Econs Project TB06 Group 4 by Chua De Xing Gilby /BS https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b Tan Ruyi, Joy (S10219340G) Farah Nabilah Binte Azmi (S10227752A) Anna Keira Loke Hui Ling (S10223861K) Chua Dexing Gilby (S10219497F) en-us 2021-11-05 07:01:58 UTC 2022-02-05 17:31:36 UTC hello@padlet.com Key Info Source 1 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886110456 https://www.techgoondu.com/2021/08/07/as-huawei-struggles-xiaomi-now-top-smartphone-maker-in-southeast-asia/]]> 2021-11-12 07:53:33 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886110456 Key Info Source 2 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113129 2021-11-12 07:54:58 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113129 Key Info Source 3 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113420 Ways consumer demands affects the marketing strategy in the smartphone industry]]> 2021-11-12 07:55:10 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113420 Key Info Source 4 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113706 Demand trends of Smartphones ]]> 2021-11-12 07:55:23 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886113706 Key Info Source 5 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886118542 Oligopolistic Competition in Smartphone Market]]> 2021-11-12 07:57:26 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886118542 Microeconomics Prelim Analysis (Based on 5 key sources of information) s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886124510 1. Prominent Industry Players (Joy)
Support from Key Sources: 
  • There a 5 popular Smartphone brands in Singapore.
  • They are Apple, Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi and Realme

Below states the market share for the top Smartphone vendors in Singapore, as of the second quarter 2021.
  • Samsung: 31% unit share, annual growth of +45%
  • Apple: 29% unit share, annual growth of -29%
  • Xiaomi: 15% unit share, annual growth of +248%
  • Oppo: 12% unit share, annual growth of +150%
  • Realme: 7% unit share, annual growth of +467%

  • Samsung and Apple has a monopoly over the Singapore smartphone market since decades. 
  • Xiaomi had broken into the top three market share for the first time in the second quarter, with an astonishing increase of 248% growth in a year.
  •  Although Xiaomi still needs to catchup more in terms of market share, where its 15% share falls below Apple’s 29% share and Samsung’s 31% share, we can infer that Xiaomi is slowly picking up the pace to clinch a higher spot in the industry.  
  • One notable point to add is that the China owned brand, Huawei, has left the top few spots. 
  • Huawei, known to make affordable phones for the average working adult, is replaced by Xiaomi overtaking them.
  • For the past 18 months, a reason for Apple's decrease in annual growth could be American sanctions impeding their progression as Google services and high-end chips needed for phones were restricted.
  •  Overall, we can infer that the China Manufactured phones (Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme) are winning the hearts of consumers, despite being in strong competition against traditional household brands like Apple and Samsung. 


To find out more for the report writing:
Find out why do Samsung have the highest market share


2. How do smartphones compete in Singapore
Support from Key Sources: 
  • the mobile operating market share from October 2020 - 
  • October 2021 in Singapore is as follows: 
  • 70% of the people used android devices
    28.92% use IOS devices 
    1.06% use Samsung 
  • In 2012, a research was conducted and the statistics for the smart phones used in Singapore were as followed: 
    29% used Andriod 
    46% used apple 
    4% used blackberry 
    5% used symbian 
    7% used windows 
  • The Market Vendor for October 2021 is as follows: 
    apple - 28.92% 
    Samsung - 21.1% 
    Huawei - 7.59% 
    Oppo - 4.48% 
    Xiaomi- 4.35% 

From the data collected, we can see that in the early 2010s, apple was very popular among Singaporeans with almost half the users using apple products. However, as the years passed, we can see that Samsung and Android have increasingly become popular amongst people in Singapore. This shows that the smartphone market is increasingly and highly competitive. 


To find out more for the report writing:
  • Find slightly less statistics and find out why the competition among different brands is growing rapidly and why Singaporeans today prefer Android or Samsung products to apple products. 


