Symantec 2012 Annual Report Download - page 93

• 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 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 traditional competitors include independent software vendors that offer software products that directly
compete with our product offerings. We expect that competition will intensify as a result of future software
industry consolidation.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 hardware or software products that we believe are inferior to our products and SaaS offerings. Our
competitive position could be adversely affected to the extent that our customers perceive these security products
as replacing the need for more effective, full featured products and services such as those that we provide. The
expansion of these competitive trends could have a significant negative impact on our sales and financial results
by causing, among other things, price reductions of our products, reduced profitability and loss of market share.
Many of our competitors have greater financial, technical, sales, marketing, or other resources than we do
and consequently may have the ability to influence customers to purchase their products instead of ours. Further
consolidation within our industry or other changes in the competitive environment, such as Intel Corporation’s
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