exact Sig. (1-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

.071a

1

.790

Continuity Correctionb

.000

1

1.000

Likelihood Ratio

.071

1

.789

Fisher's Exact Test

1.000

.513

Linear-by-Linear Association

.070

1

.791

N of Valid Cases

71

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.46.

b. Computed only for a 2x2 table

Since the p-value (.790) > 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted.

The results indicated that there difference between users when it comes to decision to purchase when it comes to interest in buying the WP8 based phones and is significant at 0.05 levels. Therefore, null hypothesis was acepted.

Ho (5): There is No significant difference gender when it comes to interest in buying windows 8 phones.

 

PleaseanswerYesorNOtothefollowingquestionsregardingthe

Total

0

1

Whatisyourgender

female

Count

6

6

12

Expected Count

7.4

4.6

12

male

Count

38

21

59

Expected Count

36.6

22.4

59

Total

Count

44

27

71

Expected Count

44

27

71

 

how likely are you going to make a purchase of a new cell phone (say in next 3 months)

1

highly likely

0

less likely

 

[Are you more likely to purchase the product offered?]

1

Male

0

Female

Chi-Square Tests

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Exact Sig. (2-sided)

Exact Sig. (1-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

.878a

1

.349

Continuity Correctionb

.373

1

.541

Likelihood Ratio

.858

1

.354

Fisher's Exact Test

.515

.268

N of Valid Cases

71

Profile of Respondents

Distribution of Respondents: Gender wise

As per the data collected from the survey total no of male respondents were 59 (83%) and female respondents were 12 (17%).

male

59

83%

female

12

17%

C:\Users\chetan.eklaspur\Desktop\Final_project\Edit form - [ Survey to find the market Potential of Windows8 mobile Phones ] - Google Docs_files\chart

Distribution of Respondents age wise:

Data presented in the below figure shows the age profile of the respondents. Majority of the users or respondents were in the age bracket 25-30 years (59%), followed by those who 18-24 years (18%) of age. These two age brackets were the center of the study as our research was primarily for the youth 17- 30 years of age.

Under 18 years

0

0%

18 -24 years

13

18%

25 - 30 years

42

59%

31- 35 years

8

11%

36 -40 years

5

7%

above 40

3

4%

C:\Users\chetan.eklaspur\Desktop\Final_project\Edit form - [ Survey to find the market Potential of Windows8 mobile Phones ] - Google Docs_files\chart(1)

Distribution of Respondents: Annual Family Income wise:

Annual income of the respondents is shown in the below Fig. 37% percent of them were having annual income in the range of 5-10 Lakhs/annum, closely followed by income ranges of 10-15 Lakhs/Annum and 15 lakhs or more at 17% and 18% respectively. Important point to note is almost all of the respondents had a cell phone which is the essential part of everyday life for all these respondents.

am still studying or Searching for my 1st job

8

11%

Less than 3 Lakhs per annum

2

3%

3-5 Lakhs per Annum

8

11%

5-10 Lakhs per Annum

26

37%

10-15 Lakhs per Annum

12

17%

15 lakhs or more

13

18%

Other

2

3%

C:\Users\chetan.eklaspur\Desktop\Final_project\Edit form - [ Survey to find the market Potential of Windows8 mobile Phones ] - Google Docs_files\chart(3)

Distribution of users/Respondents: Occupation wise

Occupations of the respondents can be seen from the below figure. 58% percentages of the respondents were working as professionals (Doctors, engineers, IT consultants, MBA’s etc) and 23% percentages of them were employed in other Private Sector jobs. And the rest were students, Businessman, and Govt sector employees.

Student

6

8%

Professional ( IT, Banking, MBA, Doctors)

41

58%

Govt Sector Job

3

4%

Private Sector service

16

23%

Business man/woman

2

3%

Other

3

4%

C:\Users\chetan.eklaspur\Desktop\Final_project\Edit form - [ Survey to find the market Potential of Windows8 mobile Phones ] - Google Docs_files\chart(4)

Brand Awareness among respondents

Distribution of Smartphone users:

Most of the users today own Android based phone, with 42% of users owning Android based phones followed by Apple Ios, Symbian , blackberry at 10%, 15%, 15% respectively and windows7/ 8 at a distant 5th position with only 10% users owning a windows based phone.

