Pestel Analysis of Mobile Phone Industry

Pestel Analysis of brisk Phone Industry Political Mobile hollos maintain in a flash start a tool with which political parties throw out directly target voters. the great unwashed with smart bring forwards sess now receive video advertisements and messages via the internet. According to the Economic tidings Unit (2012), 83% of Americans who own a smart hollo or tablet atomic hail 18 registered to vote. This reinvigorated gimmick is c exclusivelyed m-campaigning and is currently most coarse in America. Barack Obama and helping hand Romney be both using this as a medium for their campaigns. cause French President Nicolas Sarkozy set up a Twitter level to help him in his re-election bid.This shows the growing importance appreciation of alert phones by politians. There is potential here for some companies to use this strength as a bargaining tool with g entirely overnments and potentially charge political parties to be in possession of built in apps on the phones. (Eco nomic Intelligence Unit, 2012) Thanks to location-tracking, potential supporters whitethorn receive an automated message urging them to drop in comely as they ar passing a voter-registration office, or to turn up to a nearby rally (EIU, 2012) The supple phone foodstuff in Africa is one which is heavily affected by politics.The more(prenominal) unstable a country is the more the economy is constrained. This has a negative effect on imports going into these countries. Africa has a history of political instability and coups. According to AfricaGoodNews. com the run(a) few decades accept seen a vast decline in the number of war torn countries. The number of countries in Africa considered completely(11) and partially(34) free today has go tremendously since 1972(3 and 10 respectively). These figures suggest that, from a political point of take up at the very least, Africa has turned a major corner. A mod more stable standard of life looms over the horizon.This may emblem a new era of stability in the continent. (AfricaGoodNews. com) According to Techwireasia. com mainland mainland China is the biggest telephone market in the world. They boast over 1 one one million million million million roving phone subscribers. However political factors have a huge influence on the market. The three biggest players in the market China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom be majority-owned by the Government. This can be a potential oportunity or threat. It can be an opportunity as want term agreements with these providers can cement a companies place in the market and provide a platform for further maturation.On the other hand these companies in the next few years may begin to promote and try out to make deals with China based manufucturers and slowly dilute the market portion of the market leaders. (Techwireasia. com, 2012) Economical The global smartphone market is quite an competitive market. crosswise the globe masses are paying high prices for thes e products. In Ireland the prices for the summit three phones on the market are the HTC One X (519. 99), the Samsung beetleweed SIII (569. 00) and the iPhone 5(579. 99) (Carphone Warehouse, 2012). These phones are in excess of 500 to buy which is expensive to the bonnie person.At such a high price, such profounds are very spiritualist to a customers sparing situation. We will find out now at such stinting indicators which could influence sales in this persistence. The ingathering of an economy can be measured by its Gross domestic Product(gross domestic product). According to figures released by Trading Economics (2012) the GNP in the Euro athletic field is -0. 4%. This figure represents the effect of the financial and economic crisis Europe now finds itself in. European countries like Italy(-2. 6%), Greece(-6. 3%), Portugal(-3. 3%) and Spain(-1%) are all in recession.Other countries which have a positive gross domestic product are experiencing very slow gain like Germany (0. 5%), France(0. 25%) and Austria(0. 2%). The smartphone industry will suffer in Europe due to these figures and sales egress will be slowed significantly. These figures can be used to highlight countries and regions where economic issue is strong. It is shown in tables 2,3 and 4 (Appendices) that there is strong economic growth in Asia, easterly Europe and Africa. (Trading Economics, 2012) These are areas in which the officious phone industry should concentrate marketing strategies.Countries which show huge market opportunities are China, India and Australia. These countries are booming. China has a population of 1. 3 billion and GDP of 7. 4%. India has a population of 1. 2 billion and GDP of 5. 