Smartphone, a device which is no longer a strange thing to majority of people since it has
gradually entered people everyday life. Smartphones are mobile phones with computers abilities
and internet search, the only difference could be the size and its mobility. In another word, it
has become a source of entertainment, a communication tool, a search engine and so much more.
This has led to the decision of choosing smartphone industry as the main topic for this thesis.
But smartphone itself is not appealing enough since smartphone is just another artificial item.
However, the brand and the owners are far more tempting. Same device, similar features but
each kind has its own operating system which leads to different experience. Some are opened
and everyone can use, some are closed which means much higher privacy for users but not
everybody can use it. Nevertheless, each brand has its own history, and it is the history
development that is the most fascinating. How the brand was born, what innovation it had to go
through, what kind of strategy the company chosed to compete with each other… all led to very
different outcomes.
To begin with, the thesis will give a quick glance at the evolution of mobile industry so that
readers can have better understanding of how it started, what phases it had gone through. The
next chapter will deal with the modern form of mobile phone: smartphone. At this chapter,
strategies of different brands will be revealed and compared. The fourth chapter is the outcome
which leads to different fades for different brands. The last chapter is about the future generation
of smartphone based on facts, analysis and expectations from users and expertise. And lastly,
the thesis will end with a survey in order to have more information about the popularity of
smartphone brands as well as users satisfaction with each brand.
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2 EVOLUTION OF MOBILE INDUSTRY
2.1 History of mobile phone
March 10, 1876 is considered as a milestone marking the advent of the telephone. The father of
the first telephone was Alexander Graham Bell. The rudimentary machine can transmit voice
has open a new era of development in the history of communications, replacing the telegraph.
1967, the handset called Carry Phone which was considered to be the first "mobile" was
released, however, this device was very cumbersome to move because it weighed 4.5 kg (Randy,
2011).
Mobile phone was officially launched on April 3, 1973, named Motorola Dyna Tac, which was
invented by inventor Martin Cooper. Motorola Dyna Tac had the same shape as today's mobile
phones, although it was quite bulky with weigh more than 1 kg and not popular (Richard, 2015).
Since then, the mobile phone development has constantly evolved towards and has become more
compact than its ancestors ever were by increasing integrated and more functional rather than
merely texting and calling.
In 1991, the second generation (2G) cellular technology was launched.
A Finnish company
when it was Radiolinja has the slogan: "Finns can call longer" (Biju and Nauman 2014). This
tagline implies a limit on the time of the first-generation mobile phone. The period since 2001
is the 3G technology has prevailed. By the year 2009, the demand for mobile users is increasing
and they require high quality and high speed, is a prerequisite for the introduction of 4G
technology. 4G has the advantage of speed Internet access as well as faster application of
advanced multimedia.
In 2008, it is estimated that there are just two people who own a mobile phone. From 1990 to
2011, the number of mobile subscribers on a global scale increased from 12.4 million to more
than 6 billion subscribers. Not just increase the number of users, mobile phones also witnessed
a change in design and functionality, based on advanced technology. 1973 is a high-priced
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phone, fewer features, big and heavy, but by 2013 - after 40 years - the phone was a lot cheaper,
it is the equipment needed by anyone, small, lightweight, thin more and more features