Exploring the Dispute Between Samsung and Apple - Essay Example

Marketing The war between Samsung and Apple Samsung and Apple have been involved in a legal conflict concerning their patents in relation to tablets and Smartphone, whereby Apple is raising accusation that Samsung is imitating its products (The Economist, 1­). In this case, the Samsung was accused of violating the laws of infringement concerning several patents belonging to Apple Company, and there were other accusations of intellectual property violation. In fact, the conflicts escalated after an injunction was given to Apple Company, which required Samsung Company to provide its future products as their last packaging to the lawyer representing Apple Company for inspection in order to determine whether have infringed the patents. Therefore, the paper will discuss issues related to the dispute between Samsung and Apple, applying the marketing theory of 4ps while focusing on other such as marketing ethics, consumer behaviours, and marketing entry strategies. On the other hand, another request of injunction by Samsung seeks to gather information concerning iPhone 5 and iPad 3 was made, but Apple is made all the necessary effort to impede the injunction (Apple, 1). Nevertheless, the strategies of communication were based on secrecy concerning the future of the products, since disclosure of the nature of the products prior to the launching date can have an adverse effect on customers’ behaviours. Therefore, Samsung was identified to be copying innovative technologies, other than taking on their products development independently; thus, there was a violation of Apple’s precious intellectual property rights, through the distinctive interface, packaging and product design. The dispute involving these companies related to the iPhone and Galaxy S, which is manufactured by Samsung, and iPad compared to the design of Samsung Galaxy. Therefore, the dispute was raised by Apple due to their concern about the products designed by Samsung while Samsung is raising allegations of infringement of their 3G wireless technology by Apple (Harrison, 1). There are legal suits in different parts of the world such as U.S.A, Britain, and South Korea, whereby there is differentiation of the judgement made by the courts in these countries. For instance, California there was a ruling by the jury stipulating that Samsung is to compensate Apple damages amounting to 1.05 billion for infringement, whereby dismissing allegations made by Samsung (Helena,1). There are intentions by Samsung to seek an appeal for the ruling, though it would result to reduced choices, less innovation and increase in prices. In terms of the company’s marketing strategies, they select a range of products through which a marketing strategy can be implemented focusing on supply and demand and an aim of raising the attractiveness of the products, which results to increased sales turn over (Botha, Strydom and Brink, 29). Apple has made the necessary effort of adapting the strategy of releasing its products such as iPhone 5, which has been an effective strategy of marketing. Customers of Apple products are always waiting to acquire the latest products from Apple Company. Moreover, they have a strategy of regulating volumes of iPhone 5 that are supplied to the market, in order to ensure that it is below the demand. On the other hand, Apple needs a reform of their marketing strategy, by ensuring that they are entering the market using attractive features on their products, which are no present in their competitors. Marketing theory of 4ps is necessary in comparing products from Samsung and Apple; whereby there are some advantages of Apple’s iPhone 5 over Samsung Galaxy S3, which entail the size of the screen, resolution, life of the battery. However, Samsung has exploited the hype of iPhone 5 launching, by using the chance to inform their customers about the features of Galaxy S3 using the media and the channels offered by the social media. Samsung had ensured that are stores in main cities at the time when iPhone 5 is being launched, whereby they used a clear message for their customers. Samsung has also used a tagline that has implications to their customers, whereby they send a message to them indicating that there is no need for a lot of thinking to understand the advantages of the Galaxy S3 compared to Apple iPhone 5 while the tagline from Samsung indicates that the biggest thing is about to happen iPhone. Apple has made significant adjustment of their marketing strategies for the future, thereby creating a chance for increased competition in the market of Smartphone for Samsung. Therefore, Samsung is seeking ways to cope with the competition due to the marketing strategies begin applied by Apple in for the market entry. The marketing mix is applied to promote the sales of their products in the competitive market, whereby including the product, price, place and promotion. Their products are designed concerning the effort of meeting the desires of customers in the market, and these products require strategies for their marketing mix (Ahmad and Buttle, 29). The companies concentrate on the price for their customers, whereby including the discounts or terms of payments. Therefore, these companies concentrate on the prices of their products, though there are some factors that influence the price of products like production costs, demand and competition. In fact, Apple’s pricing strategy is based on the demand for their products in the market, whereby the price can be either low or high depending on the cost (Perrault, 54). In addition, these companies focus on the distribution of their products to their customers in order to increase the accessibility of their products to customers. Therefore, the companies have opened a store in capital cities in order ensure that customers can access the latest products from different countries. The other element of the marketing mix is the promotion, whereby the marketers in these companies use advertisements, public relations (McDaniel and Gates, 20). Therefore, the marketing mix is considered vital to these companies since it is applied in numerous aspects. In this case, there are products offered by these companies through translation services related to languages. There are the price ranges in because of the cost and demand in the process of setting the prices for translation services. There are promotion efforts through the internet via emails, telephone, banners, which are aimed at increasing the sales turnover and share in the market. Therefore, marketers in Apple and Samsung Company have been focusing on 4Ps of marketing, through different marketing strategies, and this requires the concern for sellers and buyers. Samsung also focus on the customers’ behaviours, whereby they use the 4Cs, which entail the channel, commodity, cost and communication. In this situation, the commodity represents the products in the 4Ps, whereby there is customization of products in a way that suites the customers’ needs (Chan and Ndubisi, 293). The other element relates to the cost that represents the price whereby it serves as an indication of customer’s centric description that entails cost incurred during production, selling, purchasing and other social costs. In addition, there is a focus on the channels, which relates to the means of delivering products to the customers conveniently. The company also focuses on communication, whereby there is a broad range of the promotion that focuses on the attention of the links between the sellers and buyers. Therefore, the 4Cs are aimed at offering the customers with quality products through modern business, whereby the companies are applying the operations in a critical way. Apple has been targeting their customers through satisfaction of their needs by customizing their products and specifying demand, for instance there are extra services offered to customers in order to save their and cost (CCJK, 1). In fact, the pricing strategies in this company focus on costs, and after an analysis of the cost, which is based on the customers, a reasonable price is set in a competitive way. They have also developed a profound interest concerning their distribution channels, which incorporated in their marketing strategy. In this case, they use the internet facilitate the accessibility of their products to their clients. They have also been laying some emphasis on the communication, whereby they exchange information between the buyer and the company concerning their products in order to improve the quality. Moreover, there is a focus on the translation companies, whereby they make a substantial investment in communication, though the internet marketing, personal selling in order to reinforce the relationship between the company and clients. In conclusion, the paper has explored the dispute between Apple and Samsung, whereby there are allegations made by Apple indicating that Samsung has infringed their patents through an imitation of their product such as iPhone 5 and iPad 3. The paper explains the verdict of the court, whereby Samsung was considered guilty, and it has to compensate Apple damages, where by request for an injunction by Samsung was dismissed by the Californian court. On the other hand, there are allegations by Samsung claiming that Apple has violated the law of intellectual property rights by using their 3G wireless technology while allegations of Apple were dismissed in Britain and South Korean courts. The paper compares the two companies in terms of their marketing strategy based on the theory of marketing 4Ps. Some of the other things that have been elaborated include the marketing ethics, consumer behaviours and marketing entry strategies. Works Cited Apple. “The conflict between Apple and Samsung is worsening”. 3dot5. 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