Smartphone Competition

Sizable market

Nowadays, more and more people tend to spend more time on the telephone, from exhibit 1 we can see that each person almost spend 14 minutes on smartphones for playing games (Shane Richmond, 2012). What is more, 33% of people are playing games via smartphone and 25% of people are playing games via handled devices (esa, 2012). These data indicate that more people prefer to play games on smartphones than other devices, and people are willing to spend more time on smartphones to play games.

Especially, from the survey, we can know that all respondents they hold smartphones, which means this market is extremely sizable based on the large users. What is more, Phantom Company is a small company, which means that they do not have enough funds to create games on diverse devices, and they do not have sufficient resources and experts to create games on diverse devices. Therefore, smartphones can be the proper platform for Phantom Company to create games. Opportunistic market: Furthermore, if the company can focus on creating games on smartphones in Canada, the market size will be attractive.

That’s because there are 10. 5 million smartphone users in Canada, the number of users may increase to 16. 4 million by 2016 (Innovation Report 2012 Trend Watch, 2012), and 60% of smartphone adults users prefer using cell phones to play games, which means that all of these users can be the potential target customers for Phantom Company. Especially, all of them are adults, they have purchasing power for the game apps, if the company can attract these people, and they can have a lucrative market in the smartphone game industry.

Profitable market

Based on the survey we can see that most respondents are willing to pay more money on quality games, especially most of them have purchasing power, therefore, as long as the games are attractive for these people, this smartphone market can be profitable.

Competition

The smartphone game market is good news for customers because it creates convenience, flexibility, and more entertainment for life. However, the fierce competition will put pressure on companies. Firstly, which brand Phantom should launch their phones. There are diverse brands of phones in the market, these brands possess diverse kinds of games on their phones, for example, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, HTC, Apple, Motorola, and RIM. The highest market share smartphone is Samsung, which is 26. 0% and LG’s is 17. 7%, Apple occupies 17. 5%, Motorola is 10. 9% and HTC is 6. 2%( Eric Abent, 2012). This fact shows that Phantom should choose carefully for which brand to launch their games in order to game more people to play and have a profitable market in the future. Secondly, video game competition in Canada is fierce. There are currently 348 video game companies operating in Canada.

The average Canadian Video Game Company employs 45 people, and there are more game companies in Ontario than other provinces, which means that all of these companies are Phantoms’ direct competitors (Matt Hartley, 2011). Especially, there are lots of famous companies in Montreal, which means it will be tough for Phantom to compete with these mature video companies based on its scarcity of expert resources and innovation capabilities, and brand recognition.

Competitions during the industry:

There are diverse competitors in the video game industry in Canada. There are three famous video game companies, where were listed top 10 video game companies in 2012. These companies are Toronto’s XMG Studio, Montreal’s Gamerizon, and Toronto’s Capybara Games (Knowlton Thomas, 2012). These companies are well-known companies that lead to high reliability and loyalty in the market. What is more, famous and big companies posse sufficient expert sources and innovation capabilities, which are the key success factors for video game companies. Especially, these companies have sophisticated experiences in developing mobile games in the past.

Subsequently, this company posse diverse advantages, which Phantom needs and lacks. In addition, more and more small companies are established these days in Canada, they are also competing with Phantom now. They may have similar capabilities with Phantom, or they may have more funds than Phantom to develop more innovative games than Phantom. These companies also threaten to Phantom’s future.

Appendixes

Exhibit 1: Source: Shane Richmond, 2012 http://www. telegraph. co. uk/technology/mobile-phones/9365085/Smartphones-hardly-used-for-calls. html References Shane Richmond, June 29, 2012.

Smartphones hardly used for calls. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://www. telegraph. co. uk/technology/mobile-phones/9365085/Smartphones-hardly-used-for-calls. html esa, 2012.

Game player data. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://www. theesa. com/facts/gameplayer. asp Innovation Report 2012 Trend Watch, August 2012. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://www. newmediatrendwatch. com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/45-canada? start=2 Eric Abent, November 2012.

Comscore deliver mobile market share report for September 2012. Retrieve on November 8, 2012 from: http://androidcommunity. om/comscore-delivers-mobile-market-share-report-for-september-2012-20121102/ Matt Hartley, May, 2011.

Canada’s gaming industry is kicking butt. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://business. financialpost. com/2011/05/30/canadas-home-grown-video-game-industry-shines-on-international-stage/ Knowlton Thomas, March 30, 2012.

Three Canadian Companies Named in Worldwide List of Top 10 Mobile Game Developers to Watch in 2012. Retrieve on November 18, 2012 from: http://www. techvibes. com/blog/three-canadian-companies-named-in-worldwide-list-of-top-10-mobile-game-developers-to-watch-in-2012-2012-03-01