3. How smartphones are marketed in SG (Farah)
Support from Key Sources: 
  • Based on 2020, it has been recorded that an estimated 4.65 million people in Singapore are smartphone users. This is equivalent to 90% of the total population. 
  • Due to the high mobile penetration rate of 159.1 and high consumer demands, the country is a hotspot for emerging mobile companies to market their products and services.
  • The smartphone industry’s marketing strategy factors in the demands of consumers. 
  • Eg: More locals are seen to use their phones for mobile transactions. This frequency allows more companies to reach out to their consumers.  Rapid increase in locals scanning QR codes using their handphones
  • Additionally, due to the rising number of mobile data users, Singapore plans to issue licenses to begin operating two full-fledged 5G networks and another two smaller ones with limited coverage. The islandwide reach of 5G airways will be available in 2021.


To find out more for the report writing:
  • The marketing strategies of mobile companies that exist in the Singapore market and how they approach the demands of the consumers. 


4. Global Demand for smartphones has increased over the years (Gilby)
Support from Key Sources: 
  • Despite supply concerns and vendor shakeups, the global smartphone market still grew from 12.5 % to 13.2% in the second quarter
  • Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 313.2 million devices during the quarter


To find out more for the report writing:
  • Overview of Smartphone industry
  • Ranking of smartphone consumption and shipment among the competitors in the market
  • Understand current smartphone supply issues


5. Market Structure of the Smartphone industry: Oligopolistic Competition (Gilby)
Support from Key Sources: 
  • Support from Key Sources: 
    • Smartphone products are differentiated from one another through typical measures such as price, quality, and size
    • A notable factors that consumers can observe would be the difference between the IOS and Android hardware 
    • Market of smartphones are divided by exclusivity and product differentiation
    • For example, Apple gained monopoly power in the market for creating a premium branding and having a product differentiation, hence, consumers are willing to pay high prices for the phones
    • There are currently only a few dominant players in the global smartphone industry

  • Price Elasticity of Smartphones
    • The price of smartphones is rather inelastic
    • With the price being controlled by the major competitors such as Apple and Samsung, it is easy for price to increase 
    • Pricing of smartphones does not fluctuate much and only increase due to the premium being provided by the major competitors in the market

To find out more for the report writing:
  • Number of players in the market 
  • Research on how the dominant players ensure they stay at the top of the market


]]> 2021-11-12 08:01:24 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1886124510 Reflections (Gilby) s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1889334968 Hey guys so just wanted to thank everyone for being so proactive and on the ball through this project. Especially with your guys busy schedules, you still make the time and are flexible for any group meetings, so truly fun times with everyone! Maybe 1 small thing we could all work towards is maybe we could update everyone more frequently when you are done with your part of the work? I think for self-improvement wise I should talk lesser, like ramble less during the group meetings. I guess 1 interesting thing I discovered in our industry is that it is so obvious but I didn’t imagine that the industry would be that huge and even have much room to grow.]]> 2021-11-14 15:18:39 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1889334968 Reflections (Farah) s10227752 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890174311 Thank you everyone for contributing well in the project and I look forward to working with you all for the next stages. Maybe one improvement we can work on is time management. We can set up a deadline for everyone to complete their parts so that we have sufficient time to review our work. Just for self-improvement, I think I also need to voice out more when in doubt. One interesting fact that I learned is that Singapore has a very high smartphone penetration rate, in which 90% of the population here are smartphone users. This makes the market here highly competitive.]]> 2021-11-15 03:13:31 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890174311 Reflections (Anna) https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890398027 Firstly, thank you to everyone for being prompt in contributing in the project and I look forward to continuing the project smoothly. I would also like to thank everyone for patiently answering my questions. I think to improve, we can be a bit more coordinated and communicate a bit more. I also feel that to contribute more on my end, I should voice out my opinions and ideas more. From the research I have done, I was rather shocked to find out that not the majority of Singaporeans use iphones and instead use a mixture of Samsung and Andriod. I did not realise that the smartphone industry is a growing and highly competitive market. ]]> 2021-11-15 05:19:04 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890398027 Reflections (Joy) s10219340 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890403592 Hi everyone, thank you for being awesome team mates who willingly took up any parts without dispute! It was definitely fun working with all of you and I'm excited for how things go in the future :D I think a tiny matter we could improve will be to communicate more so nobody gets lost or we could do our work together instead of working on it alone? 1 interesting thing I learned in our industry will be that globally, apple is ranked third and Samsung is ranked first. Ive always thought that apple would dominate the industry globally with more market shares as in Singapore, it is a common to see everyone owning an Iphone! ]]> 2021-11-15 05:22:27 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1890403592 Tutor's Comments: NAJ1 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1911925638 Glow Points:

1. Good choice of the industry which you can easily relate to.
2. Good attempts were made to analyze the industry.
3. Good description of the market and about the major players in Singapore.

