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The two businesses that Samsung is in that are making almost all of their money right now are semiconductors (and only flash and SOCs) and mobile handsets. Take

The two businesses that Samsung is in that are making almost all of their money right now are semiconductors (and only flash and SOCs) and mobile handsets. Take those two businesses away and Samsung starts to look more like the ponderous, government-sheltered behemoth that it is. And someone is going to take away the handset business - everyone in asia is basically waiting for Huawei and ZTE to eat Samsung's lunch. Samsung can't compete with either of them on cost, and eventually they won't be able to pump more pixels into 400+ppi screens to keep customers from buying cheaper smartphones. And without unique software to offer consumers (like Apple), Samsung is extremely vulnerable in the handset market. And in the meantime, Samsung is amortizing a fortune's worth of chips fabs that were mostly built to supply components for iDevices. Yes, Samsung needs Apple's business.

Volpe 13y ago
I think it's a bit more nuanced than you are making out. Samsung do have their own Software (Tizen, and Bada(?), and a third 'unknown' base). They are pushing for an Android compatible linux, with strong hardware integration. Huawei and ZTE won't be able to compete with that. They could fail completely on that strategy, but they are doing more than just increasing PPI.
- CountSessine 13y ago
  Neither Tizen nor Bada are realistic competitors for Android outside of Korea. Certainly not anymore than Meego was an Android competitor - and Nokia actually had a lot of really great software engineers working for them. That's something that's hard to say about Samsung considering Touchwiz. And neither Bada nor Tizen has any significant ecosystem of apps. This isn't a competitive edge against Huawei and ZTE because no one buys Samsung phones for their software.
  - Volpe 13y ago
    Tizen can run android apps. So they have the largest ecosystem. Samsung has a huge brand, they could easily make Tizen a competitor by deploying it on Galaxy Phone in the future. Consumers wouldn't know (or care). Not sure how you can judge a whole companies software engineers, based on one project (Touchwiz).
    - CountSessine 13y ago
      Tizen can run android apps. So they have the largest ecosystem. No they don't. Android has the largest ecosystem. They're riding on Android's train - they don't have their own train. And they're on the Android train with Huawei. And if they're dumb enough to jump off the train, then they're in the bushes. Samsung has a huge brand, they could easily make Tizen a competitor by deploying it on Galaxy Phone in the future. Consumers wouldn't know (or care) No they couldn't. Brand doesn't count for anything if you're selling the same stuff your competitor is. Substitutability. The top phones from Apple, Samsung, and HTC offer more for more money than what Huawei can offer right now because there's room for mobile hardware innovation, and that's what they do best. Once they hit a ceiling - no more pixels to add to the screen, no more transistors on the CPU without exceeding a reasonable thermal envelope - then its all Huawei's game. The only one of those three that stands a chance is Apple because they have their own ecosystem. Samsung has more brand recognition than Huawei. And it doesn't matter a whit. They'll still get steam-rolled once the ppi wars are over and we're buying based on price. This is the grim reality that Samsung shareholders have been realizing. Not sure how you can judge a whole companies software engineers, based on one project (Touchwiz). I've owned many Samsung products and have had no good experiences with their software or drivers. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but so far they seem to fit the stereotype of the hardware-company-that-doesn't-get-and-can't do-software.

Volpe 13y ago

I think it's a bit more nuanced than you are making out. Samsung do have their own Software (Tizen, and Bada(?), and a third 'unknown' base). They are pushing for an Android compatible linux, with strong hardware integration. Huawei and ZTE won't be able to compete with that. They could fail completely on that strategy, but they are doing more than just increasing PPI.

CountSessine 13y ago
Neither Tizen nor Bada are realistic competitors for Android outside of Korea. Certainly not anymore than Meego was an Android competitor - and Nokia actually had a lot of really great software engineers working for them. That's something that's hard to say about Samsung considering Touchwiz. And neither Bada nor Tizen has any significant ecosystem of apps. This isn't a competitive edge against Huawei and ZTE because no one buys Samsung phones for their software.
- Volpe 13y ago
  Tizen can run android apps. So they have the largest ecosystem. Samsung has a huge brand, they could easily make Tizen a competitor by deploying it on Galaxy Phone in the future. Consumers wouldn't know (or care). Not sure how you can judge a whole companies software engineers, based on one project (Touchwiz).
  - CountSessine 13y ago
    Tizen can run android apps. So they have the largest ecosystem. No they don't. Android has the largest ecosystem. They're riding on Android's train - they don't have their own train. And they're on the Android train with Huawei. And if they're dumb enough to jump off the train, then they're in the bushes. Samsung has a huge brand, they could easily make Tizen a competitor by deploying it on Galaxy Phone in the future. Consumers wouldn't know (or care) No they couldn't. Brand doesn't count for anything if you're selling the same stuff your competitor is. Substitutability. The top phones from Apple, Samsung, and HTC offer more for more money than what Huawei can offer right now because there's room for mobile hardware innovation, and that's what they do best. Once they hit a ceiling - no more pixels to add to the screen, no more transistors on the CPU without exceeding a reasonable thermal envelope - then its all Huawei's game. The only one of those three that stands a chance is Apple because they have their own ecosystem. Samsung has more brand recognition than Huawei. And it doesn't matter a whit. They'll still get steam-rolled once the ppi wars are over and we're buying based on price. This is the grim reality that Samsung shareholders have been realizing. Not sure how you can judge a whole companies software engineers, based on one project (Touchwiz). I've owned many Samsung products and have had no good experiences with their software or drivers. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but so far they seem to fit the stereotype of the hardware-company-that-doesn't-get-and-can't do-software.