Local rivals have been heading up-market while Samsung offers consumers an unbeatable price.

Apple experienced some disappointing news from the mobile device market in China. During the third quarter, the iPhone maker saw a 29 percent drop in revenue compared to the second quarter.

Apple’s revenues from China also saw a surprising drop by a huge 33 percent year over year.

Third financial quarter 2015 revenues had been $13.2 billion in the Chinese mobile device market. This year during the same quarter, there has been a plummet to a much lower $8.8 billion. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, blamed the slowing growth of the country’s economy as a primary reason for the nosedive in revenues.

Apple had once held the coveted place as the “it” brand in the Chinese mobile device market.

However, local mobile device companies have been placing a massive focus on their brand image efforts. This has allowed many of them to grow from the level of cheap basic phone to upmarket premium smartphone models.

Among the top threats Apple is facing within the mobile phone marketplace in China is Xiaomi. That company has managed to clone a broad spectrum of Apple’s features, designs and even its marketing approach. It has been making every effort to replicate the appeal of Apple while knocking the pins out of the iPhone maker’s position at the same time.

In fact, it raced to replicate two anticipated upcoming iPhone features – that is, the dual cameras and OLED displays. Xiaomi then launched that device on the same day Apple was to announce its drooping revenue results. At the same time, Xiaomi has been working to appeal to the Chinese market to proudly buy local. It has strategically placed a series of billboard ads in the country calling its devices the “Made-in-China smartphones.” This, despite the fact that the majority of iPhones are, in fact, made in China as well.

That said, the Wall Street Journal identified another problem Apple is facing in the mobile phone market in China. Both Oppo and Huawei have launched attractive new premium smartphones to take on the iPhone. They have successfully given consumers another choice of high end device with a more affordable price tag. Following this successful positioning, they have been able to take a slice out of Apple, so to speak.

The American company now holds fifth place in the Chinese smartphone marketplace, behind Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. Samsung is rapidly approaching by offering its devices with competitive pricing.

As the world’s biggest retailer discovers smartphones are a top traffic driver, it has changed directions.

The Walmart mobile shopping app is rolling out in Canada where smartphone users are a prime driver of traffic. The retailer’s new application provides shoppers with a spectrum of different features including a favorites list.

The beta tests were critical to the development of this app, which started off quite complicated.

According to Walmart Canada executive vice president of technology and ecommerce, Rick Neuman, the application was greatly simplified. At first it was overly complicated, but Neuman said the experience has been sculpted into something much more appealing. To him, the favorites list was his preferred feature on the Walmart mobile shopping app.

“The other day I made a favourites list, handed it to my wife and she was able to get a $120 basket together in four minutes for a great camping weekend with my girls,” he stated.

The Walmart mobile shopping app was created through a Razorfish Canada collaboration.

This mobile commerce app was developed specifically for the Canadian market. It was based on a survey conducted across that country. The survey sought to determine what people wanted most from Walmart. This was followed by beta testing by customers the retailer hand-picked for the purpose. Later, the retailer’s employee base were able to take part in testing the final version.

The release of this m-commerce application is a direct reflection of the growing importance of the role of mobile in Walmart shopping. June 2016 represented the first time more traffic came from smartphones and tablets than from desktops and laptops.

“That’s a huge shift for us,” said Neuman. He pointed out that the company is seeing “massive potential.”

Walmart currently boasts more than 400 store locations across the nation. This is especially significant as the Canadian marketplace has always been a challenging one for department store retailers. The majority of sales still occur at bricks-and-mortar stores. However, the company has acknowledged that offering digital solutions is an integral component of doing business in the current ecosystem. The launch of the Walmart mobile shopping app is a major move for the company within that environment.