Brand identity and brand switching costs: Brand value is very important for mobile phones sales. E.g. reports have suggested that HTC which has produced very good devices with excellent hardware specs on top of Android mobile platfrom are struggling to even maintain the market share. It has been established that it is because of its diminishing brand value. Brand switching is not very predominant in the industry as a typical smartphone buyer tends to keep the phone for a considerable amount of time ranging from 1-3 years depending on many factors including country, age, profession, educational level etc.