Windows 7/8

7

10%

Android

30

42%

Symbian

11

15%

Apple Ios

8

11%

BlackBerry

11

15%

No I don’t own a Cell phone

0

0%

Other

4

6%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x240&chbh=24%2C6&chco=a019b4%7C9601ac%7Cb348c3%7Cd18fda%7Cbd5fcb%7Cc777d3%7Caa30bb&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C6%7C12%7C18%7C24%7C30%7C1%3A%7COther%7CNo%20I%20don%E2%80%99t%20own%20a%20...%7CBlackBerry%7CApple%20Ios%7CSymbian%7CAndroid%7CWindows&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C30&chd=t%3A7%2C30%2C11%2C8%2C11%2C0%2C4

Familiarity with Windows phone 8 based phones:

I own a phone based on Windows 8

2

3%

I am planning to buy a phone based on Windows 8

7

10%

I have heard of Windows 8 phone and I might buy one if I feel the usability is good

30

42%

I've heard of Windows 8 phone, but I prefer to buy other phones

26

37%

I've never heard of Windows 8 Phone

6

8%

When the users were asked about their familiarity with windows 8 based mobile phones, only 3% of the users owned a windows phone 8 based mobile phones and another 10% were planning to buy windows 8 based mobile phones, one good indication was 42% of the respondents had heard of WP8 based mobile phones and might buy one if they feel the usability is good.

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x180&chbh=24%2C6&chco=9601ac%7Cbf64cc%7Ca422b7%7Cb143c2%7Ccd85d7&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C6%7C12%7C18%7C24%7C30%7C1%3A%7CI've%20never%20heard%20...%7CI've%20heard%20of%20Win...%7CI%20have%20heard%20of%20W...%7CI%20am%20planning%20to%20...%7CI%20own%20a%20phone%20bas...&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C30&chd=t%3A2%2C7%2C30%2C26%2C6

Recall test:

When the users were asked as what operating system comes to mind when you think of mobile phones? As per the data in the table below, Android has the maximum recall by users with 62%, followed by a distant 2nd at 13% for Apple Ios and Windows at 10% recall.

Android

44

62%

Apple Ios

9

13%

Symbian

2

3%

Windows 7/8

7

10%

BlackBerry

8

11%

Other

1

1%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x210&chbh=24%2C6&chco=37da37%7C00d000%7C8ae98a%7C1cd51c%7C53df53%7C6fe46f&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C9%7C18%7C27%7C36%7C45%7C1%3A%7COther%7CBlackBerry%7CWindows%207%2F8%7CSymbian%7CApple%20Ios%7CAndroid&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C45&chd=t%3A44%2C9%2C2%2C7%2C8%2C1

Source of Awareness:

As per the data presented below in the figure the source of awareness of users about the different Smartphone available in the market is shared. The users were asked as where do you look for information when you are making purchase decisions ?

Reviews from Friends and family

42

59%

Reviews from the internet (tech websites)

56

79%

Links or pages from Social Network

12

17%

I like to visit the showrooms and try to get the feel of the product.

41

58%

News paper or TV Advertisements

10

14%

Almost 80% of the respondents replied that they look for information from tech review websites from internet followed by reviews from family and friends at 59%, interestingly 58% of the users said that they liked to visit the showroom and try to get the feel of the product before making their purchase decisions.

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x210&chbh=24%2C6&chco=e4d539%7Ce0d01d%7Cdcca02%7Ce7db54%7Cebe170%7Cefe78b&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C11%7C22%7C33%7C44%7C55%7C66%7C1%3A%7COther%7CNews%20paper%20or%20TV%20...%7CI%20like%20to%20visit%20t...%7CLinks%20or%20pages%20fr...%7CReviews%20from%20the%20...%7CReviews%20from%20Frie...&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C66&chd=t%3A42%2C56%2C12%2C41%2C10%2C0

Influences on Purchase decisions:

As per the data presented below in the figure the source of awareness of users about the different Smartphone available in the market is shared. The users were asked as where do you look for information when you are making purchase decisions ?

Almost 70% of the respondents replied that reviews from tech review websites from internet websites influenced them the most, it is also found that almost 50% of users look for reviews from colleagues and family, interestingly only 14% of the users said that their purchase decisions are influenced by showroom and company outlets.

