The final project will be submitted by May 2013. 2.
Background Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the Introduction of the BlackBerry solution in 1999. The blackberry phone came In market during the 1999, but It nowhere looked like the current models and was a fast-growing trend. In 2003, blackberry released their first smartened (us. Blackberry, 2012). BlackBerry also expanded from smartness to the growing field of Tablets, by Introducing the BlackBerry PlayBook and also various support business software and accessories (Absence.
M 2003) mobile industry, with the US (bag. Com 2012). And also stood the 4th in the Best Canadian Brands (Rangefinder's, 2012) The reported profit for the current financial year is of 1. 2 billion USED reported by the BBC news. (absence, 2012) In the past five years Blackberry made a drastic change in the way people communicate, specifically targeting the younger generation. Blackberry main aim is to develop socializing.
In the past 5 years since the blackberry messenger became popular, it changed the scenario. People could easily stay in touch and text unlimited from different parts of the world (us. Cyber, 2012). In the I-JAKE blackberry was launched by the telecommunication server distillates in May 2006. They started internet and social networking packages in February 2007.
This is when blackberry smartness became popular among the youth group in I-JAKE because of the socializing package for blackberry messenger. (Selfness,2013) In the recent scenario blackberry has many competitors and strong competition like Apple 'phone, Samsung, Sony and Monika as it small place and all these companies are competing for the largest market share.Blackberry market share in the AAU is large. The RIM says that blackberry will have a larger market share in AJAX than apple due to the widespread popularity of the blackberry messenger. " Blackberry has a very strong presence in the market as it offers highly competitive price packages when compared to android and apple phones.
(Selfness,2013) 3. Problem Definition and Research Objectives Problem background: Blackberry has been losing its market, which is the key problem.The purpose of research is that we are trying to identify the consumer preference and reason of decline in sales. Nevertheless, the features of the mobile phone that attracts a nonuser to make a purchase need to be ascertained and the price influence on purchase. Along with this several actions are been taken from through which the sales of blackberry can be increased. The information required in order to successfully complete the research would be factors such as: the Market research Problem, Management decision problem, and the advantage that competitors have over blackberry.
The Marketing Decision Problem (MAD): What key factors of consumer preferences should be considered and further implemented in order to experience an increase in sales for BlackBerry mobile In order to combat the falling sales, it is important to: Determining the target market BlackBerry must focus on. Analyzing the most liked functions and features. Determining Blackberry current market position. The Research Objectives: This research aims to precisely gather data to the following questions, to relate to the stated MAD: 1 .What is the demographic and cryptographic profile of consumers who prefer a BlackBerry? 2.
What are the features and functions most preferred 3. What criteria do consumers use while selecting a mobile phone? 4. How do consumers evaluate BlackBerry based on identified choice criteria . Research Design The research design for BlackBerry is designed to understand and find reasons about why market share for blackberry in I-JAKE is declining. We carried out a detailed study by doing an extrinsic research on the current users; previous users and people who never used BlackBerry.
Our research has been designed in order to measure the market share of BlackBerry users in AJAX; understand the purchasing decisions of consumers and also what technological improvements can be implemented to engulf the needs of the consumers. The approaches we have chosen for this the researches on BlackBerry are: Under exploratory research we have chosen the quantitative approach. The quantitative research was done by reading different articles on the internet based on the market share of different mobile phones also the official website had potential secondary information that has helped us in the report.There was a large pool of information, however we selected the most reliable sources to analyze the secondary research. More information on the quantitative information has been already discussed in the background of the company. The nest approach used was conclusive research.
Under which we chose the method of collecting surveys. This helped us, as we were able to gain the insight of the opinion many potential customers And also, this helped us to analyze data and formulate recommendations to serve the Marketing Decision Problem.The target market we chose to conduct this research are respondents between the age of 18 - 25 years old, as they are the largest group of blackberry users which is the youth group, who is very much keen on social networking technologies. Through targeting this particular age group, we had a clear idea about were the problems Steps for sampling process: . The population size we chose is respondents aged between the ages 18-25 years who are mainly the younger group of population who use blackberry more. .
Our sampling frame consists of 3 divisions, which is the current users, previous users and respondents who never used blackberry phones. C. Our sample design is Strategic random sampling. D.
The sample size we choose is 60 respondents who have used or never used a blackberry or who are previous users of blackberry. The sampling method we choose to conduct this research is the stratified random sampling method, as we can divide r stratify the population in different consumption patterns. 5.Data analysis and reporting The sample has a size of 63 individuals of which 52% are females and 48% are males (refer to Chart 1).
