4 ms·

On your not making any money comment, HTC has been profitable the past two quarters (https://gigaom.com/2014/10/03/by-managing-costs-htc-sees-another-profitable

On your not making any money comment, HTC has been profitable the past two quarters (https://gigaom.com/2014/10/03/by-managing-costs-htc-sees-another-profitable-quarter/ https://gigaom.com/2014/10/03/by-managing-costs-htc-sees-ano...) and LG has also been profitable in part due to their mobile division (http://www.lgnewsroom.com/newsroom/contents/64590 http://www.lgnewsroom.com/newsroom/contents/64590). Motorola seems to be heading towards profitability as well. Perhaps Samsung's decline has been in part to the success of these other handset manufacturers?

MBCook 12y ago
That's good to know since Samsung used to be eating everyone's lunch and it was becoming a two horse race. As an outsider to this whole thing (Apple guy with little interest in buying an Android phone at this time) it has always seemed like there was a pretty big oversupply unless you only considered the flagship phones (and even then it's still arguable). The market share between the various Android manufacturers starting to even out sounds good to me, but I wonder what it would do for prices and how that would effect Android vs. iOS.
- lnanek2 12y ago
  Samsung is destroying everyone in terms of market share. However companies like LG and HTC tend to intentionally just make the high price point phones where there is a lot more profit margin.
- newscracker 12y ago
  The market share may even out in the low end segment, where many local manufacturers in different countries build cheap (and possibly outdated, from a first world perspective) hardware and slap whichever Android version they can accommodate (it may not be the latest). But overall, Samsung still holds a big chunk of Android market share and it would take several years for that to come down to something we can consider as stiff competition. Samsung has a lot of muscle and money to continue its "hardware machine gun" spraying tens of devices to see what sells, which is also aided well by a big marketing budget (probably the largest marketing budget among all, including Apple and Microsoft in the mix). The push to make Samsung more equal to other Android device makers could be from different directions. One is Samsung's desire to go with Tizen and sunset Android. This may not sit very well with the user base since the app market for Tizen needs to be built, and that's one reason why Tizen may likely shine in the nascent wearables segment than in the established smartphone, phablet and tablet segments. The other push is really good devices from HTC and Motorola that come with the latest version of Android and (especially for Motorola, in my knowledge) the ability to easily get updates easily and quickly. If HTC and Motorola survive for a few more years and continue whatever good work they're doing, then they do stand a chance to improve the overall market for the benefit of everyone.
megablast 12y ago
$21 million for HTC isn't much, and doesn't help after the big losses after the last few years. LG looks like it is doing well. Overall, this is much better for Android, rather than having one big company.
- jamesaguilar 12y ago
  The airlines are proof that wide profit margins are not necessary for massive gains in customer experience. (In the airline case, this experience is in the realm of vastly lower ticket prices, rather than an actual comfortable flying experience. But the point remains that you can fly today for 50% of the real cost of flying thirty years ago.)

MBCook 12y ago

That's good to know since Samsung used to be eating everyone's lunch and it was becoming a two horse race. As an outsider to this whole thing (Apple guy with little interest in buying an Android phone at this time) it has always seemed like there was a pretty big oversupply unless you only considered the flagship phones (and even then it's still arguable). The market share between the various Android manufacturers starting to even out sounds good to me, but I wonder what it would do for prices and how that would effect Android vs. iOS.

lnanek2 12y ago
Samsung is destroying everyone in terms of market share. However companies like LG and HTC tend to intentionally just make the high price point phones where there is a lot more profit margin.
newscracker 12y ago
The market share may even out in the low end segment, where many local manufacturers in different countries build cheap (and possibly outdated, from a first world perspective) hardware and slap whichever Android version they can accommodate (it may not be the latest). But overall, Samsung still holds a big chunk of Android market share and it would take several years for that to come down to something we can consider as stiff competition. Samsung has a lot of muscle and money to continue its "hardware machine gun" spraying tens of devices to see what sells, which is also aided well by a big marketing budget (probably the largest marketing budget among all, including Apple and Microsoft in the mix). The push to make Samsung more equal to other Android device makers could be from different directions. One is Samsung's desire to go with Tizen and sunset Android. This may not sit very well with the user base since the app market for Tizen needs to be built, and that's one reason why Tizen may likely shine in the nascent wearables segment than in the established smartphone, phablet and tablet segments. The other push is really good devices from HTC and Motorola that come with the latest version of Android and (especially for Motorola, in my knowledge) the ability to easily get updates easily and quickly. If HTC and Motorola survive for a few more years and continue whatever good work they're doing, then they do stand a chance to improve the overall market for the benefit of everyone.

megablast 12y ago

$21 million for HTC isn't much, and doesn't help after the big losses after the last few years. LG looks like it is doing well. Overall, this is much better for Android, rather than having one big company.

jamesaguilar 12y ago
The airlines are proof that wide profit margins are not necessary for massive gains in customer experience. (In the airline case, this experience is in the realm of vastly lower ticket prices, rather than an actual comfortable flying experience. But the point remains that you can fly today for 50% of the real cost of flying thirty years ago.)