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Strategy report
To: Proximity Mobile Team From: Elizabeth Torgerson Subject: Research In Motion Strategy Analysis Date: Oct. 2, 2009

The following is my strategy analysis of Research In Motion. While the large share of Research In Motion’s (RIM) business comes from 30+ business professionals, the company is rapidly expanding into the Gen Y market and compete with the iPhone.

//to compete with//

Whether RIM can continue this competition depends on whether they can keep up with the ever-changing needs and wants of Gen Y, while maintaining the quality that the business community turned to them for in the first place.


 * Profile**

RIM was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis, and is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada. It initially served as a collaborator, alongside Ericsson and RAM

//It initially collaborated with. .//

Mobile Data, to create two way paging system and wireless email network (Wikipedia, 2009). RIM did not create the smartphone, but they did refine it and develop a market for it with companies distributing them to their employees as their work phones. With their release of the first BlackBerry in 1999, they company turned their primary focus to creating smartphones and made their entrance on the market

//the company turned its// - also get rid of some of the wordiness that follows in this sentence

as an appropriate alternative to standard cell phone for businesspeople. RIM’s revenue comes primarily from consumers buying their phones and paying for use of their mobile applications, and secondarily from mobile service providers who license RIM’s phones for use by their subscribers.

//use list//


 * Competitive Landscape**

The primary force driving competition in the smartphone market is the rivalry between RIM and the Apple iPhone.

While there is not much chance for another company to enter the market as a serious competitor, there is still a significant amount between the two to obtain the other’s customers and consistently come out with new innovations.

//Fix this sentence - simple agent / action / outcome Because new entrants are unlikely to. . . ., these two rivals fight to steal each other's customers by. . .//

Research In Motion is still aimed toward satisfying the business world’s needs and wants in a mobile, but is beginning to address the mainstream market with a significant amount of success, while iPhone makes the opposite moves in the same markets.

Again, cut down wordiness - simplify. RIM is learning to compete in the consumer market; while Apple is seeking. ..

For now, it appears that the company is in a holding pattern, and that due to the very nature of the industry, only a limited amount of leeway can be made without considering where the competition is taking the market.

//Does this sentence really say anything you haven't already told us? What do you mean by holding pattern? Stagnant growth? No new models. Get some specifics or just dump the sentence.//


 * Research In Motion’s Strategy**

RIM is currently at a standstill along with the rest of the smartphone market. They face little incoming competition because the market is already so saturated with BlackBerry and iPhone that they have little to worry about in that way.

//OK - you are repeating the same idea - but now you connect it to something - market saturation. So cut the reference above and explain here - but again get rid of wordiness.//

It appears that RIM is primarily concentrating on the handheld production portion of the company, which brings in around 81% of their revenue, while the service revenue totals to 13%, and accessories as the last 5%

//revenue from services//

They are also heavily increasing their international market.

//investments in their//

At about 33% account base, the non-U.S. markets make up a significant portion of their revenue.

//the non-U.S. markets make up a significant portion of their revenue ( 33 %)//

RIM's challenge, if they want to enter the Gen Y market and maintain their status in the business world, is to maintain the quality of their phones as well as keep the market they already have and release new material on a frequent enough basis to keep up with Gen Y's constantly changing tastes.


 * Gen Y Implications**

If RIM (BlackBerry) is going to continue to not only reach Gen Y but expand their base of customers, they must create more attractive products.

//You are repeating this idea from the end of the earlier section//

The company began this with the BlackBerry Storm, but they need to maintain that momentum if they want to scoop up a significant portion of the Gen Y market.

J//ust start this section with the Storm - the high end answer to the iPhone. Talk about the specific challenge of developing it.//

RIM has a potentially highly lucrative market in Gen Y, particularly with college students. All they need to do to take advantage of it is expand their phones to include more handhelds that could do double duty, as it were- create something that is attractive both to Gen Y, but also a realistic prospect to their original target market.

//Again, there is a lot of repetition here about developing models. The gist of all this is that RIM did well in a B2B market where it sold and carefully improved a basic product. Now it must learn to compete in a highly volatile consumer market where often style and brand image determine market share as much as product quality and functionality.//

Blog proposal
To: Proximity Mobile Team From: Elizabeth Torgerson Subject: Mobile Team Blog Proposal Date: Oct. 27, 2009

I propose that our Proximity blog post be dedicated to the impact of cell phones, smartphones, and other personal technology on the academic environment


 * Rationale**

10 years ago, cell phones were primitive devices that were more land line than mobile in their practicality and usability and smartphones were just coming into the business to business market. Since then, personal technology has absolutely exploded in the consumer market. It would be wise for us to concentrate on this because of the way cell phones, smartphones, and all the technology associated with it has come to impact the way Gen Y learns, in the classroom and out.


