Power Alex Power Dr.

Guenzel ENC 1102-0014 February 24, 2014 Research Dossier: Smartphone Success Dossier Introduction As a computer engineering major, hardware and software of different technologies is very relevant to my field. The efficiency and quality by which the software and hardware of a smartphone works together determines how good it is, and time and time again Google and Apple have shown that their smartphone brands stand above the rest in both of these areas. There are many important differences between the two however, which make them surprisingly hard to compare. I will be exploring these differences, and more importantly comparing not only Apple and Googles smartphones but Windows Phone and Blackberry as well, taking into consideration all contenders in the smartphone market. There has been plenty of research done related to this topic before, in the form of opinion articles, statistics, and hardware specification summaries. However, while many opinion articles and statistics exist, there has been no research done to synthesize this into a conclusion. Drawing on this previous research, I intend to explain the reason behind the success of different smartphones, which Operating Systems and hardware companies are the most successful, and which smartphone brand is destined for a good future in the market. Android has been known for their many different options, with many phones with multiple price points made by different hardware manufacturers, there is constantly an arms race in the form of power. Faster processors, prettier screens, and higher quality audio are all on the top list of priorities for most Android based devices. Apples iPhone brand, while offering a few different options for phones, mostly focuses on one premier phone. This allows them to make their one phone the best it can be in terms of being a coherent, simple, and useful machine. While the hardware specifications may not be able to keep up with Android phones, the iPhone often outclasses them in coherency, and having a balanced platter of positives, including battery life, resolution and speed. Windows Phone is a solid option when you arent interested in amazing hardware, as since there is less interest in the brand, there is less effort being put into making really nice phones for this OS. However, the OS itself has a lot of simple, convenient tools including free Microsoft office which can be extremely useful, and they also currently boast the highest-power phone camera. Blackberry, while falling off in popularity, still offers their trademark physical keyboards and scroll ball. Some people prefer this to the touchscreens, but most old blackberries are being phased out and new, touchscreen blackberries that offer very little in terms of reasons to use over another OS. They do have a lot of support for business security, however this is not important for your everyday consumer.

Power There are many smartphones on the market and people want to know which one is best, and investors want to know why. Taking into consideration all factors, Apple and Googles smartphone brands stand above the rest. But why? And which one should you choose? That will be explained in depth throughout my research. Research Map The increasing importance of the smartphone market and relevance of smartphones to society in general prompt me to examine why the most popular smartphones are as successful as they are. Research Questions What are the different specifications of the most popular iPhone and Android device, and which one is better? Which receives more positive feedback from customers? Which Operating System came first?

Keywords: iPhone vs Android Smartphone Hardware Specifications Samsung Galaxy Carrier I will be conducting research of all three kinds, scholarly, Internet, and field. The internet has loads of opinions and sources to dig through about my topic, scholarly articles will be harder to find but still extremely helpful, and the opinions of my peers will be a great benefit in my arguments. 2/7 2/10 2/12 2/20 2/22 2/24 2/26 3/3-3/8 3/10 Library Course Get preliminary sources and finish research proposal Library Visit Have at least 5 non-internet sources Begin Draft Have Draft Done, begin revisions Go back to the library and check out some more sources for ideas Workshop Draft Research Dossier DUE Final Draft Research Dossier Spring Break Work on Rhetorical Analysis draft

Power 3/14 3/21 3/31 4/2 4/4-9 4/16 Workshop Draft Rhetorical Analysis Final Draft Workshop Draft Complete Last Research Cycle Prepare Draft for Conference by color-coding Group Conferences E-portfolios Due

Annotated Bibliography

Artman, J. (n.d.). Why Is the iPhone So Popular? Retrieved February 2, 2014, from Chron: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/iphone-popular-27294.html This web article goes over the design, power, multimedia features, and app store of the iPhone, explaining its success. This article was from fairly recently as it talks about statistics from the first quarter of 2011, however, its credibility is questionable. It could easily be biased towards the iPhone, as it doesn't mention any competitors at all. So take all information gathered here with a grain of salt. Chron is a fairly popular but questionably credible source.

