Question:
Discuss about the Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime.
Considering the investing opportunities in the emerging tablet and gadget market, it can be said that there are several opportunities of earning moiré profits and revenues. However, it has always come as a surprise to the global market that Amazon has occupied most of the non-Apple tablet market with their game-changing invention, Kindle Fire. The product was a new entrant in the global tablet market. Before Kindle Fire, Apple had occupied most of the market; however, later Amazon and Apple both occupied around eighty percent of the market share (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). In this competitive market, Amazon brought their unique and innovative device, Kindle Fire, which encompasses and enhanced experience for the customers with its innovative functionalities and features. Therefore the target customer segment of Kindle Fire was attracted towards the product as it reflected the characteristics of a premium quality device, even if it was placed at a competitive range comparing to the other tablets in the market (Peppard and Ward 2016). Mostly the Kindle Fire is a product that combines two different products at one time and created a gorgeous synergy so that the individual customers experience something great. Within an average price range the device is offering various functionalities to the customers. Therefore, this essay performs a detailed analysis of the case of Kindle Fire struggle in the tablet market and their existing market and competitor analysis. The essay will also discuss their possible strategies in the market and recommendations will be made accordingly. General environment analysis
While assessing the general environment for the Kindle Fire, it should be noted that while the product entered the market, there were existing products such as, android tablets and Apple I pads. The kindle came with comparatively lower prices which cost around $199; it was not put in the higher group like the other android tablets, yet it was providing all the necessary functions. While the other tablets cost around $499 to $799, Kindle offered a all the facilities in lower prices. Along with that, if the features of the Kindle are compared with other existing gadgets, the Kindle Fire seemed to be more long-lasting, capable of storing more contents and more compact (Barney 2014). The device was also connected to the direct store of Amazon. However, Kindle Fire was not able to meet all the specifications that were offered by the other tablets and I Pads.
Comparing the Kindle with the other E-readers, it can be seen that the market prices of the E-reader dropped to a great extent. The prices were less than $100 as an outcome of the price war after the entrance of Kindle. In such a scenario, the E reader started to offer more functionalities to the customers such as streaming the video contents, playing games, colorful display etc. However, at the same time the less prices e readers could not offer maximum power usages. Even though the screens were coordinated with the eyes while glaring, the device could only provide primary reading which refers to the simple focus on one specific task at one time (Hill and Jones 2013). However, the E reader seemed to have a long productive life than the Kindle. Therefore, it can be seen that within the general tablet and gadget market, there were huge ups and downs after Kindle Fire enters the market.
Overall it can be said that the Kindle Fire had appeared falling between the tablets and E-readers on several fronts. Even though the price of the Kindle fire was high comparing to the E-readers, but it was quite lower compared to the android tablets. If the entire situation is evaluated with more granular details, it can be said that the positive features of the device such as more storage area, incorporated text book features, durable and children friendly features enhance the allover experience of the readers. Other features of the Kindle fire such as the providing color images, and the enhanced access to the market place of Amazon had contributed to the popularity of Kindle Fire, mostly due to its durable, compact and tactile features. As stated by Ede and Ackermann (2013), there have been several researches on the fact that even if the device was offering more functionalities and features, it was placed in the premium range price in comparison to the e-readers. Wheelen and Hunger (2017) has stated that, it was mostly due to the fact that Kindle was offering more use cases compared to e-readers such as gaming, video content, accessing applications and several others. However, it was not really comparable to the quality and breadth of the use cases that were offered by the existing android tablets. Therefore, the price of Kindle Fire was kept somewhere in between so that it can be positioned well in the market.
The industry and competitor analysis is a major analysis for managing the brand more strategically. Porter’s five forces model is one of the significant tool that helps to understand the business environment and its competitive nature, especially this model is more significant in identifying the possible profitability of the strategies. There are five factors in the model:
While evaluating the rivalry in the global market, due to constant competitions in the market, Amazon had to provide a large amount of discount for the original e-books to a considerable rate. Moreover, due to the price wars, the company had to ensure that they get a competitive edge in the market. In addition to that, due to increasing competitors in the market, many organizations had made an attempt for offering all of their contents across different proprietary platforms; therefore it was quite obvious that the exclusivity started to increase during the time (Slack 2015). On the other hand, Amazon also did not have the opportunity like other competitors of having both the digital and physical presence in the market. Therefore it also impacted the popularity of the Kindle fire. It should also be noted that the intense competition in the market had also decreased the product life cycle of Kindle Fire.
