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I gotta think Apple looks at Samsung as a business operating as their R&D departments. What an incredible money saver that must be. Samsung takes the risk on th

by lmg643 12y ago

I gotta think Apple looks at Samsung as a business operating as their R&D departments. What an incredible money saver that must be. Samsung takes the risk on the "edgy" new features (excuse the pun) and then Apple can see what was popular or missed the mark in the implementation - can we improve? Apple doesn't need to be first at this point, but customers do expect them to be best, so it's a great spot to be behind the leading edge.

bane 12y ago
I agree. It looks like Apple has decided it's more efficient to let somebody else validate the market for features, then fast follow. This is kind of short circuiting Samsung's previous mode of operation where they were the fast followers. Apple just has to see that there is a market for something, and then execute the hell out of it. Something Samsung isn't as great doing. note I use a Note 3 and think it's the greatest portable electronic device I've ever purchased, despite the crappy Samsung software on it. edit somebody doesn't like this idea and has downvoted both my comment and the parent without explanation. Which is just the equivalent of "wrong!". What exactly is wrong with this assertion? Pretty much all of Apple's expected upcoming announcements are Apple executed versions of things that other companies have already produced: larger screen phones, watch, etc. There's nothing wrong with using somebody else's R&D and marketing dollars to develop the market for you. That's what Apple did for everybody else with the iPhone and now it's what they're letting other companies do for them. It's smart since it puts execution front and forward, which is squarely in Apple's wheelhouse. Not feature development and market testing.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  This supposition is only correct if you have visibility into the product development timelines of each company. Just because Apple releases a watch 6 months after Samsung, that does not mean that they started working on it 6 months after Samsung did. It's possible that Apple has been working on a watch concept for years, and Samsung rushed theirs out the door when the rumors got louder. That's probably why you're getting downvoted. You're drawing conclusions solely from the public launch date of things, which actually don't tell us much about who is copying whom.
  - bane 12y ago
    That may be true about an iWatch. But the lead time on big screen phones has been long enough that Apple is definitely trailing the market there. But to be honest, it doesn't really matter. Time to market is important. Real companies ship.
  - tillipa 12y ago
    Actually we do have some insight into the product timelines at Apple and Samsung due to the disclosures during their recent patent lawsuits. Internal Apple communication reveals that they made the iPad mini (1) and they'll be making larger screen iPhones (2) primarily due to Samsung and other Android OEMS. (1) http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-apples-e-mail-thread-about-a-7-inch-ipad/ http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-apples-e-mail-thread-about-a-... (2) http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/06/why-apple-has-to-make-bigger-screen-iphones-in-its-own-confidential-internal-slides/ http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/06/why-apple-has-to-make-bigger-s...

by lmg643 12y ago

bane 12y ago

I agree. It looks like Apple has decided it's more efficient to let somebody else validate the market for features, then fast follow. This is kind of short circuiting Samsung's previous mode of operation where they were the fast followers. Apple just has to see that there is a market for something, and then execute the hell out of it. Something Samsung isn't as great doing. note I use a Note 3 and think it's the greatest portable electronic device I've ever purchased, despite the crappy Samsung software on it. edit somebody doesn't like this idea and has downvoted both my comment and the parent without explanation. Which is just the equivalent of "wrong!". What exactly is wrong with this assertion? Pretty much all of Apple's expected upcoming announcements are Apple executed versions of things that other companies have already produced: larger screen phones, watch, etc. There's nothing wrong with using somebody else's R&D and marketing dollars to develop the market for you. That's what Apple did for everybody else with the iPhone and now it's what they're letting other companies do for them. It's smart since it puts execution front and forward, which is squarely in Apple's wheelhouse. Not feature development and market testing.

snowwrestler 12y ago
This supposition is only correct if you have visibility into the product development timelines of each company. Just because Apple releases a watch 6 months after Samsung, that does not mean that they started working on it 6 months after Samsung did. It's possible that Apple has been working on a watch concept for years, and Samsung rushed theirs out the door when the rumors got louder. That's probably why you're getting downvoted. You're drawing conclusions solely from the public launch date of things, which actually don't tell us much about who is copying whom.
- bane 12y ago
  That may be true about an iWatch. But the lead time on big screen phones has been long enough that Apple is definitely trailing the market there. But to be honest, it doesn't really matter. Time to market is important. Real companies ship.
- tillipa 12y ago
  Actually we do have some insight into the product timelines at Apple and Samsung due to the disclosures during their recent patent lawsuits. Internal Apple communication reveals that they made the iPad mini (1) and they'll be making larger screen iPhones (2) primarily due to Samsung and other Android OEMS. (1) http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-apples-e-mail-thread-about-a-7-inch-ipad/ http://www.cnet.com/news/heres-apples-e-mail-thread-about-a-... (2) http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/06/why-apple-has-to-make-bigger-screen-iphones-in-its-own-confidential-internal-slides/ http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/06/why-apple-has-to-make-bigger-s...