Areas for Improvements:
1. In selecting articles, make sure that they are published recently and not in 2012 - outdated. Also, the articles chosen must be relevant to the market in Singapore and the global market.
2. What type of market structure the industry is operating under was not mentioned at all. 
- oligopoly market structure
3. Perhaps, if you could have restructured the writing under clear headings, it would be easier to read.
a. Intro
b. Market structure - describe the characteristics of the market structure of the smartphone industry.
c. Determinants of demand
d. Determinants of supply
e. Elasticity
4. No report writing is required for this project. That bring me to ask whether you guys copied and pasted the points from a completed project in the past. I hope you did not.
5. Consider the suggestions made to improve group dynamics as you move into the next stage.

What is Next?
There is no need to edit the Stage 1 Padlet wall with my comments. However, you may incorporate them when you consolidate both micro and macro analysis for your Powerpoint Presentation.

Cheers!


]]> 2021-11-25 05:40:39 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1911925638 Stage 2 - Macroeconomics Preliminary Analysis s10219340 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1942266930 Point 1: Describe the general economic situation in Singapore (trends 2019-2021) (Joy)

GDP:
Year 2019:
  • The GDP increased from 507.12 billion in 2018 to 510.74 billion in 2019. 
  • The economy expanded by 0.7% on a year-on-year basis. 
  • This is noted to be the slowest economic growth for Singapore since 2009, where the economy expanded by 0.1% year-on-year. 
  • The trade war between China and the United States of America, together with a global decline in the electronics industry heavily impacted Singapore's economy.  
  • The services and construction industry helped to enable the economy to grow in the fourth quarter.  

Year 2020: 
  • The GDP decreased from 510.74 billion in 2019 to 469.10 billion in 2020. The year-on-year real GDP growth decreased from 1.3% in 2019 to -5.4% in 2020, which was a 4.1% decline. 
  • The decrease in GDP occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It caused enormous global economic disruption for many industries and led Singapore into facing the worst entire year of recession since independence day. 
  • The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in demand for goods and services produced because of global travel restrictions, an economic slowdown, supply chain disruptions and lastly, the tightened Circuit Breaker measures from April to June. All of these factors heavily affected Singapore's economy for the worst with consumer spending decreasing drastically. Hence, there was a 41.64 billion fall in GDP from 2019 to 2020. 

Year 2021:
  • The GDP for 2021 Q1: 126.18 billion, Q2: 128.53 billion, Q3: 130.49 billion. 
  •  The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) narrowed the GDP growth forecast for 2021 to be around 7%. 
  • The real GDP growth increased by 7.7% during the first three-quarters of 2021 on a year-on-year basis. This is a lesser growth as compared to the 15.2% expansion recorded in the second quarter. Based on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy has expanded by 1.3% in the third quarter, noted to be a turnaround from the 1.4% contraction in the second quarter.  
  • The strong year-on-year real GDP growth recorded in the second quarter of 2021 was mainly due to the low base in the corresponding quarter of 2020. During that period, GDP dropped by 13.3% as there were stringent Circuit Breaker measures put in place from 7 April to 1 June 2020. Additionally, there was a sharp drop in external demand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Therefore, these factors explain the considerable year-on-year growth as shown in the second quarter of 2021 for sectors like construction (117.5%), retail trade (0.7%), food & beverage services (36.9%)

Unemployment: 
2019 - Structural unemployment:
  • Overall unemployment rate: 2.3% 
  • Singaporean citizens unemployment rate: 3.3%
  • Residents unemployment rate: 3.2%
  • Structural unemployment caused by a mismatch in skills and jobs is the main factor of unemployment in 2019. 

2020 - Cyclical unemployment:
  • Overall unemployment rate: 2.8%
  • Singaporean citizens unemployment rate: 4.7%
  • Residents unemployment rate: 4.6%
  • Cyclical unemployment caused by the lack of jobs during a recession is the main factor of unemployment in 2020.