Amazon has a massive reach to its targeted customer base through different distribution channels; however, Amazon has also started selling its e-books through various other platforms such as the android and IOS devices ((Bettis et al 2016). However, it made the entire situation a little difficult for the consumers who were already using the Kindle Fire device as they were not being able to access any other content other than the content provided by Amazon. The prices were reduced to a great extent as well.
It should be noted that the prices had dropped which eventually boosted the purchasing power of the buyers. Moreover, they started to switch costs as the other platforms were offering the similar services in low costs (Gamble and Thompson 2014). Other than that, the increased numbers of the organizations entering the global tablets and gadgets market, Amazon had to provide more variety to the customer base as well.
A major threat to the business of Kindle Fire was the traditional book and publishing industry. Quiet a large customer base does not want to opt for the E-books or Kindle to avail the conventional brick and mortal approach and buy the physical magazines and books. Other than that, the satellite and cable TV, DVD, computer, laptops are significant substitutes for streaming the necessary contents (David and David 2016). The gaming consoles are also popular alternates for playing games in the tablets. There are also the issue of piracy which indicates to the illegal downloads of movies, books, music, TV shows and other events that are available online. Therefore these have made the popularity of Kindle a little down in the global market.
There are continuous new entries in the tablets and gadgets market, therefore Amazon always has to offer innovative features and discounts to the customers. The organization always has to reevaluate their policies so that they do not lose the competitive edge in the global market.
After introducing the Kindle Fire in the market, it is quite necessary for the brand to evaluate their internal environment and find out the primary strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the market.
Amazon has a large warehouse space of around twenty five million square feet which is helpful for the company to produce devices in bunk numbers. Also, Amazon has occupied around ten percent of the e-commerce market in America which has enhanced their way of being the market leaders other than Apple. Amazon is also known for their capability of bringing more innovation to their products. The organization also aligns their long term interests with that of the stakeholders and the customers. Amazon also provides the facility of Amazon prime in the Kindle Fire which has helped the company to build a new consumer base which has motivated the customers to shop first at Amazon (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Kindle Fire has also increased the level of efficiency of logistics usage of the customers. Kindle fire also provided convenient options for the users to search different contents and download them without any wire as well. The company has also convinced the famous international publishers to digitize their contents. Bergh et al. (2016) also indicated that Kindle Fire also has a record of being sold out within three hours of its release which also brings back the memories of first generation I Pad release. Kindle also has implemented its supply chain service with a low distribution cost in comparison to the books and any other content available. In addition to that, Amazon had also used their previous conventional model with the lower margins with a large delivery scale.
After bringing Kindle Fire in the market, Amazon has faced a huge declination in its stock prices. Amazon has faced around $40 to $45 decline (Ritala, Golnam and Wegmann 2014). Other than that, the device also does not endorse the online sharing of e-books and magazines.
Kindle Fire has several opportunities in the market as it is one of the most innovative products with innovative logistics. The product is also associated with the Amazon Web Service which helps the company to generate more revenues which are growing in a substantial way. The device also comes with provided service of Amazon Prime which enhances the chances of customers being more loyal, therefore it also contributes in increasing the customer base as well (Kantor and Streitfeld 2015). Amazon had known the e-book market from before; therefore it is much easier for them to make progress in the global market. The company has also sold the device at a cost that increased the numbers of units that have been sold which eventually increased the purchased content as well.
The intense tension between the primary investment of Amazon and the public market investors can be a serious threat to the business of Kindle Fire. The constant issues with the digital rights management has also acted as a hindrance to the business. Also, there are several new entrances in the market such as B&N which has forced the company to give huge discounts on Kindle. Amazon has planned to capture the targeted customer base before they could even think of any other similar products (Goetsch and Davis 2014). On the other hand, the competitors have already copied the model of Kindle Fire and capitalized it. Another issue with Kindle is that there is no physical store of Amazon; therefore the company cannot compete with the free access like the other competitors. Therefore their business faces a setback here as well.
The tablet and gadget market is moderately weak. There are difficulties in shielding the specific designs of the hardware of the tablet as piracy is a major issue for such organizations. Therefore, the company may use the platform strategy while entering the market.
