Competition, Oligopoly, Barriers and Searching Up New Markets: Do Smartphones Win the Battle to Digital Cameras?

Abstract

This paper deals with the mobile technology as a new competitor in some hitherto quite closed markets. Particularly, digital photo camera market was until now widely focused into a few multinational firms, operating in international oligopolistic markets. The mobile smartphones technology leads to use the same device for quite different issues. The smartphones technology allows to use the same device for quite different issues. Although the purpose of most consumers when buying this kind of articles, is to use it for its main use, that is to say, for voice communication, step by step new applications and uses are being discovered as very useful. Even when mobile phone devices are not so good as the original devices for a particular use, they have a very important advantage: all in one, it means that if consumers are able to have several different uses with the same device, they probably choose this option than the "best quality" one provided for a lot of different devices, with much better results, because those better results are inevitably linked to the need of bearing several devices, which is not very comfortable. Moreover the "just in time" or "in situ" needs, can be covered for some devices which are not always in the hands of users. Then a new branch of competition linked more to immediacy than to the quality arises, particularly for youngest. This paper provides a theoretical based survey on market and competition theory, to understand some key points for explaining the smartphones success as a competitor in digital camera market. Results have shown that mobile cameras not only have started to compete with digital cameras unexpectedly, breaking established barriers in traditional oligopolies, but also they are one step ahead.