Product research for this article centers around a Samsung Galaxy Note, which I happened to acquire during the Black Friday sales event at Best Buy. The Samsung Galaxy Note is a rather large smart phone cum tablet, with the biggest screen size in its class at 5.3 inches. The brand is Samsung, the line however is the ubiquitous Galaxy catering to tablets.
Customer
The customer for this product is the business user who likes to be connected on the go, in multiple ways. There is also the technology enthusiast who will shell out the skimming price on the Galaxy Note for some of the premium features the phone accords, not present elsewhere.
Product research: Closest Brand Competitor
The closest brand competitor to the Galaxy Note is Apple’s iPhone 5 at the present. The iPhone 5 has increased the screen size in a revolutionary step at being able to compete better with the Galaxy line of phones, specially the Note which is sizes above the iPhone line, even the latest model with a 4 inch screen. This immediately meant that the hundreds of thousands of apps on the App Store will all have to be customized; a meagre price to pay to be able to stay in the fray against the Note.
Note over the iPhone
Size is an enormous concern for me since I do not have to stare as hard and I work for long periods of time on the phone. Another major factor was the Android operating system, which is not a sole concern of a big company but is maintained by a consortium of over 86 companies including Google (Bray, 2010). Apple’s iOS is plagued by the company’s heavy handed treatment of customers and developers. Besides, I use Microsoft products for my laptop and desktop solutions, which sync much easily with Android, than say a Mac product which requires a special patch running merely to connect the Note. I was finally also very impressed by the “SWYPE” technology to type on the Note – the SWYPE implementation on the iOS is poor.
Marketing
The marketing for the Note influenced me by appealing to the exact customer sector I belonged to: the business user. The company had a lineup of its competitor’s phones alongside the Note in several campaigns, driving home the size difference. The company also justified the price for the device laying out the features and its strategy was not one of market skimming merely. The company kept up the campaigns on the internet, the TV and in print media as well. Besides the phone belonged to the already successful, flagship line Galaxy.
References
Bray, T. (2010). “What Android Is”. TBRAY. Retrieved from http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/11/14/What-Android-Is
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> Think for a moment about the last product you purchased. What was the product? What is the brand name of the product? How would you describe the customer for this product? What is the product’s closest brand competitor? Explain why you chose this brand rather than the competitor’s brand. How did the marketing for the product influence your purchase?
