Introduction

Hutchison 3G is the mobile phone company that is the market leader in 3G technology in the UK. 3G stands for third-generation and is mobile technology that offers voice, video, email, internet, picture messages and other applications. 3 is keen to develop its market.

Product Life Cycle

All products pass through a life cycle and mobile phones are no exception. A typical life cycle starts with the launch of the product. Sales will grow if people like the product but this also encourages new entrants to the market. If too many competitors emerge, the market can become saturated. Companies need to work at keeping their own products interesting and different in order to keep their share of the market. 3G has developed a marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy

This describes the set of plans which a business puts into place to help it meet the needs of its market and to meet its own objectives. This covers:

• market research - finding out what the customers want
• product - providing the right products
• pricing - charging the right price
• advertising and promotion - persuading customers to buy and
• consumer tracking - following customer sales and finding out customer views about the product.

Orientation

Product orientation refers to developing products to fit the market. 3 was the first European company to realise the opportunities that 3G offered and to invest in this market. This gives it 'first mover' advantage. It has improved its product in a number of ways including: signing a deal to stream ITV1 to its phones, linking with handset producers to ensure that their phones complement the network and linking with key internet and software providers. When it streamed the football World Cup in 2006, this created an all-time high in video usage.

Market orientation refers to taking advantage of market opportunities. The European Union encouraged network providers to transfer to 3G. Licences to operate the services were sold, but were so expensive that those who won them had little left to invest in new technology. However, 3 invested heavily in the market and is beginning to see the benefits. It now has the widest UK network (reaching 90% of the population) and provides many other benefits including global roaming, video conferencing, high speed internet access and real time communication (even for emails and large files).

Asset-led marketing

This is when a business makes good use of its assets (what it owns) to serve its market. Assets work best when they are used to meet customer needs. 3 found out what customers wanted (for example, to watch ITV1 streamed to their phones) and then provided this service by forming the link with ITV.

Conclusion

3G technology provides better and faster ways of communicating. Both business and private users can gain from the technology. 3 has looked into what its customers want and has then invested heavily to become and remain the market leader. The business is well placed to benefit both now and in the future.