Influence of Smartphone in the business sector

Thanks to the advanced technology, smartphone has become a new milestone. It is not only improved on the performance but also the functions. According to Vercillo (2010), there has been 96% increase in smartphones sale between the third quarters of 2009-2010, which is a huge number of smartphone sales ever. In reality, smartphone is widely applied in business world. In this essay, how smartphone is influencing the phone company and business firm and how consumers treat smartphone.

Firstly, phone companies will earn more profit. Smartphone has started to replace the mobile phone market. In the past, the smartphone was not as common as today. The improvement of the internet network, the apps and software of smartphone being introduced and so on are the associated factors that contribute to the popularity of smartphone. In Hong Kong, the population of having a smartphone is double than the global rate, which is 48% (TNS Global Telecoms TNS Insights Survey, 2010). As Hong Kong is a business city, it is not surprised that there is a high rate of usage of smartphone. Moreover, the quality of the smartphone is being improved, for example he battery life, increased in memory and speed of loading data. More people will tend to get the smartphone, rather than the traditional mobile phone. Therefore, the sale of smartphone in future will definitely be increased, which means the phone company would have more profit. However, there are disadvantages to the phone company with smartphone being more common. Since there would be more smartphone to be produced, it will increase the competition between them. In order to gain the profit, they have to spend more time and money on inventing the new product or improving the quality of supported service, for instance the apps and updating the software. They may also need to have better marketing strategies on selling their product. The sale of the traditional mobile might be affected by the smartphone. Therefore, the mobile company has to work hard on maintain the competitiveness.

Secondly, smartphone assists business companies in different way. Businessman can easily access internet with a smartphone. In fact, smartphone users normally use email, mobile internet and Microsoft Office (TNS Global Telecoms TNS Insights Survey, 2010). They are no longer limited by the place and time to run their business. Also, the business companies can use smartphone as a channel to promote their company. Most of the banks have made their own apps to serve the customers, like Bank of China, HSBC, and Bank of East Asia. Also, H&M, Chanel, Hugo Boss and Pizzahut Hong Kong allow customers to do the ordering through the Iphone applications. Festival Walk and Langham Place has their own apps as well. In this way, it not only promotes their company, but also increases the sale. Therefore, smartphone is a useful tool for the business company.

Yet, there are technical limitations sometimes. The consumers who use the smartphone would have certain knowledge of using smartphone. The business company would not be able to target the customers who do not smartphone well. So, the business companies need to give clear instructions. Sometimes, even if the business companies provide different services through the smartphone, it might not be used by everyone. The banking application is one of the examples. According to Zetter (2010), there are some banking applications that expose customer data. In order to protect themselves, the customers would not prefer using apps to do any transactions. It is obvious that the technical problems still exits sometimes, regardless of the advanced technology.

Smartphone does bring conveniences to consumers. Consumers can browse all the updated information from the web or apps whenever they need, particular those who are in finance or stock market. They can also contact, send e-mail or even holding video-conferencing through smartphone as it is a reliable tool with high speed. Smartphone’s user is usually businessman (Vercillo, 2010). It can be noted that smartphone does assist customer on their business.
Nevertheless, it is not everyone who would choose to use smartphone. It is more common for people to use smartphone, but it is still more expensive than the traditional mobile phone. Also, consumers do need to be affordable to use some of the services sometimes, like browsing the web or downloading apps. In general, people with older age would not use smartphone since they are lacking of the knowledge or not used to high-tech products. Therefore, financial and age could be the factors which affect people to choose smartphone.

In conclusion, smartphone has become more common and the trend will keep being increased. The sale of phone companies benefited a lot from it. Yet, they still have to spend resources on maintain the competitiveness of their product. Also, smartphone also assists busniess firm in certain extent and the technical problems of using smartphone is still being improved. From the consumers’ side, getting a smartphone or not is still depending on the purchasing power and the background that they come from. Therefore, smartphone is highly related to us nowadays, especially on the business aspects.

Reference

1. TNS Global Telecoms TNS Insights Survey, 2010, Smartphone usage set to dominate Hong Kong mobile market, Retrieved 20 November, 2010 from http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-DB5EF16289044655A787385A433A896F.aspx
2. Vercillo,K. , 2010, Nearly 100% Increase in Smartphone Sales in Past Year, Retrieved 20 November, 2010 from http://www.tnsglobal.com/news/news-DB5E F16289044655A787385A433A896 F.aspx
3. Zetter, K. 2010, Smartphone banking apps expose sensitive customer data, Retrieved 21 November, 2010 from http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/ 11/smartphone- banking- apps-expose-sensitive-customer-data.ars