Term Paper Proposal: Technological Warfare

In a generation categorized by the constant presence of and access to technology, it is safe to say that much of our economy centers around the world of digital media devices (computers, tablets, cell phones, etc.) and content consumed by those devices. Companies at the forefront of the consumer electronics industry like Amazon.com and Apple, Inc. are prime examples of how successful business models and effective marketing strategies can lead businesses through the maze of uncertainties in an industry characterized by its ever-changing nature.  In my paper, I will analyze the business strategies of Amazon.com and Apple, Inc. and show how they attribute to long-term success. As a subset of my broader argument, I will profile the tablet market, and show how these two companies' different approaches to tablet development and sales reflect their overall mission. By examining strategic plans, I will assess what makes or breaks a technology company and what practices can be utilized to secure a long-term footing in the industry.

Bibliography

Carmody, Tim. “Amazon’s Future Is So Much Bigger Than a Tablet.” Wired.com. Condé Nast Digital, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

Carmody focuses on the future of Amazon, discussing its tendency to charge full speed ahead, despite facing criticism from technical analysts. Following its perfection-with-time philosophy, Amazon continues to develop it’s Kindle line and the content pool to back it up, growing stronger and stronger, although not as rapidly as a company like Apple. Carmody predicts not only that the Kindle Fire will be a success, but that Amazon could have a healthy future with prolonged long-term success.

Grossman, Lev. "How Apple Does It. (Cover Story)." Time 166.17 (2005): 66-70. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

In this article, Grossman profiles Apple at a pivotal point in it’s history—just after the release of the first iPod with video-playing capabilities. The company’s innovation, Grossman writes, is partly a product of its vertical integration, a strategy that, according to Smithian economics, is often inefficient. Its success for Apple lies in the company’s focus on collaboration (everyone works on developing the same product at the same time) and control by the company’s management, which at the time was led by CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs was notorious for pushing the development of products that other people believed would not be successful in the market. Although it is a few years old, this article offers a valuable window into Apple’s central operating method and talks about the success of the iPod, which took Apple to new heights in the market and did for Apple what the Kindle did for Amazon – gave the company a place in history as being the first developer of a certain type of portable electronic device.

Streitfeld, David and Jenna Wortham. “Amazon’s Tablet Leads to Its Store.” NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

This article has buried within it several pearls of wisdom about Amazon’s long-term development, hitting on more than just the Kindle Fire Appstore, as its title implies. Streitfeld and Wortham reveal that part of Amazon’s business approach is to develop its electronics as “services” with the ultimate goal of using them to sell more of something else – content. For this reason, Amazon can actually take a loss on their devices. This loss for the sake of the consumer aligns with one of the points of Amazon’s four-part strategy, outlined by Ted Treanor in one of my other sources. As a part of their conclusion, Stretfeld and Wortham write: “more than most companies, Amazon thinks in terms of years and decades rather than quarters.”

Topolsky, Joshua. “Nook Tablet, Amazon Kindle Fire ‘mini-tablets’ will shake up market.” WashingtonPost.com. The Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

With the release of Amazon’s first tablet e-reader, the Kindle Fire, and the new Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, Topolsky speculates that “mini-tablets” will have an affect on Apple’s position of dominance in the tablet sector. Topolsky writes that lower prices and better partnerships will result in a revolution of how users think about media content. This article offers an overview of the tablet market, which I will profile in my overall analysis of tech-company business strategies. It can sort of be viewed as a preface to another source, which discusses how Apple and Amazon differ in their company approaches to media content sales.

Treanor, Ted. "Amazon: Love Them? Hate Them? Let’s Follow The Money." Publishing Research Quarterly 26.2 (2010): 119-128. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2011.

In this article, Ted Treanor examines Amazon.com’s success in becoming an e-commerce industry giant, focusing mainly on the company’s book/media sector, which had an overall profit of $5.96 billion in 2009 (two years after the release of the company’s first Kindle e-reader). He specifically reviews Amazon’s series of acquisitions (18 in book-related fields alone) and how they contribute to Amazon’s push to deliver the best customer-desired content at the lowest prices across the board. Furthermore, Treanor outlines Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ four-part strategy for the company: customer obsession, inventiveness, long-term thinking, and treating each day as a chance to “start all over again.” Treanor attributes Amazon’s long-term success to its philosophy of customer first, product second and its willingness to sacrifice short-term profit for long-term return.

Wingfield, Nick. “Once Wary, Apple Warms Up to Business Market.” NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

Steve Jobs, the late chief executive of Apple, Inc. did not have a keen interest in catering his company’s products and services to the business world. However, Wingfield reports, the advent of the iPad and the iPhone have made Apple more of a business-friendly company, with 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies buying and distributing iPads and 93 percent doing the same with iPhones. Wingfield attributes some of this success to consumerization, a pattern in which companies are becoming more receptive to the use of “consumer technology like social media.” Wingfield’s analysis suggests that Apple’s long-term strategy may be shifting somewhat. It is uncertain what the outcome of this shift will be, but it will have an affect on Apple’s future market share.