Family

13

18%

Friends

37

52%

Advertisements / Adds on TV or news papers

21

30%

Reviews in a tech website

50

70%

Company outlets or showrooms

10

14%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x210&chbh=24%2C6&chco=d00000%7Cd51c1c%7Cda3737%7Ce46f6f%7Cdf5353%7Ce98a8a&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C10%7C20%7C30%7C40%7C50%7C1%3A%7COther%7CCompany%20outlets%20o...%7CReviews%20in%20a%20tech...%7CAdvertisements%20%2F%20...%7CFriends%7CFamily&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C50&chd=t%3A13%2C37%2C21%2C50%2C10%2C7

Response to advertisements

In the study respondents were shown an advertisement of windows phone 8 OS and the users were asked to respond to few question related to advertisement. This was done to see if the advertisement shown to them induced a positive emotion within the respondents.

Few of the question and their responses are shown below.

Was the ad fun to watch?

68% of the respondents said that the ad was fun to watch.

Yes

48

68%

No

23

32%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x90&chbh=24%2C6&chco=dcca02%7Ce7db54&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C10%7C20%7C30%7C40%7C50%7C1%3A%7CNo%7CYes&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C50&chd=t%3A48%2C23

Was the ad appealing to you?

66% of the respondents said that the ad was fun to watch.

Yes

47

66%

No

27

34%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x90&chbh=24%2C6&chco=53df53%7C00d000&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C9%7C18%7C27%7C36%7C45%7C54%7C1%3A%7CNo%7CYes&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C54&chd=t%3A47%2C24

Did you have a positive reaction to the advertisement shown?

72% of the respondents said that the ad induced a positive reaction within then.

Yes

51

72%

No

20

28%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x90&chbh=24%2C6&chco=5353ea%7C0000e0&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C10%7C20%7C30%7C40%7C50%7C60%7C1%3A%7CNo%7CYes&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C60&chd=t%3A51%2C20

Would you like to see similar advertisements like this in the future?

58% of the respondents said they would like to see a similar add in future.

Yes

41

58%

No

30

42%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x90&chbh=24%2C6&chco=ffba53%7Cff9900&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C8%7C16%7C24%7C32%7C40%7C48%7C1%3A%7CNo%7CYes&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C48&chd=t%3A41%2C30

Purchase intention and Product Pricing

The users were asked about if they would like to purchase the windows phone 8 based mobile phones.

Are you more likely now to purchase the product offered?

After showing the ad only 38% of the respondents said they were more likely to purchase the product.

Yes

27

38%

No

44

62%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x90&chbh=24%2C6&chco=d00000%7Cdf5353&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C9%7C18%7C27%7C36%7C45%7C1%3A%7CNo%7CYes&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C45&chd=t%3A27%2C44

Also the users were asked about the pricing of the product.

At what price would the product offered starts to look to expensive?

From the data in below figure another 39% felt that the phone looked more expensive when it is priced above 15,000 INR and another 42% of the respondents felt that the phone looked expensive when it is priced more than 25,000 INR and

>15000

28

39%

>25000

30

42%

>30000

5

7%

>35000

2

3%

>40000

6

8%

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=345x180&chbh=24%2C6&chco=bf64cc%7Cb143c2%7Ca422b7%7Ccd85d7%7C9601ac&chxt=x%2Cy&chxl=0%3A%7C0%7C6%7C12%7C18%7C24%7C30%7C1%3A%7C%3E40000%7C%3E35000%7C%3E30000%7C%3E25000%7C%3E15000&chxs=0%2C000000%2C12%2C0%2Clt%7C1%2C000000%2C12%2C1%2Clt&chds=0%2C30&chd=t%3A28%2C30%2C5%2C2%2C6

Recommendations

The companies should use social media sites, YouTube videos as a major promotional tool as the younger generation relies on this medium of information.

From the survey responses it is clear that though users have heard or WP8 based phones but prefer to buy other phones, OEM’s coming out with WP8 based mobile phones should undertake aggressive marketing and promotional activates. They should organize promotional activates in shopping malls encourage customers to come and try out and use WP8 based phones as to get a feel of its usage and User interface.

Microsoft should position its WP8 OS as fun, dependable and user-friendly to attract more and more customers.

As the lower price has clearly emerged as one of the decision influencer, the companies should look at reducing the price and keeping it lower than 25,000 Rs, as most of the users going for WP8 based phones will be student and youth.

More focus on the working professional segment and students as they are the one who drive the change and are ready to try out the new and innovative products.

The user’s response to the ad shown to them was very good, the users felt that the ad was innovative, creative, and informative and to some extent believable, hence the companies should come up with more mo of similar ads to attract the consumers towards WP8 based phones.

Users also preferred more no of apps and free apps on app store like the ones of Android and Apple Ios have. Microsoft should work with the developer’s community and encourage them to develop more no of apps for the windows phone 8.