Smartphone Industry: The Android Operating System

Article

The most important part of the article “Android Dominates 81 percent of the world smartphone market” from Dara Kerr at C Net is that the Android system of smartphones has been dominating the market because over 80 percent of the world’s smartphones run on Android. The specifics of the article that are used to back up the main points are very clear. There are facts cited that allow the reader to trust the article, the writer and the news website itself.

According to the article, the new Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker that was released in early November 2013, third-quarter numbers for all smartphone shipments were calculated; there were a total of 261.1 million smartphones shipped. Of these 261.1 million phones, 81 percent were smartphones running on Google’s Android operating system. “A study by Strategy Analytics last month revealed nearly the same numbers, showing that Android gobbled 81.3 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter” (Kerr). The main point of the article is that Android is at the top of the charts for smartphone sales as of late 2013.

The Apple iPhone has been popular among American consumers, Android held the majority of smartphone subscribers at 51.5 percent, and according to the survey noted, is a dip of 0.3 points. Apple was second to Android at 41.8 percent. The Microsoft Windows Phone lost 0.2 points in the third quarter of 2013 (“Android”). Even with a little bit of a loss, the Android operating system is dominant in the smartphone industry.

Text Comparison

The article itself says a lot of wonderful things about the industry, in particular to the Android market and their systems. Android systems are updated annually and each new phone that is released seems to have more and more complex features. They are also more affordable than Apple and come in a larger variety of types of phones, and leave something for everyone.

The smartphone market is a competitive market, which is “a market in which there are many buyers and sellers of the same good or service” (Krugman, et al, 66). The key feature of the competitive market is that “no individual’s actions have a noticeable effect on the price at which the good or service is sold” (Krugman, et al, 66). The smartphone market is extremely competitive, although the article clearly shows that Android is dominant. However, there are other major types and brands, such as Apple and Blackberry, which are also popular. The issue with brands like Apple and Blackberry is that they tend to relate to a certain, small group of consumers, and Android appeals to everyone and offers more options. This could be one of the major reasons why they dominate the smartphone industry.

A resource, as well, is anything that is used to produce something else. “A resource is scarce when there’s not enough of the resource available to satisfy all the ways society wants to use it” (Krugman, 6). One very important aspect of economics is to understand individual choices, which are the decisions made by any person about what to do, purchase, or what not to do or purchase. “In fact, you might say that it isn’t economics if it isn’t about choice” (Krugman, 6). Choice plays an important role in the smartphone industry as well. A customer walking into an electronics store searching for a new smartphone is able to choose from different styles, brands, phones with different features, both complex and easy to use.

It is also important to understand that, in a competitive market like that of smartphones and such, the supply and demand model is very useful. According to the text, there are five important elements for this model. There is the demand curve, the supply curve, the set of factors that cause both curves to shift negatively or positively, the market equilibrium (price and quantity), and the way the market changes when the supply or demand curves shift (Krugman, et al, 66). “Generally, the proposition that a higher price for good, other things equal, leads people to demand a smaller quantity of that good is so reliable that economists are willing to call it a ‘law’—the law of demand” (Krugman, et al, 67). The supply and demand curve is also very important to the analysis of the smartphone market. There is a large demand, according to the first article, for both Apple smartphones and Android smartphones, despite the popularity of either one. New models released at the end of 2013 faced shortages for both large brands.

(Chart omitted for preview. Available via download)

The chart demonstrates that supply is going up in the Android and smartphone market, as well as the demand. Supply is rising slower than demand because demand is growing so quickly. Among both Android and Apple, demand for convenient smartphones is growing rapidly and suppliers have tripped a few times to keep up.

According to the article “Steve Wozniak: Apple Should Make an Android Phone,” the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, says that Apple should begin making Android phones to compete in ‘two markets at once.’ The article reads: “such an iAndroid device is an unlikely prospect, to say the least, but it’s not technically impossible” (Honan). The Apple iPhone’s “apple” indicator is now a well-known symbol and even a must-have for many households, and to include the Android applications or operating system is a compliment, which is a pair of goods or services that, in a sense, are consumed together: “computers and software, cappuccinos and cookies, cars and gasoline” (Krugman, et al, 70). Such a relationship between two well-known products could end up being very important to the smartphone market.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Android, though it has lagged a small percentage, is doing very well and positively dominating the smartphone market, which is an important industry in today’s market. Big names like Android and Apple are crucial to the market, although Android is clearly dominant. The smartphone industry, despite any dominance among brands or certain types of cellular phones, is a large market and there is room for many brands to race to the top. It is run by the demand and supply dictated by the world’s population, and the population is simply what keeps the smartphone industry rising continuously.

Works Cited

“Android retains US smartphone market leading Q4, iOS grows slightly.” NDTV Gadgets. Agence France-Presse. 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2014. <http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/android-retains-us-smartphone-market-lead-in-q4-ios-grows-slightly-comscore-479686>.

Honan, Mat. “Steve Wozniak: Apple Should Make an Android Phone.” Wired. 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2014/02/woz-interview/>.

Kerr, Dara. “Android Dominates 81 percent of world smartphone market.” C Net. 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57612057-94/android-dominates-81-percent-of-world-smartphone-market/#!>.

Krugman, Paul, & Wells, Robin. “Supply and Demand.” Economics, Third Edition. Worth Publishers, 2012. 66-97. Print.

Krugman, Paul, & Wells, Robin. “First Principles.” Economics, Third Edition. Worth Publishers, 2012. 6-23. Print.

“Supply and Demand.” University of Pittsburgh. Web. 7 Feb. 2014. <http://www.pitt.edu/~mgahagan/Definitions/SupplyandDemand.pdf>.