Bajarin, T. (2012, May 7). 6 Reasons Apple Is So Successful. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from TIME Tech: http://techland.time.com/2012/05/07/six-reasons-why-apple-is-successful/ This web article goes over six reasons why apple is successful. These reasons are: They create products they want to use themselves, they create easy to use products, they keep things simple, they offer good customer service, they only make a product if they make it better, and they stay at least two years ahead of the game. All of these points are valid reasons for success, however, it may be biased. Time is a credible magazine source, whose online articles are presumably similarly credible. Not peerreviewed.

Biddle, S. (2013, January 22). Android Is Popular Because It's Cheap, Not Because It's Good. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5977625/android-is-popular-because-itscheap-not-because-its-good This web article argues that Android sells better than iPhone because its cheaper. This is a valid point, and it shows. Android is destroying apple in number of phones sold and a lot of that is not only the high end, powerful, nice to use phones, but the multiple price points that are available for purchase for $100 and less. Additionally, it discusses Android's marketing strategies, including targeting lower-income families and even African-American families.

Power Gizmodo is a popular and respected online source. It is not peer reviewed. Butler, M. (2011, Jan). Android: Changing the Mobile Landscape. Pervasive Computing, IEEE, pp. 4-7. This journal article goes over many aspects of the Android vs. iPhone argument, why Android is catching up and being successful, and prospects for the future having to do with winning over the hearts and minds of not only the consumers, but the third party developers. This is extremely important as it determines app support for both platforms, and people will go where the support and applications are. This article is a little old, which makes it somewhat less relevant. Pervasive Computing is a peer-reviewed journal.

Gandhewar, N., & Sheikh, R. (2011). Google Android: An Emerging Software Platform For Mobile Devices. International Journal on Computer Science & Engineering. This journal article goes over the competitiveness of the mobile phone market, and the then emerging technology of Googles android. With a focus on Android, this article compares the benefits of each operating system and capabilities of Android to become more popular than the other smartphones. It also discusses the sustainability of all of the OSs. The international journal on Computer Science and Engineering is a peer reviewed scholarly journal, and can be trusted very strongly. Goadrich, M. H., & Rogers, M. P. (2011, March). Smart smartphone development: iOS versus Android. In Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education (pp. 607612). ACM. While this article doesnt discuss which Operating System, iOS or Android, is better for consumers, it does discuss which should be taught, which will ultimately determine which OS gets more support. The third-party support determines the depth of their third party applications, which is an important part of using a smartphone and very relevant to consumers. The SIGCSE proceedings of the 2011 symposium is a peer reviewed journal that resulted from a presentation at a symposium. A very credible source. PCs, U. M. (2008). Emerging technologies mobile-computing trends: lighter, faster, smarter. About Language Learning & Technology, 3. This Periodical article goes through a pretty extensive list of mobile-computing devices and compares them. Smartphones, of course, are on the list, and are compared and contrasted thusly. While the article is relatively old considering the relevancy of newer devices to my topic, analyzing the initial trends is important for understanding the support and success of different smartphones.

Power This periodical article is from a fairly credible periodical, however, it is not peer reviewed, so not that reliable.

Smith, A. (2012). 46% of American adults are smartphone owners. Pew Internet & American Life Project. This Online source contains statistics regarding smartphone ownership, from a year earlier than the previous article. Statistics include smartphone ownership compared to non-smartphone and non-phone owners, and these statistics across different ages, education levels, income levels, and ethnicity. Again, this article by the Pew Research Center is a credible source with many statistical articles based on public surveys.

Smith, A. (2013). Smartphone ownership2013 update. Pew Research Center: Washington DC. This source contains actual number statistics regarding smartphone ownership, based on demographics such as age, education level, income level, and others. It also includes statistics on what kind of smartphone, whether it be iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Phone. Additionally, it compares iPhone and Android ownership with the different demographics mentioned before. The Pew Research Center is a fairly credible source that has quite a few qualified writers that use public surveys to estimate statistics.

West, J., & Mace, M. (2010). Browsing as the killer app: Explaining the rapid success of Apple's iPhone. Telecommunications Policy, 34(5), 270-286. This article does exactly as advertised explains Apples success with their iPhone. Their initial success was far and beyond completely due to their idea of giving users the real internet on their phones, rather than slow, cut down mobile browsing. This opened up opportunities to users not previously existent, and it was a huge hit. It also argues why this is so important and other things that contributed to the success of the iPhone. It also has statistics on iPhone usage compared to other platforms and hardware specs of different Apple products. The international journal of ICT Economy is a peer-reviewed journal.