2013/10/31 Apple Leading in Mobile Ecosystem Overall But Still Lagging in Social, Location and Advertising
New iPhones Not Addressing Weaker AreasBoston, MA - October 28, 2013 - The recently launched iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C have failed to address Apple's weakness in key areas of the mobile ecosystem, notably Social, Location and Advertising, according to the report "Handset Vendor Content & Services Strategies: Apple" published by Strategy Analytics.
The report is the first of a series of reports to be published by Strategy Analytics to assess the strengths of mobile device vendors' competitiveness in the mobile content and services ecosystem. Through a panoramic assessment of Apple's key assets, the analysis recognizes Apple's industry leadership positions in OS and devices, the applications space, and audiovisual assets. It also identifies Apple's weakness in location-related assets as well as social and advertising.
"We not only analyze the vendors' strengths and weaknesses in different sectors in the mobile content and services domain vis-à-vis competition and the industry in general, but also look at how well a vendor integrates the assets at its disposal to achieve optimal competitive advantage", said David MacQueen, Executive Director of Apps & Media at Strategy Analytics. "Apple is the clear market leader today with compelling devices and a slick OS, an extremely strong and vibrant app store, and in iTunes the best suite of audiovisual content offered by any OEM. The tight integration of these assets creates strong brand loyalty amongst its user base."
According to Wei Shi, Analyst at Strategy Analytics' Wireless Media Strategies (WMS), "We can also see how active a vendor is in growing the assets in its weak areas through either organic or non-organic ways. Apple has the potential to extend its overall leadership by catching up on its weaker areas. Despite recently announcing a suite of new devices and a significant revision of its OS, any meaningful measures to improve its areas of weakness are eye-catchingly missing from its latest announcements. Apple Maps has not evolved significantly, and Apple's play into the mobile wallet space, Passbook, remains under-utilized by the retail sector. In the future we anticipate Apple increasing its internal efforts, or possibly targeting some acquisitions in order to retain its leadership in the smartphone and tablet sectors."
More analysis on mobile content and services can be found at Strategy Analytics' Wireless Media Strategies and App Ecosystem Opportunities services.
Source: Strategy Analytics
