Android camp may fall apart. After Google bought Motorola Mobile for US$12.5 billion, the world mobile phone market formed three camps: Apple, Google+Motorola, and Microsoft+Nokia. This puts Samsung, HTC and other Android vendors at risk.
Google recently announced that it will give priority to Motorola, so other manufacturers have accelerated the speed of "escape" the Android camp. HTC is brewing to launch its own operating system. Its chairman, Wang Xuehong, said that the acquisition of WebOS is currently under discussion.
At this time, Samsung is even more embarrassed. In the near future, it will be able to surpass Nokia and Apple to reach the “throne†in feature phones and smart phones. .
In addition, Apple is launching a patent lawsuit against Samsung globally to delay the rapid growth of its smartphones and tablets. If Samsung wants to compare with Apple, software is its biggest "soft rib."
Although Samsung already has its own operating system Bada, it has a wide gap compared with Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Ever since, Samsung's remarks on transforming software and services have been mentioned on many occasions by Samsung executives on various occasions.
At the same time, Samsung announced that it will invest US$9.3 billion to strengthen innovation, R&D and M&A. "The company is working to improve the software capabilities of its own platform Bada. Samsung's investment in this area is much more than the outside world guesses." Samsung CEO Cui Zhicheng said.
Android is "toxic," and Samsung's process of creating an independent ecosystem is accelerating.
Escape from Android
Recently, Google Android chief Andy Rubin said in an internal speech document that in order to further expand the influence of Google's Android mobile phone platform, the Android development team decided to give Motorola the "priority right" of the latest Android version.
"In the highly competitive smartphone market, the adoption of new systems or new versions of the system is self-evident to capture the market." Sun Yongjie, an independent IT analyst, believes that the lags in the new version will likely make HTC and Samsung so Outstanding hardware vendors are swamped by the many other Android vendors that use Android, thus reducing their advantages. This is the last thing Samsung and HTC want to see.
Not only that, but Google’s chairman Schmidt recently told the outside world that Google’s acquisition of Motorola’s mobile is not only for patents but also for Motorola’s hardware.
This made Samsung and HTC inside the “Android Three Musketeers†smell dangerous signals.
HTC allegedly will release a smart phone based on the Microsoft Mango system at the first time. In addition to building his own UI, Wang Xuehong stated that the "acquisition of WebOS" is currently being discussed internally.
According to foreign media reports, Samsung is also considering developing a new tablet based on the Windows platform with Microsoft. In addition to "send to Microsoft", Samsung continues to strengthen its investment in the free operating system Bada. Recently, Samsung announced that it will launch three new machines using the latest Bada2.0 system.
"Samsung, HTC, etc. were deeply constrained by the patent war; Google publicly announced that it will give priority to Motorola; all smart phone manufacturers are more willing to walk on multiple legs." Sun Yongjie summed up the reason why Google Android partners have defected, he believes, Samsung The intention of cooperating with Microsoft is to hint to Google not to neglect the original partner, but Android is the most high-quality operating system after all. Samsung and Microsoft will not give up Android in the short term.
The "subtle" competing relationship with Apple
Apple's “fighting†with Samsung on a global scale may be another big reason for Samsung’s eagerness to establish itself.
In the second quarter of this year, Samsung’s shipments in the smart phone market reached 17.3 million units, and the gap with Apple’s iPhone was less than 3 million units. Samsung is expected to surpass Apple’s in the third quarter of this year and become the leader in the smart phone market.
Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets have long been considered the most powerful contenders for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
As a result, Jobs had already arranged for “after the incident†before he left office, and launched 19 lawsuits against Samsung in 9 countries around Android.
At present, Apple has already gone first. Samsung's lawsuits regarding tablet computers in the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany have lost ground, and its 10-inch Galaxy tablet has been banned from sale.
Analysts predict that in the second quarter of this year, smart phones accounted for only 25% of Samsung mobile phone shipments, but created more than 60% of Samsung Telecom's business unit revenue and about 80% of operating profits. This division is Samsung’s fastest-growing sector and the only one with profit growth.
Therefore, Samsung’s lawsuit with Apple’s lawsuit is a headache. To prove that he did not use Apple's creativity, Samsung even submitted Kubrick's classic movie "2001: Space Odyssey" to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
It is reported that the most important case of Samsung and Apple's 19 lawsuits will be decided by the US Federal Court in San Jose, California, next month. The United States is Samsung’s largest market. If it loses, Samsung will be hard hit. Our reporter made an interview with Hu Fengyan, director of public relations for Samsung China Mobile Communications, on the matter, but the other party declined to comment.
