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Because not so long ago the Chinese hardware sucked big time. I'm talking about 5 years back or so. They made huge improvements (Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi, others

by huuu 12y ago

Because not so long ago the Chinese hardware sucked big time. I'm talking about 5 years back or so. They made huge improvements (Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi, others) and are going to outsell brands like Apple and Samsung.

s_q_b 12y ago
>They made huge improvements (Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi, others)... Agreed, and we can only expect more improvement as China moves up the value chain. >and are going to outsell brands like Apple and Samsung In China, sure. I think Xiaomi is neck-and-neck with Samsung right now. But it will take a bit longer in the rest of the world for those firms to compete elsewhere. I expect an integration of product mix, with China joining the club of developed nations, rather than a takeover of manufacturing by Chinese producers. Chinese brands are in the position of Japanese brands in the late 70s, trying to shed a reputation for making "cheap knock-offs," even when those knock-offs were better than the originals. The path to fast growth in Asia seems to be: industrialize, specialize in cheap products, move into massed-produced consumer goods, improve quality by copying foreign competitors, then use your new engineering knowledge earned by cloning competitors' products to leapfrog the competition. Japan did it to us, Korea did it to Japan, and now China will most likely be next. And don't think the United States didn't do it ourselves. Heck, we invented the model during the industrial revolution when we leapfrogged Europe using plenty of "borrowed" ideas. The upshot though is that economic growth is mostly a universal good these days. Certainly both the United States and Japan are better off than they would have been if Japan never caught up with us. We should be celebrating the rise of China's people, not fearing it. And while their government may be antagonistic and repressive, it is leaps and bounds better than it was a few decades ago. If one were to construct a Maslow's hierarchy of needs for the Four Freedoms, Freedom from Want would be at its base. Further progress seems likely. The vector is pointed in the right direction for everyone involved. All we have to do is not screw up the course.

by huuu 12y ago

s_q_b 12y ago

>They made huge improvements (Huawei, Meizu, Xiaomi, others)... Agreed, and we can only expect more improvement as China moves up the value chain. >and are going to outsell brands like Apple and Samsung In China, sure. I think Xiaomi is neck-and-neck with Samsung right now. But it will take a bit longer in the rest of the world for those firms to compete elsewhere. I expect an integration of product mix, with China joining the club of developed nations, rather than a takeover of manufacturing by Chinese producers. Chinese brands are in the position of Japanese brands in the late 70s, trying to shed a reputation for making "cheap knock-offs," even when those knock-offs were better than the originals. The path to fast growth in Asia seems to be: industrialize, specialize in cheap products, move into massed-produced consumer goods, improve quality by copying foreign competitors, then use your new engineering knowledge earned by cloning competitors' products to leapfrog the competition. Japan did it to us, Korea did it to Japan, and now China will most likely be next. And don't think the United States didn't do it ourselves. Heck, we invented the model during the industrial revolution when we leapfrogged Europe using plenty of "borrowed" ideas. The upshot though is that economic growth is mostly a universal good these days. Certainly both the United States and Japan are better off than they would have been if Japan never caught up with us. We should be celebrating the rise of China's people, not fearing it. And while their government may be antagonistic and repressive, it is leaps and bounds better than it was a few decades ago. If one were to construct a Maslow's hierarchy of needs for the Four Freedoms, Freedom from Want would be at its base. Further progress seems likely. The vector is pointed in the right direction for everyone involved. All we have to do is not screw up the course.