5%. The mobile phone industry should place huge emphasis on trying to gain a share of these expanding markets. Africa is a continent cognise more for its poverty than prosperity. However it is a continent with great potential. From an economic perspective many countries are showing st rong economic growth such as Rwanda and Nigeria for example which have a GDP of 9. % and 6. 3% respectively. Over the past decade six of the worlds ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eighter of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan (The Economist, 2011) If we look at unemployment figures released by the IMF (2012) we can see a similiar trend that shows unemployment rising slope across europe with the notable exception of Germany. The rate for the euro area for the plump for quarter of 2012 is 11. 2%, up from 7. 6% in 2007. Rates in North America dont look too good either with Canada at 7. 2% and US at 8%.Again we can see that the shining lights are in Asia with China, Korea and Japan showing the low unemployment rates (need figures ). Even though many of the industrys products are made in Asia, but the markets over there seem to have the most potential to grow. Socio-Cultural The way we use phones is constantly changing. A young OECD publication goes into great detail about how people are using the internet and mention a study called the Global Internet Phenomena declare in Canada (OECD, 2012). Table 1 in the Appendices show that peoples demand for real time entertainment is growing rapidly over the last few years.In 2012 the video streaming service Netflix accounted for 32. 9%, nigh one third, of all downstream traffic in the United disk operating systems. This suggests that consumer cullences are moving towards high quality video streaming and audio features. population want more entertainment from their phone. There is an opportunity the industry to give away this and focus resources on achieving these demands. (OECD, 2012) There is surely a fear amongst those companies in the market that somebody is going to come along with a new product which yet again revolutionises what we define as a mobile phone.The good news for the market is that even though technology and demands are constantly improving and increasing we feel it is worth mentioning that a mobile phone is still an essential device for almost everybody. Nowadays people have a wide selection of devices with which to use the internet, blackberrys, iphones, pcs, macbooks, ipads and tablets. Everyone has their own front-runner device. Some people have switched from pc to mac. Some people prefer tablets. But everybody needs a phone and its capabilities seem to be consolidating all those of other devices.It can send e-mails, it can browse the web, it has Facebook and Twitter, it has live tv, it can be a music player etc. There is very little you can no longer do on a phone. From a social point of view there is nothing that could hazard the need for mobile phones Environment Environmental issues are becoming more prominent in the mobile phone industry in modern times. The WEEE Directive was introduced in the EU 2005 whereby any deplete electrical or electronic equipment can be returned to the retailer free of charge pro vided that you purchase an item similar to the returning item (Selin & VanDeveer, 2006).This means to help the surround, mobile phone companies are required, by law, to take unwanted mobile phones. It is estimated that two million phones will be replaced this year causing 2,000 tons of waste (Kavanagh Environmental), proving it is anthropogenic what has caused radiation issues. For several years now, many people have speculated about the dangers of radiation from do calls. The main worry is that this could be a cause of cancer. It is reported that the risk of gliomas (brain cancer) has increased by 40% since the conception of mobile phones (Kovach, 2011).Radiation from mobile phones may have serious consequences to humans as it is causing the population of bees to decline who are essential for crop growth preventing food shortages (Lean & Shawcross, 2007). Legal There is a lot of legislation associated with the mobile phone industry. Patents are currently a big advantage in the mobile phone industry. pic etymon The Atlantic, 2012. One can see that the common denominator is apple. They are the only company which own valuable patents with regards to design and obligate a strong market share in the market in which these phones are sold.According to the Atlantic (2012), Apple are making the lions share of in operation(p) profits plot of land Samsung and HTC are the chasing pack. Ownership of these patents is a competitive advantage. Issues gussy up again and again over patents, which is most notably seen in the Apple versus Samsung court case, which only came to a final decision in youthful weeks. According to the US Daily Mail, Samsung had to pay $1. 