Divergent Ways of Failing

If you need another proof that the PC era is gradually coming to an end, here it is: more people are using their mobile phones for internet browsing, surpassing the PC. The market seems so promising and crucial that even Amazon is developing smartphones. But guess who wouldn’t be basking in this momentous and glorious event? Most of the phone makers.

 The downfall of Kejian (a well-known Chinese phone maker in the 1990s) put the last nail on the coffin of the first generation of Chinese cell phone makers. Not just Chinese phone makers, but overseas phone makers are getting killed as well, and not just RIM or Nokia.

How could that be? First of all, it’s hard for everyone to be winners, so there are bound to be losers. Yet in many occasions, not being first is not synonymous with being broke. Take game, the most popular source of revenue for smartphone, for example. Game as a category may be on the demise, but it’s still making a boatload of money.

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