Symantec 2015 Annual Report Download - page 91

• Adapting to emerging and evolving industry standards and to technological developments by our
competitors and customers;
• Extending the operation of our products and services to new and evolving platforms, operating systems
and hardware products, such as mobile devices;
• Entering into new or unproven markets with which we have limited experience;
• Managing new product and service strategies for the markets in which we operate;
• Addressing trade compliance issues affecting our ability to ship our products;
• Developing or expanding efficient sales channels; and
• Obtaining sufficient licenses to technology and technical access from operating system software
vendors on reasonable terms to enable the development and deployment of interoperable products,
including source code licenses for certain products with deep technical integration into operating
systems.
If we are not successful in managing these risks and challenges, or if our new products, product upgrades and
services are not technologically competitive or do not achieve market acceptance, our business and operating
results could be adversely affected. We may also experience increased difficulties in managing these risks and
challenges during the pendency of the separation and following its completion.
We operate in a highly competitive environment, and our competitors may gain market share in the markets
for our products that could adversely affect our business and cause our revenues to decline.
We operate in intensely competitive markets that experience rapid technological developments, changes in
industry standards, changes in customer requirements, and frequent new product introductions and
improvements. If we are unable to anticipate or react to these competitive challenges or if existing or new
competitors gain market share in any of our markets, our competitive position could weaken and we could
experience a decline in our sales that could adversely affect our business and operating results. To compete
successfully, we must maintain an innovative research and development effort to develop new products and
services and enhance existing products and services, effectively adapt to changes in the technology or product
rights held by our competitors, appropriately respond to competitive strategies, and effectively adapt to
technological changes and changes in the ways that our information is accessed, used, and stored within our
enterprise and consumer markets. If we are unsuccessful in responding to our competitors or to changing
technological and customer demands, our competitive position and our financial results could be adversely
affected.
Our competitors include software vendors that offer software products that directly compete with our product
offerings. In addition to competing with these vendors directly for sales to end-users of our products, we compete
with them for the opportunity to have our products bundled with the product offerings of our strategic partners
such as computer hardware OEMs and ISPs. Our competitors could gain market share from us if any of these
strategic partners replace our products with the products of our competitors or if these partners more actively
promote our competitors’ products than our products. In addition, software vendors who have bundled our
products with theirs may choose to bundle their software with their own or other vendors’ software or may limit
our access to standard product interfaces and inhibit our ability to develop products for their platform. In the
future, further product development by these vendors could cause our software applications and services to
become redundant, which could significantly impact our sales and financial results.
We face growing competition from network equipment, computer hardware manufacturers, large operating
system providers and other technology companies. These firms are increasingly developing and incorporating
into their products data protection and storage and server management software that competes at some levels
with our product offerings. Our competitive position could be adversely affected to the extent that our customers
perceive the functionality incorporated into these products as replacing the need for our products.
Security protection is also offered by some of our competitors at prices lower than our prices or, in some cases is
offered free of charge. Some companies offer the lower-priced or free security products within their computer
13