Smartphone Industry Reports Analysis

XAT 2014 · DM · Hard · Decision Making

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Passage / data set

Please read the three reports (newspaper articles) on ranking of different players and products in smart phones industry and answer the questions that follow.

Report 1: (Feb, 2013) Apple nabs crown as current top US mobile phone vendor. Apple's reign may not be long, as Samsung is poised to overtake Apple in April, 2013. For the first time since Apple entered the mobile phone market in 2007, it has been ranked the top mobile phone vendor in the US. For the latter quarter of 2012, sales of its iPhone accounted for 34 percent of all mobile phone sales in the US... Looking only at smartphones, Apple holds the top spot with 39 percent of the US market, while Samsung sits at number two with 30 percent.

Report 2: Reader's Response (2013, Feb) I don't actually believe the numbers for Samsung. Ever since the debacle in early 2011... Samsung has refused to supply quarterly sales numbers... Without accurate self-reporting of actual sales to the end users, none of these market share charts are worth a damn!

Report 3: Contradictory survey (Feb, 2013) iPhone5 Ranks Fifth In U.S. Customer Satisfaction Survey... Motorola Atrix HD is the most satisfying... Sarah Quinn explained, "Although Apple created one of the most revolutionary devices... other manufactures have caught up..."

Question 1 of 4

If you analyze the three reports above, which of the following statements would be the best inference?

  1. A.

    Newspapers publish completely wrong data.

  2. B.

    All three reports have been bought by the companies.

  3. C.

    Newspapers may report selectively.

  4. D.

    Apple is leading but its dominance in Korean market is definitely under threat.

  5. E.

    Customer's response, in report 2, is neutral and objective.

Question 2 of 4

Assume report1 and report3 are both correct, which of the following can be a reason for seemingly divergent ranks of different companies and their products?

  1. A.

    iPhone4, another product from Apple, could have been the best seller in the U.S.

  2. B.

    HTC-One was the most preferred device in Japan.

  3. C.

    OnDevice included Google in the list because it is an important player in Android market.

  4. D.

    Customer satisfaction never leads to higher customer loyalty.

  5. E.

    None of the above.

Question 3 of 4

If report1 and report3 are both correct, which of the following can be a reason for seemingly divergent ranks reported for different companies and their products?

  1. A.

    OnDevice has been paid by Motorola to publish.

  2. B.

    Customers in France, in report3, have voted Samsung as the favorite company.

  3. C.

    Customers in Japan, in report3, have voted Samsung as the favorite company.

  4. D.

    Sales and satisfaction may not be perfectly related with each other.

  5. E.

    None of the above.

Question 4 of 4

Which of the following is more likely to be a correct conclusion about the respondent/reader in report2?

  1. A.

    The reader is an Apple user.

  2. B.

    If the reader is an Apple user, his usage rate is higher.

  3. C.

    The reader is a frequent user of HTC One.

  4. D.

    The reader does not like Android platform.

  5. E.

    The reader wants more objective data to be released by the companies.

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