2021 - Lack of foreign labour: 
  • Overall unemployment rate: 2.7%
  • Singaporean citizens unemployment rate: 3.7%
  • Residents unemployment rate: 3.5%
  • Lack of foreign labour caused by border restrictions is the main factor of unemployment in 2021. 
  • The labour sector has shown a decrease of 0.6% on a year-on-year basis.  
  • According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), resident employment has increased which resulted in a lesser decline in total employment during Q3 of 2021.  
  • The information & communications, professional services and financial services, and lastly, administrative & support services and health & social services are industries which hired more workers. 
  • Job vacancies are noted to be high as there is a decrease in the number of people looking for jobs. There are 209 job vacancies for every 100 people unemployed in September (an increase from 163 in June). 
  • Lack of foreign labour due to travel border restrictions has led to a major reduction in the number of foreign labour in Singapore, causing the unemployment rate to rise. 
  • For industries that heavily depend on foreign labour such as manufacturing, construction, food & beverage services, and administrative & support services, they are affected by the drop in work permit holders, causing a constant shortage in manpower. 
  • Therefore, until the government gives the green light for border restrictions to be eased or lifted, we can still expect the number of job vacancies, and the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons to remain high. 
  • In conclusion, the overall unemployment rate increase from 2.3% in 2019 to 2.7% in 2021 is mainly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic which took place on 23 January 2020.  

Inflation: 
2019:
  • The core inflation decreased from 1.7% in 2018 to 1.0% in 2019.
  • The core inflation increased to 0.7% on a year-on-year basis in December from 0.6% in November, where there was a high services inflation. 
  • The overall increased inflation from 0.6% in November to 0.8% in December, is mainly attributed to the rise in private road transport (3.1% during December from 2.3% during the previous month) and services inflation (1.3% in December from 1.1% during the previous month). 

2020: 
  • The core inflation rate decreased to -0.3% on a year-on-year basis in December from -0.1% in November. The drop in core inflation rate is mostly due to the drop in services costs and lower food inflation. 
  • Overall inflation increased from 0% in December to 0.1% in November. The increase in overall inflation was primarily due to a rise in private transport costs. 
  • Overall, the core inflation and overall inflation were at ‐0.2%.  

2021: 
  • The inflation rate increased from 3.2% in October 2021 to 3.8% in November 2021.  The increased inflation rate caused by higher car prices and housing rents is noted to be the highest since February 2013. 
  • Overall inflation increased to 3.2% on a year-on-year basis from 2.5% in September. This is noted to be the highest since March 2013. 
  • The core inflation rate, excluding rents and private road transport costs has increased to 1.5% in November from 1.2% in September. The increase was attributed to services and food prices going up, and a smaller drop in the cost of retail and other goods. 
  • The private transport inflation jumped to 14.3%, from 10.8% in October due to a higher increase in car prices.
  • The accommodation inflation jumped to 2.5%, from 1.9% in September due to a bigger increase in the prices of housing rents.

Overall Economic situation:
  • Despite Singapore facing the Omicron virus risk, the economy is still expected to continue growing.  
  • According to MTI projections, Singapore's economy is expected to grow by 3 to 5% in 2022. Due to the high vaccination rate of 87% and booster shots given, this helps to aid recovery in consumer-facing services and relieve labour shortages in sectors that are dependent on migrant workers. Additionally, we can expect the airline industry to improve with travel restrictions being slowly lifted and the expansion of vaccinated travel lanes being carried out. 
  • Growth in the information and communications sector is likely to happen as there will be a great demand for IT and digital solutions due to people working from home, students having home-based learning, to cite a few examples. 

Additional references: 
  •  https://www.mti.gov.sg/Resources/feature-articles/2021/Performance-of-the-Singapore-Economy-in-2020 
  • https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-quarterly-unemployment-rate-labour-market-mom-2019-788121
  • https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/1/2/singapore-slump-economic-growth-falls-in-2019-on-trade-woes
  • https://www.mas.gov.sg/-/media/MAS/EPG/CPD/2020/Inflation202012.pdf


Point 2: The impact of the economic conditions on the chosen industry (Gilby)