The word, platform, refers to the atmosphere or the environment which can connect various groups for deriving mutual benefits. The platform strategy is the approach for entering the market that tends to revolve around the job of allowing the participants of the platform and benefit from others’ presence. The conventional competitive strategy indicates that the consumers can mostly determine their own willingness of paying for the service or the product in an independent way (Barney 2014). This theory may break down while comprehending the platform as the participants of the platform, therefore it can be seen that the participation is mostly interdependent with the other choices of any other users. Therefore platform strategy requires a discrete tool for helping the managers and the entrepreneurs to manage the forthcoming challenges of creating and capturing the value. Therefore, it can also be said that the platform strategy can be very much critical in building the platform. There may be several ways for doing that, however a solid and well-organized platform strategy would help the company to attract customers and makes the technological advancements a core part of the entire eco system.
The most significant part of the platform strategy is to seed the users. It is quite difficult at that point as there are possibilities that the strategies can anytime backfire. Therefore the companies should always have a specific control over its strategies so that they do not lose focus. Furthermore, the platform strategy is a combination of three specific tools namely, the toolbox, the magnet and the matchmaker (Ede and Ackermann 2013). The toolbox is used for creating the connections which makes the entire activity easier for other people who are plugging into that specific platform. For example, Wikipedia tend to provide its writers with the mechanism of collaborating with other writers on any article. The magnet is the one which tend to pull the interested participants to the platform with a social gravity. When the platform is associated with transactions, both the consumers and producers tend to achieve the critical mass (Wheelen and Hunger 2017). The match maker is the one that fosters the value flow with making necessary connections between the consumers and producers. The correct data is the most significant part of a victorious matchmaking which also tends to distinguish the platform from any other business model. The matchmaker tends to capture the data regarding the leverages and participants for facilitating the connections between consumers and producers. For instance, it can be said that Google tends to match the demand and supply of the online contents and other marketplaces such as flipkart, ebay ten to match the relevant products with the buyers.
The platform strategy is very much useful for the business that wants to build a better customer base. Therefore it can be very much helpful for tracking the requirements of the customers and reaching them as soon as possible.
Amazon can utilize this platform strategy as an encouragement of the external innovators to the organization for adapting the platform of the company as their own and that may also lead to designing the complementary innovations. For instance, Google, Microsoft and in the recent times Facebook has started uing their API or Application Programming Interfaces for allowing others in developing the applications which is capable of interacting with the products. Apple has also used this strategy in their Iphone, Ipod and Ipad with leveraging the Itunes. Every hardware products are made of valuable external media contents that the Itune offers. Therefore Apple can also share their revenues with the owners of the content. Therefore, Amazon can amass a great amount of external contents for offering to the Kindle Fire. However, initially they may not be capable of sharing the revenues with the providers of the contents like Apple does, however it will not lose money in the manufacturing the devices. If Amazon turns the Kindle Fire and Amazon prime into the platforms, they may be capable of delivering a huge range of digital media contents. Therefore they can easily get a competitive advantage in the tablet and gadget market.
Platform leadership is another concept which consists of the scope and relationship with the complementors. According to Slack (2015) Amazon has previously defined the scope as the method of enhancing the performance of the device and the experience of the users with Kindle Fire. In place of using the Android browser, Kindle can develop its own browser which will further allow the flash content delivery, high speed streaming and smooth integration with other devices.
Kindle Fire can also develop a different application, especially for this device, for operating. This application will allow the users to access a huge range of books that have already been accessed by the Iphone and Ipad users. Therefore, with the own platform, Amazon will have a beneficial relationship with the complementing entities. It will also help them to get a competitive edge in the market.
The Kindle fire can also use a modified version of the operating system of android, therefore it will have a small gateway to the android market as well. With this strategy, Amazon will be capable of having a controlled and distinct user interface which can keep the processing speed and memory integrated. Other than that, it will also allow the organization to operate the android applications in a smooth way and it can also offer the applications in a new way through the android market. A modified OS can work smartly as it will allow the kindle fire device to close and open at the same time. Therefore the users can enjoy such added facilities with the Kindle fire device.
Even though creating an own browser for mobile can be very much effective, therefore may be issues with it as well. However, Amazon can also increase the potentiality of Kindle fire with network externalities. The company can enjoy the indirect networking effects from the developers of the application; therefore the platform can get access to more users. Utilizing the indirect networks from thee advertisers, content providers and developers can bring the content delivering platform to a new direction.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that, if Amazon Kindle Fire opts for such strategies, they can compete with other brands in the global market. Therefore, in this way the Kindle Fire can become a significant player in the market.
Reference list
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