Government Regulation
This paper has five parts: an introduction, a description of the industry and its key members, a description of public policies to date, and a prescription for public policy going forward. The second and third parts are revisions of the papers you submitted for Assignments 3 and 4.
The modern voice communication industry can trace its early roots in 1876 from Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the first ever device that enabled people to verbally communicate over incredible amounts of land. The industry has developed from devices like the early telephone to be a luxury, to what is today is an absolute necessity for the average person. Mobile phones have exploded and have begun to make the landline in some countries obsolete. “Smartphones” have become the common term for mobile phones with specific extra feature offerings such as text-based web browsing and a QWERTY keyboard. Because the smartphone is still relatively young and constantly being innovated, there is no clear consensus on how to define what phone is a smartphone or not. The smartphone industry will be extremely significant as to how the entire voice communication industry’s landscape turns out. So, I will be evaluating the current structure of the smartphone market in the voice communication industry in the United States by analyzing which products should be included, the relevant geographic market, market structure, seller concentration, and barriers to entry. After developing an industry-wide analysis, I will look at the major public policies that have been influential, and then offer a prescription for public policy going forward.
Smartphone development has grown so rapidly over the past ten years that it has become difficult in deciding which of these cutting-edge phones from only a few years ago is still considered a smartphone. Additionally, cell-phone manufacturers still produce cell phones without many of the extra features such as a QWERTY keyboard or built-in camera. Even though there
The modern voice communication industry can trace its early roots in 1876 from Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the first ever device that enabled people to verbally communicate over incredible amounts of land. The industry has developed from devices like the early telephone to be a luxury, to what is today is an absolute necessity for the average person. Mobile phones have exploded and have begun to make the landline in some countries obsolete. “Smartphones” have become the common term for mobile phones with specific extra feature offerings such as text-based web browsing and a QWERTY keyboard. Because the smartphone is still relatively young and constantly being innovated, there is no clear consensus on how to define what phone is a smartphone or not. The smartphone industry will be extremely significant as to how the entire voice communication industry’s landscape turns out. So, I will be evaluating the current structure of the smartphone market in the voice communication industry in the United States by analyzing which products should be included, the relevant geographic market, market structure, seller concentration, and barriers to entry. After developing an industry-wide analysis, I will look at the major public policies that have been influential, and then offer a prescription for public policy going forward.
Smartphone development has grown so rapidly over the past ten years that it has become difficult in deciding which of these cutting-edge phones from only a few years ago is still considered a smartphone. Additionally, cell-phone manufacturers still produce cell phones without many of the extra features such as a QWERTY keyboard or built-in camera. Even though there