Improving mobile communication technology standards
  • User costs have plummeted. The average mobile subscriber cost per megabyte decreased 99 percent between 2005 and 2013
  •  Smartphones are now available for as little as $40.
  • Mobile network infrastructure costs have also fallen dramatically, while performance has soared
  • There was a 95 percent cost reduction (per megabyte transmitted) from second generation (2G) networks to third generation (3G) networks, and a further 67 percent drop from 3G to fourth generation (4G) networks.
  • Mobile data-transmission speeds have skyrocketed in Singapore and globally
  • 4G networks offer 12,000 times faster data-transmission speeds than 2G networks.
  • Consumer adoption of 3G and 4G standards has outpaced that of all other technologies, growing to nearly 3 billion connections in less than 15 years, and projected to exceed 8 billion connections in the coming years
  • Effective industry-driven collaborations to solve technical problems, set standards, and license intellectual property have been key enablers in this revolution especially in first world countries such as Singapore

Connecting users all over the world
  • Consumers derive enormous value from mobile
  • Research showing that across six countries—the U.S, Germany, Singapore, Brazil, China, and India—reveals that the value consumers place on mobile technologies ranges from $700 to $6,000 per user
  • The data show an aggregate annual consumer value for mobile technologies of $6.4 trillion across the six countries, above the cost of the devices and services.
  • This aggregate consumer surplus from mobile technologies exceeds the GDP of every country in the world such as Singapore except for the U.S. and China.
  • Mobile is especially valuable to emerging market consumers. In China and India, the consumer-reported value of mobile exceeds 40 percent of average income.
  • The market demand for continued innovation and investment is clear
  • 90 percent of 3G and 4G consumers in Singapore report they want even faster data speeds, more coverage, more battery life, and many other improvements. 
  • With global data usage doubling every year, if this trend continues, data traffic will be 1,000 times greater within a decade around Asia 
  • New technologies will be required to accommodate this expanding demand.
  • Consumers expect that mobile will continue to improve and transform their lives, delivering a broader range of services that will connect them with everything, everywhere.

SME’s adapting to advanced mobile technologies
  • SMEs in Singapore currently are mobile leaders that are winning. 
  • 25 percent of SMEs in Asia that use mobile services more intensively see their revenues growing up to two times faster and add jobs up to eight times faster than their peers.
  • The mobile laggards among SMEs have revenue growth and job creation that substantially lag behind the leaders
  • With fewer plans to invest in mobile, these SMEs are at risk of being left further behind.
  • SME mobile leaders in emerging markets are leapfrogging older generations of technology still widely used in developed markets. The share of mobile leaders in Brazil, China, and India exceeds that in a few developing countries 
  • Greater mobile adoption by SMEs can create jobs. If more SMEs expand their businesses at the rate of the mobile leaders, 7 million more jobs could be added in the six countries evaluated including Singapore and several other Asian Countries

Driving economic growth globally
  • The mobile value chain generated almost $3.3 trillion in revenue globally in 2014 and is directly responsible for 11 million jobs.
  • Smartphones are an engine of economic prosperity. In the six countries evaluated, mobile contributes more than $1.2 trillion in GDP
  • This equates to between 2 and 4 percent of each country’s GDP, and 11 percent in the case of South Korea.
  • The smartphone penetration share reached about 88 percent in Singapore, indicating that it is a leading country for the use and engagement of smartphones.
  • The rapid growth of mobile is poised to continue
  • Across Asian countries evaluated, mobile’s share of GDP is growing at a 10 to 20 percent annual rate
  • This can help continue or even accelerate as consumers and businesses continually discover new applications for ever more advanced mobile technologies.

Massive investment in new infrastructure and R&D
  • Companies in the mobile value chain invested $1.8 trillion in infrastructure and R&D from 2009 through 2013, relying almost exclusively on private-sector funding.
  • Core technology (2G, 3G, and 4G) innovators take enormous risks by spending heavily on research and development with no guarantee of return on investment.
  •  Companies focused on mobile’s core technologies invest a larger share of revenue of 21% in R&D than those in any other industry except biotechnology and more than companies in all other R&D-heavy industries, such as pharmaceuticals by 14%
  • Licensing of core technologies within the mobile industry is essential to its rapid and cost-effective advancement. 
  • Clear and cooperative licensing arrangements make it possible for companies across the value chain—and thus consumers and businesses—to access the most advanced technologies
  • Many new and start-up companies are entering the mobile sector in the Singaporean Market
  • In the past five years, Singaporean venture capital (VC) investments in mobile have doubled as a percentage of total VC investments, reaching almost 8 percent ($37 billion) in 2014.

