Cheating or Competing: the battle of the Smartphones?

The on-going dispute between smartphone rivals Apple and HTC has intensified, with Apple filing an official complaint to the International Trade Commission. The feud, which began in April 2011 after Apple and HTC accused one another of stealing ideas and infringing its patents, appears to be reaching new heights. It does make me wonder whether HTC and Apple, who are both international mobile phone market leaders, can compete fairly outside of the courts?

According to statistics analysed from February to May 2011, both Apple and HTC are successfully succeeding in the US market after building upon their dominance in Europe. With HTC currently taking the lead above other Smartphone manufacturers with a 38% market share, and Apple following closely behind with 26%,both companies are faring well in a highly competitive market. The conflict arises with both manufacturers producing similar products and phone apps for consumers to use, which has come to a head in these court proceedings. With their supporters taking die-hard brand stances in the HTC vs. Apple war and each with impressive market shares, is there not room enough for both of them?

Smartphones, as a device have only recently achieved dominance in the mobile phone marketing over the last 5 years. Giving consumers easy access to various contracts and pay-as-you-go deals whilst having so many apps to use on the go and the obvious benefits of mobile internet, they are quickly becoming an everyday necessity of consumer’s lives. Despite the legal allegations and lawsuits continuing between Apple and HTC, the two rival companies are still thriving at the top of the market compared to RIM (Blackberry) and Microsoft. With a rapidly increasing global market for smartphones and added functionality being continually developed, as well as media owners embracing the channel for eCommerce on demand targeted content, it appears that even the bickering of the two main players won’t halt the progress of this technology anytime soon.

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