 * Sources**

I recommend that we use blog posts from the NEA, articles by educational psychologists and other known experts/ scholars as well as various other studies on the subject, in addition to the following link:

__[]__ 

Report proposal
To: Proximity Mobile Team From: Elizabeth Torgerson Date: Nov. 25, 2009 Subject: Proposal for report on iPhone

The iPhone altered society’s idea of a smartphone. It created benchmarks within the industry with the first ever touch screen phone, it’s multimedia capabilities, and downloadable applications, all within one massive, easily accessible network. I propose to write a report on why iPhone applications are preferable over Android applications for increasing brand awareness.

Need iPhone has set new benchmarks within the smartphone industry.

Steve Jobs has created an entirely new approach for marketing a smartphone. In the past, the majority of devices had passive campaigns, whereas iPhone has developed a very proactive and media-based strategy. (Rework?)

The iPhone has set a precedent for an intuitive, intelligent mobile device that is accessible to the masses and enables businesses to communicate with consumers by way of various applications.

Success of the iPhone has been largely due to the convergence of the iPod and a phone into a single device that includes multimedia capabilities and instantly downloadable apps all in one.

The ease of use of the iPhone apps store combined with many of the applications themselves allow businesses to easily connect with consumers on an entirely new platform and dramatically increase brand awareness.

Proximity clients who wish to target Gen Y consumers will find this report to be an integral key to understanding the iPhone and the technology that will allow them to efficiently use iPhone’s applications to deliver or advertise their product.


 * Topics

//I've shortened the main title and focused the topic headings. You need to start with a basic discussion of the difference between iPhone and the Android OS - i.e. the difference between a phone with an integrated OS exclusive to one company vs. an open source OS which many different manufacturers can use. Then focus on the specific ways in which iPhone looks to be, in your view, the better option.//**

The proposed report, “Using the iPhone to reach Gen Y” will cover the following topics:

iPhone vs. Android

Problems with Android OS;

iPhone customer base

iPhone app development

Sources

The following are key sources in my report.

Walsh, Mark. (2009, November 18). MediaPost Publications Report: iPhone Rules App Landscape In October 11/18/2009. MediaPost - news and directories for media, marketing and online advertising professionals. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from [] Article&art_aid=117584

Walsh reviews the mobile application purchase figures for October, with Apple’s iPhone in the lead once again, with Android and BlackBerry following somewhat closely behind. He breaks down the figures, stating which device had the best figures in each application area. He then goes on to relay predicted sales figures, both for smartphones, and their respective applications from the market research firm iSuppli.

Salkever, Alex. (2009, December 4). Too many Android models may chase app-makers away 11/18/2009. Daily Finance. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from []

Salkever breaks down and reviews the faulty Android apps situation, why the OS appears to have a very limited lifespan because of it, and the paradox in the solution if they want to stick around. He also highlights the key elements of why the iPhone has been so successful, and despite criticisms of how transparent the app approval process maybe, they will continue to dominate the market share over Android.

Reardon, Margeurite. (2009, September 11). iPhone still king of apps: But don’t ignore Android 11/18/2009. silicon.com. Technology Insight. Business Leadership. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from [] but-dont-ignore-android-39519220/

Reardon acknowledges iPhone’s domination of applications but argues that Android could eclipse it if they are able to harness the mobile advertising market through it’s applications to the point where apps are free. iPhone will still remain app developers first go to for quite a while but Android has now become the third platform that comes to mind for them.

Reed, Brad. (2009, December 3). Android, iPhone, BlackBerry: Which OS is the best for app development? 11/18/2009. SFGate.com: Network World. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from []://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/12/03/urnidgns852573C40069388000257681006719CE.DTL

Reed addresses the pros and cons of the Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone app development process overall and which is most appealing to smartphone application developers. With various sources, he makes the points that Apple has the easiest development process thanks to it’s uniformity, but BlackBerry and Android lack in this with multiple GUI measurements that must be programmed for each phone, and in the case of Android, each phone’s company but is able to bypass a slow and arduous app approval thanks to it’s open source OS. Posted Thursday, 11:33 pm - [|[delete]]

To: Proximity Mobile Team From: Elizabeth Torgerson Date: Nov. 25, 2009 Subject: Proposal for report on iPhone

The iPhone altered society’s idea of a smartphone. It created benchmarks within the industry with the first ever touch screen phone, it’s multimedia capabilities, and downloadable applications, all within one massive, easily accessible network. I propose to write a report on how iPhone revolutionized the smartphone market.

iPhone has set new benchmarks within the smartphone industry. // The recent release of the 2nd generation Android OS for mobile devices has prompted has created iPhone’s first real contender for market share since BlackBerry. . With such intense competition, it becomes a question of which one has the most staying power and the resources available to be the market standard? iPhone has become a cultural epidemic but what would it take for Android to surpass or replace it? The technology advancements by Apple would have to drop dramatically, and Android would have to find it’s specific features to claim as their own to enhance overall appeal.
 * Need**
 * Steve Jobs has created an entirely new approach for marketing a smartphone. In the past, the majority of devices had passive campaigns, whereas iPhone has developed a very proactive and media-based strategy.
 * Main attraction that Apple created in the iPhone is to set a precedent for an intuitive, intelligent mobile device that is accessible to the masses and connects users to the world around them to a degree that had previously been unheard of.
 * Success of the iPhone has been largely due to the convergence of the iPod and a phone into a single device that includes multimedia capabilities and instantly downloadable apps all in one.
 * Majority of market share was obtained and kept due to both of these factors, which created a sort of stickiness factor among consumers, thus making it a requirement for any other phone wanting to succeed in the market/ directly compete with the iPhone.