Additional References:

Point 3: Contribution of the industry to the economy (Anna)

GDP: 
  • in 2020, the economy in Singapore contracted by 2.4 percent year on year in the fourth quarter but the information and communication sector had a positive 2.6% growth 
  • in 2020, the manufacturing sector grew by 10% year on year in the fourth quarter. This growth was partly supported by output expansions in electronics. 
  • In 2020, for the year as a whole, the Singapore economy contracted by 5.4% but the information communication sector contributed to the growth of GDP by 2.1%
  • Overall, in 2020, the information and communications industry's nominal added value share was 5.1% with a growth of 2.1% 
  • In terms of the manufacturing sector, which added 21.5% nominal added share value and contributed to 7.3% real growth,  the electronics nominal added value share was 39.2% with a real growth of 11.9% 

Employment: 
  • In 2020, retail sales rose by 6.6% due to new mobile phone launches 
  • local employment in the the information and communication media sector grew by 5% amidst covid 19 which is about 8000 people. it is said that the sector is remarkably resilient and grew by 4.8% in 2020 while the economy shrank by 5.4%
  • More than 12000 jobs are available in the tech sector. since 2015, 1700 locals have joined the industry and as of June 2020, they make up of 71% of the sector's 190200 workers. 
  • The information and communications sector expanded by 10.4%. This growth was largely driven by the IT and information services segment, which greatly benefited as there was a strong demand for 
  • The information & communications sector expanded by 10.4 per cent year-on-year, the same pace of growth as in the previous quarter. Growth was largely driven by the IT & information services segment, which benefitted from strong demand for enterprise  IT  solutions. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis,  the sector grew by 6.2 per cent, faster than the 1.0 per cent growth in the second quarter.
Inflation 
  • In 2019, the general weightage for CPI for communication in general households was 4.1% this was an increase from the 3.9% in 2014. 

Additional References:

Point 4: Any government measures/policies that supported the industry you have chosen? (Farah)

Seniors Go Digital Programme 
  • Jointly launched by IMDA and the SG Digital Office, this programme includes government initiatives that helps the senior population in Singapore be equipped with digital skills on smartphones during the pandemic. Through the initiatives, more seniors also will have access to smartphones. 
  • The first initiative is a collaboration between Singtel, M1, StarHub, Circles.Life and TPG to roll out affordable data plans for seniors who cannot afford smartphones.
  • The Mobile Access to Seniors provides a subsidized smartphone and a subsidized one-year mobile data plan for lower income seniors.
  • The subsidised rates are $20 for a smartphone and $5 a month for a 1-year mobile plan.
  • Smartphones can be bought by eligible seniors with co-payment with monthly mobile plans from $20 and $5 that offer at least 5GB of data.
  • The government planned to reach 100,000 seniors by March 2021.
  • According to Singstat, there are 639 000 seniors aged 65 and above living in Singapore 2021, which is a 25 000 increase from 2020.
  • Due to the large population, this programme may appeal to more seniors and increase the demand for smartphones. 

Smart Nation Initiative:
  • There are three pillars for a Smart Nation which are Digital Society, Digital Economy and DIgital Government. 
  • TraceTogether is a government effort for contract tracing amidst COVID-19. 
  • Smart Nation reported that there are more than 3.8 million users of the TraceTogether app or token, which equates to more than 70% of Singapore’s population.
  • As TraceTogether is mandatory for everyone to enter into establishments, non-smartphone users are urged to own a smartphone. Thus, increasing the demand and sales for mobile devices. 

Government Cyber-security Tool
  • Due to the rise of cyber criminals targeting mobile devices, a government cyber-security tool is being developed to combat cyber attacks. 
  • The government is working with the cyber-security industry to protect businesses and users from falling into cyber-attacks, as they tend to use mobile devices especially during the pandemic.
  • Singapore also looks into cooperating internationally by being involved in regional and global counterparts to set rules that will be mutually observed. 
  • This tool provides assurance for smartphone users as they are ensured safety when using mobile phones, hence, the demand for smartphones increases. 