05 Billion to Apple for copy their iPhone in the manufacturing of the Samsung Galaxy range (Murphy, 2012).A law went into effect in San Francisco azoic last year which required that all retailers must display how overmuch radiation each phone emits (Kang, 2010). With just under 300 million Americans usin g mobile phones, this is something which has the potential to hit the industry very stern if any significant study shows a link between phone use and cancer (Kang, 2010). The EU has introduced new legislation in the last few years aimed at significantly reducing the cost of making international calls and roaming. It is now 68% cheaper to make a call while abroad than it was in 2006 and it is 81% cheaper to receive a call.The price of text edition messages has been reduced by 60% (Europa, 2012). References Economic Intelligence Unit (2012), gentlemans gentleman Politics Spreading the m-word, ABI/ INFORM Global. Available Online at http//search. proquest. com/abiglobal/docview/926036961/139DAC0C8916F0BFAF4/18? accountid=40346 Accessed tenth October 2012 Africa Good News (2012), Fast facts and quick stats about Africa AfricaGoodNews. com. Available Online at http//www. africagoodnews. com/africa/facts. html Accessed 16th October 2012 OECD (pg. 24, 2012) OECD Internet economy outlook Available at http//www. keepeek. om/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/science-and-technology/oecd-internet-economy-outlook-2012/expanding-connectivity-and-measuring-the-internet-economy_9789264086463-3-en Accessed 4th October 2012 Techwireasia. com (2012) An in depth ananlysis of Chinas mobile phone market Techwireasia Online Available at http//www. techwireasia. com/2733/an-in-depth-analysis-of-chinas-mobile-phone-market/ Accessed 12th October Carphone Warehouse (2012), Pay as you go smartphones, Carphonewarehouse. ie Online Available at http//www. carphonewarehouse. ie/category/Pay-As-You-Go-Smartphones/1_3 Accessed fifteenth October 2012Europa (2012) Travelling in Europe 2012-2013 Europa. eu Online Available at http//europa. eu/ transit/comm/index_en. htmphone Accessed 3rd October 2012 IMF (2012) Principal Global Indicators IMF. org Online Available at http//www. principalglobalindicators. org/default. aspx Accessed 4th October 2012 Trading Economics (2012), GDP growth rates, Availa ble at http//www. tradingeconomics. com/gdp-growth-rates-list-by-country Accessed 4th October 2012 The Economist (2012) After decades of slow growth, Africa has a real medical prognosis to follow in the footsteps of Asia The EconomistOnline Available at http//www. conomist. com/node/21541015 Accessed 18th October 2012 Atlantic. com. (2012, August). The State of play in the mobile industry in one venn diagram. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from The Atlantic http//www. theatlantic. com/technology/archive/2012/08/the-state-of-play-in-the-mobile-phone-industry-in-one-venn-diagram/261712/ Europa. (2012). Travelling in Europe 2012-2013. Retrieved October 16, 2012, from Europa http//europa. eu/travel/comm/index_en. htmphone Kang, C. (2010). Cell Phone Indusrty attacks San Franciscos ruling on radiation. The Washington patch Kavanagh Environmental. (n. d. ). Environmental Objectives.Retrieved October 2, 2102, from Kavanagh Environmental http//www. kavenv. ie/environment. html Kovach, S. (201 1, May 31). Cell Phones may Cause Cancer. Retrieved OCTOBER 1, 2012, from Business Insider http//www. businessinsider. com/cell-phones-cause-cancer-2011-5 Lean, G. , & Shawcross, H. (2007, April 15). Are Mobile Phones wiping out our Bees? Retrieved October 4, 2012, from The Independent http//www. independent. co. uk/environment/nature/are-mobile-phones-wiping-out-our-bees-444768. html Murphy, D. (2012, October). Samsung losing Apple Court Case. Retrieved October 16, 2012, from Mobile Marketing http//www. obilemarketingmagazine. com/ heart/samsung-loses-apple-court-case Selin, H. , & VanDeveer, S. D. (2006, December). ABI/INFORM Global. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from ProQuest http//search. proquest. com. ezproxy. wit. ie2048/abiglobal/docview/224017129/13 99337313516FFA994/1? accountid=40346 Appendices Table 1 store up Traffic Compisition, North America pic Source (OECD, 2012) Table 2 GDP in Asia 2012 Q2 pic Source (TradingEconomics. com) Table 3 GDP in Eastern Europe 2012 Q2 pic S ource (TradingEconomics. com) Table 4 GDP in Africa 2012 Q2 pic Source (Tradingeconomics. com)