The occupation of the sample is dominated by students (85%) followed by working individuals, working full time (7%), self-employed (7%) and lastly Also, around 47% of the individuals are between the age groups of 18-19 year olds, 41% being 20-21 years, 7% being 22-23 years and lastly 2% being 24- 25 years (Chart 3). The data analysis has been divided into three categories: 1 . Current BlackBerry Consumers. . Previous BlackBerry Consumers 3.
Never-used BlackBerry 1 .Analysis of Current BlackBerry Consumers: From the total sample of 63 individuals, the majority of 39 (Chart 4) respondents are Current BlackBerry Consumers. With the majority of the current users ranging between the age groups of 18-20 year olds, the dictating occupation is (Chart 6). The analysis unfolds their views on affordability of mobile brands with Apple and Samsung being perceived as more expensive as compared to BlackBerry and Monika (Chart 7).
Purchase decisions are mainly affected by the importance of right functions and eaters, user-friendly features, brand image and budget (Chart 8).Operating System (Chart 9). To conclude, current users seem to be inclined towards BlackBerry because of IBM, but are unsatisfied with other functions such as applications, operating system and feat and are most likely to shift, if not offered better options. 2. Analysis of Previous BlackBerry Consumers: As seen in Chart 4, respondents who have previously used but now switched to another brand are about 30% of the sample. The majority shifting to the phone, followed by Samsung (Chart 10) is mainly due to operational problems by BlackBerry ouch as getting stuck, slow processing etc.
Chart 11). Also, these particular respondents, while selecting purchase decision factors have rated the operating system as an extremely important function they require in a mobile phone (Chart 11). Moreover, previous BlackBerry users are largely not impressed with the newly launched ZOO and QUO models and consider that it still lacks features and functions and thus are very less likely to re-purchase a BlackBerry (Table 12) While the majority of respondents declining to repurchase a BlackBerry, certain consumers considered it as best suited for them.Out of the current users, 17% considered continuing with BlackBerry (Table 13). Significantly, these users do not heavily rely on IBM (Chart 14) and do not believe in their mobile acting as a status symbol (Chart 15).
Also, considering the rankings of features considered important, it could be said that these users prefer BlackBerry because of its battery life, operating system, keyboard more as compared to camera, touch screen and applications (Chart 16). HO: There is NO association between age and preference for built-in messenger in mobile phones.HI: There is some association between age and preference for built- n messenger in mobile phones. After the analysis, we found that there is no association between age and preference for built-in messenger and we do not reject the null. One Sample t-Test HO: HI: p 3 After the analysis, it can be concluded that there is no association between Gender of the respondent and considering their mobile as a status symbol. Independent Samples t-Test HO: pm = if HI: pm The mean for 'Male is equal to the mean for females, hence there is no association between gender and considering a mobile as a status symbol.
Recommendations: commendations are made: Blackberry strengths include the unique built-in messenger- IBM, user-friendliness, affordability and physical durability. BlackBerry can continue to develop IBM with regular version updates, to fix minor bugs and must maintain their price strategy as compared to Apple and Samsung. The weaknesses BlackBerry needs to work on are largely the operating system and lack of applications. The organization has to tackle problems or unresponsive operating system getting stuck and slow.
Developing a new SO and allowing updates for the same, even on the previous models may help retain customers.As for the applications, with Android mobiles working with Google to form Google Play (Outstretch, 2011) BlackBerry too can consider mergers or encourage developers to have applications by offering incentives such as larger share in cost of application, in its current store. In terms of consumer preferences on features, the most preferred features include the QWERTY keypad (a feature lacking in the phone and latest Samsung phones) because of which QUO seems like a better option. An improved camera, battery life and options in physical looks should help BlackBerry regain its ales and compete in the fierce mobile phone industry. . Data Collection Instruments The data that we collected was sufficiently reliable however certain respondents did face confusions when answering certain questions as they were unsure of what was expected however we had the researchers present in case of any questions by the respondents we were overcome this scenario.
One of the questions from the questionnaire like family income did not state the value of being per month or per year. In the questionnaire each question that was asked to the respondents had a efferent significance in the questionnaire.The below are what the reasons to ask the following questions are: Gender is asked in order to divide the number of males and females who use blackberry. The age is asked to categorize respondents in different groups. Such as what age group prefers blackberry the most.
Occupation is asked to determine that at what level or class people prefer blackberry, such as the working class, or students etc. Family income is asked because through this we can have a basic idea about what their income is like and if they can afford a blackberry phone.