Additional References:



 


]]> 2021-12-12 03:29:29 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1942266930 Key Source #1 s10219340 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1951876724 2021-12-16 14:29:03 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1951876724 Key Source #4 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1956246276 2021-12-20 03:34:13 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1956246276 Key Source #5 s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1956246629 2021-12-20 03:34:32 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1956246629 Key Source #2 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1967470002 2021-12-29 08:00:53 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1967470002 Key Source #3 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1967876770 2021-12-29 15:59:18 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1967876770 Key Source #6 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1968873140 2021-12-30 14:07:54 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1968873140 Key Source #7 s10227752 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1968882587 2021-12-30 14:17:04 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1968882587 Reflections (Gilby) s10219497 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971466418 Hey yall soo just wanted to thank everyone for being so fun and easy to work with. I know that all of us are busy and all that but your guys always make sure there time to meet and discuss our project. So flexibility on point!. I love how we were more organized this time and we would do more routine check in with everyone and do vetting at the same time. For 1 thing to improve, to be honest, I can't think of it so yes. For self improvement, maybe talk lesser in our group meetings and make sure that I ramble like less and all that. 1 interesting thing I learnt about the macroeconomics is that smartphone really have changed the world and I can't imagine how its like last time without a phone.]]> 2022-01-03 03:07:02 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971466418 Reflections (Farah) s10227752 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971708357 Thank you all once again for actively contributing to the project, we all did a great job executing this stage. We worked on our improvements and managed to be more collaborative during this stage. I appreciate that we could all make time for our meetings despite our hectic schedules. There are not any improvements that I could think of as I think we all did our best during this stage. One interesting thing I have learned is how the Singapore government plays an important part in improving the smartphone industry during the pandemic by implementing policies and programmes. ]]> 2022-01-03 07:16:49 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971708357 Key Source #8 s10227752 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971711510 2022-01-03 07:20:27 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1971711510 Reflections (Anna) https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1972151339 Thank you to everyone once again for all the contributions for the group project. I personally think we did a good job for this stage of our project. We were organized and delegated our own time to finish our parts without having to rush. I appreciate everyone completing their parts on time and making time to attend group discussions despite our busy schedules during the festive period. For improvement, I think as a group there is nothing much I can think of to improve. We worked very well together. One interesting fact I learnt about macroeconomics was how the telecommunications industry made such a big impact in the economy. Even with the current pandemic, it still contributes positively to Singapore's GDP. ]]> 2022-01-03 13:46:05 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1972151339 Key Source #9 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1973802602 https://www.mas.gov.sg/-/media/MAS/EPG/CPD/2019/InflationDec2019.pdf]]> 2022-01-04 09:09:11 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1973802602 Reflections (Joy) https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1973823291 Hi everybody, I am more than happy to be working with all of you! Thank you for the constructive feedback you've given to me so I am able to improve on my part :) I know it's the "holiday" season which means most of us are busy with other commitments. Thank you for making time so we can have our almost weekly discord meetings to discuss our work! One thing I have learned is that although the pandemic has caused many sectors to decline in growth rate, the telecommunication industry prevails over others and seems to be doing better every year!]]> 2022-01-04 09:25:11 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1973823291 Tutor's Comments NAJ1 https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1994802710 Glow Points:

A systematic analysis of the smartphone industry.

A good coverage of government initiatives.

Areas for Improvements:
For the contributions to the economy, you will have to research the industry's contribution to GDP in terms of its sales, say in 2021.
Please note that we do not manufacture smartphones.

For employment, you will have to be specific as to the number of people being employed in the industry including those who run smartphone accessories shops and stores.

For inflation, you will have to talk about whether rising inflation and recession in 2020 cause a decline in sales for smartphones in the industry.

For government support, you will have to discuss the various monetary government support to help cope with the recession caused by the pandemic outbreak in Singapore.

What is Next?
Work on the points mentioned, do more targeted research, analyze the findings, collate key points from both analyses, and prepare your PowerPoint slides.

Cheers!

Josh Nathan ]]> 2022-01-16 23:55:34 UTC https://padlet.com/s10219497/6dyjg6bi1jycph3b/wish/1994802710