Being College Students

Being college students ourselves, we believe that we will have a competitive advantage in understanding and relating to the general student market. We feel that college students will be eager to try this free scheduling app that integrates assignments, campus events, local events, and local promotions. Local restaurants, bars, clubs and venues will want to advertise events and promotions on DS once realizing its potential popularity among college students. Also, no competitor offers a product that uses an algorithm to optimally schedule days based on personal preferences. After the first year we will expand to other universities and colleges in Boston, integrating each of their campus events, bars, etc. After continued success, we will expand to other cities across the country, earning our revenue through advertising.

Competitive Analysis:

In the computer software industry, smartphone applications are extremely price-oriented at first glance. The first incentive for consumers to purchase an app is whether or not it is free or paid. According to Gartner Inc.'s annual mobile report in 2012, a total of 45.6 billion app downloads occurred that year. Of the 45 billion downloads, a whopping 40 billion was for free apps. We will be offering our product as a free app so that we can capitalize on this trend in the market. However, we will also be competing against other free apps that offer similar services. To stand out amongst these competitors, we must differentiate ourselves through product quality and functionality so that customers stay loyal to our app after downloading and testing it. With our intentions of collaborating with the Blackboard platform, we will stand out to a targeted market that keeps from interfering with the existing market that Blackboard already occupies. The reason for adopting this strategy is because we believe that both of our markets (Blackboard and ourselves), can co-exist in an environment that creates increased revenue for both companies.