Competitive Analysis - Essay Example

Macintosh products are hip, edgy, associated with quality, and innovative. Smartphones are defined against the IPhone and tablet computing against the IPad. Millions of consumers wait in anticipation for the next Mac release. But there are cracks in their armor. “The collective Apple community has been so intoxicated by the iPod, the success of the iTunes Store, MacBook sales, and excellent Mac OS X security that no one is reflecting on the areas where Apple is vulnerable. Perhaps it is unpleasant to think about, but neither do we want to live in a state of denial” (Martallero, 2006).

Mac has traditionally had weaknesses in the arena of high performance computing. They are not associated with gaming computing in any way and they hold a small chunk of the personal computer market. They also don't any foothold in the corporate computer market. This is irrelevant to the Samsung Tab's success, of course. They also have weaknesses in the enterprise market. The music market is a very big weakness: Despite the IPod helping save the music industry from serious problems, they still have a goal, to sell music.

Samsung could do what the Zune tried to and failed: Make a serious competitor to Macintosh in the music department by making strategic alliances. It is in the music industry's interest not to have to deal with a monopoly power in the field of MP3s, particularly the ITunes store. That having been said, this does mean competing for a share of a pie that piracy is always in danger of shrinking. The entertainment industry is similar: They want to sell electronic versions of their movies. If Samsung gets in on the ground floor in this regard, they will be successful.

Dell's new tablet announcement that got leaked is also a serious threat (Cush, 2011). “The already available Dell Streak and Dell Streak 7 are listed, and according to the leaked "Tablet Roadmap," they will be joined in April by the Gallo Honeycomb tablet. The Opus One and Silver Oak Honeycomb tablets will follow in early 2012, just in time for CES” (Cush, 2011). Dell has two major advantages. First: They are the big dogs in the field of personal computing. When it comes to building and selling PCs, laptops and notebooks, they are associated with great success.

Millions of customers have a Dell PC with an Intel processor: The two are associated with reliability and value. Samsung, on the other hand, is mostly considered to be a maker of TVs, screens, other ancillary products. It seems likely that, faced with the choice between what looks like a Dell computer that just happens to be a tablet or Samsung's new experiment, many people will choose Dell out of sheer brand name recognition. Second: They hit the ground earlier. They launched already. Samsung is a bit late.

But the real competition that Samsung has is the PC and other electronic products. The IPad is competing in the tablet market, which is a small market, against people who already are centered on home or laptop computing. If someone has a desktop computer, they are far less likely to think a tablet computer is a worthwhile investment, but might think it's interesting or want mobile computing. If they already have a laptop, the IPad's arguments for existence as a product become far slimmer indeed.

Even some video game systems like the DS, PSP, PS3, Wii and XBox 360 are in a real way competition for the Tab. These systems have so many utilities in terms of playing movies, music and doing other