As we all know, Samsung has the full industry chain advantage in the field of mobile communications, not only the world's second largest mobile phone manufacturers, but also a leading manufacturer of digital semiconductors, display panels, processors and memory chips and other accessories.
According to industry reports, as many as 32% of Apple's iPhone parts are purchased from Samsung, including A4 and A5 processors, NAND flash memory, DRAM memory, and a portion of the display.
In this case, should Samsung cut off Apple's supply chain? The answer is obviously negative.
According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, the value of components purchased by Samsung from Samsung accounted for Samsung’s total sales has increased to 5.8%.
"Because of the popularity of Apple's iPhone and iPad, Apple is currently Samsung's largest customer. This year, Samsung's revenue from the role of Apple's supplier will reach 7.8 billion US dollars. From the momentum of the development of Apple's iPhone and iPad, the future will give Samsung brings in more revenue.†Sun Yongjie believes that Samsung does not want to see the loss of nearly 8 billion US dollars in revenue, but also pushed Apple to competitor Qualcomm.
Do not use Samsung hands, Apple had already sprouted "going to Italy." For this reason, in addition to lowering prices, Samsung has also revoked lawsuits against Apple in California.
The Wall Street Journal commented that the competing relationship between the two companies adds an unknown element to their legal strategy. “The legal strategy of the two companies is rooted in different views on how pricing will affect profits. Apple has always focused on bringing High-margin, high-quality products, and Samsung has always been a follower of the idea of ​​puerile."
On the evening of September 13, Samsung Electronics claimed that Apple infringed on the company’s three patents related to UMTS technology and filed a lawsuit against Apple in France.
The industry believes that the patent litigation between the two "you come to me" will continue, but will eventually reach a settlement.
Transformation software and services
Moving the target to more profitable software and services has undoubtedly become the consensus of IT vendors. The forerunner is nothing more than IBM, and the news that HP is about to spin off the PC business also makes the industry stunned. The era of hardware seems to have passed.
The foreign media published an article saying that although Samsung will not suffer heavy losses due to Apple's prosecution in the short term, Samsung has already felt anxious about the importance of the smart phone business to Samsung and is anxious to get rid of the patent dispute with Apple and start planning. Transformation from hardware business to software and service business.
Samsung’s chairman, Lee Kun-hee, said last month: “We need to take note of the fact that the ruling power in the field of information technology has shifted from a hardware company like Samsung to a software company.â€
"Samsung is in an excellent transition period. We are transitioning from a world-class hardware product provider to a software and service leader," said Yoon Boo-keun, head of Samsung's TV business.
In addition to patent lawsuits and skepticism about Android's openness, "The strength of Samsung's technology and hardware with its entire industry chain is superior to that of Apple and Google. What is lacking is a strong application market." Sun Yongjie thinks " Filling up missing software is also the reason why Samsung repeatedly announced its transformation.
The operating system has got the world
Recently, it was reported that Intel is working with Samsung to develop a new operating system instead of MeeGo. To transform the "Three Kingdoms" into "four feet," "have to verify." Hu Fengyan told the Times Weekly.
However, there is no doubt that Samsung will put more energy into its own Bada operating system. "Although we will still maintain cooperative relations with companies such as Google and Microsoft, Bada will become the focus of our future work. We are trying to make it a leading mobile platform." Samsung executives said.
Data show that in the second quarter of this year, Samsung shipped 4.5 million smartphones based on the Bada system, an increase of 355% compared to the same period of the previous year, which already accounted for more than 20% of all its smartphone shipments, even exceeding the Samsung WP7 mobile phone. Shipments.
However, Samsung’s transition is not an easy one.
“Samsung is a hardware manufacturer, and it is difficult to do applications and services overnight. So Samsung will uphold the concept of '攒' and will pick up many services and applications to meet the needs of users at different levels.†Samsung Online Business Director Lin Yi admitted that Bada's mobile phone is still used in low-end smart phones.
Sun Yongjie believes that the decline of Nokia's Saipan, HP's abandonment of WebOS, and MeeGo's preoccupation all prove that creating and maintaining a complete, market-competitive ecosystem requires long-term investment and absolute control of the market.
"Asian brand PC makers will have the opportunity to develop operating systems for Asia in 20 years if they can control the global PC market," said Shi Zhenrong, founder of Acer.
How to control the pace of transition and timing will be a big test for Samsung.
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