Proximity clients that wish to target Gen Y consumers will find this report to be an integral key to understanding the technology that has emerged with the iPhone and the role it will play in allowing them to more efficiently use iPhone’s capabilities to deliver or advertise their product.


 * Topics **

The proposed report, “iPhone’s Impact on the Smartphone Market” will cover the following topics:
 * iPhone’s revolution within the smartphone market has weeded out products that are purely novelty to only leave room for legitimate but attractive products.
 * The consumer benefits because they are only left with the products that will serve them best.
 * The marketing phenomenon that has arisen (both for Apple and for those companies associated with it) purely from the convergence two very successful products.
 * Revolutionary media campaign that has arisen out of it, focused on the actual product and it’s ability to contribute to society rather than gimmicks.
 * Sources**

The following are key sources in my report. I am still in the process of finding articles and sources that detail iPhone’s overall influence in each of my concentrated areas.

Gladwell, M. (2002). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference//. New York: Back Bay Books.

Gladwell explains how something seemingly small in scale or otherwise insignificant notion can turn into a phenomenon that will spread throughout an industry or an entire population. It explains, in part, the theories in marketing, technology, and human nature that made the iPhone such a revolutionary device.

Walsh, Mark. (2009, November 18). MediaPost Publications Report: iPhone Rules App Landscape In October 11/18/2009.// MediaPost - news and directories for media, marketing and online advertising professionals//. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from [|__http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.show Article&art_aid=117584__]

Walsh reviews the mobile application purchase figures for October, with Apple’s iPhone in the lead once again, with Android and BlackBerry following somewhat closely behind. He breaks down the figures, stating which device had the best figures in each application area. He then goes on to relay predicted sales figures, both for smartphones, and their respective applications from the market research firm iSuppli.//

Team conference presentation proposal
paste team conference presentation here

Sales letter and report prospectus


December 3, 2009

Ms. Mallory Korrs, Director of Marketing The Samsung Corporation 135 York Road Towson, MD 21252

Dear Mallory,

I very much enjoyed talking with you Wednesday at Proximity’s Next Generation media seminar about Samsung’s current desire to actively market it’s brand to Gen Y consumers. Enclosed with this letter, you will find a prospectus on the report I mentioned at the seminar regarding competition and benchmarks within the smartphone market.

As you noted on Wednesday, Samsung believes that it must establish a significant consumer base with Gen Y, particularly within the company’s mobile division. I feel Proximity can work with you to develop a thorough, innovative media campaign to that allows Samsung to take advantage of mobile services and social networking to reach this goal.

Proximity can provide you with customized surveys, extensive focus groups, and media campaign suggestions to help mold Samsung’s image as a forward thinking, socially and environmentally conscious company. Our company consultants can work with your sales team on how to position new products, and our production and design teams can create multimedia ads that will attract Gen Y consumers. We also have trained student marketers who can promote Samsung’s brand image on social networks such as Facebook as well as print and televised mediums.

I invite you and your team to join us at the Proximity Towson office for a customized focus group meeting on Samsung’s Gen Y brand image. After the meeting, you can meet with members of our media and research groups to discuss how Proximity can help you achieve your marketing goals.

Sincerely, Elizabeth Torgerson Associate Media Analyst

connecting with Gen Y using on-demand media ||^  ||
 * **PROXIMITY reports** || [[image:webkit-fake-url://2052CFD7-089A-4052-B479-31BE88C34928/pastedGraphic.pdf caption="pastedGraphic.pdf"]] ||

Elizabeth Torgerson
 * **Using the iPhone to reach Gen Y**

Using iPhone applications to increase brand image and awareness ||

// At the moment, many companies feel the need to develop their brand image with Gen Y. Using smartphones to do so has become one of the more effective ways of accomplishing this goal. The two smartphones particularly visible to Gen Y right now are the iPhone and Android. With Android’s disorganized and chaotic application development and purchase system, iPhone presents a more efficient form and smoother process for targeting Gen Y and raising brand awareness.
 * **The problem**

// ||


 * **Proximity’s on-demand media solution//**

iPhone has become increasingly popular with Gen Y, partly for it’s multimedia, and partly for it’s application abilities. My proposal is to take advantage of the opportunity presented to your company by using iPhone applications to develop or better brand image among this population. It will offer both direct awareness and visibility of your company, as well as indirect visibility to other company’s you make work with.

|| **Available now at** [|__**www.proximity.edu**__]