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The Scariest Company in Tech

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Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#31

Post by berntb »

nl wrote: post #25

A vertically integrated manufacturer does not necessarily mean their costs will be dramatically lower than the competition. For example, Apple doesn't do any manufacture themselves, and yet they have costs so much lower than the competition that they are able to define entire new markets in the time it takes for their competition to develop cost-competitive supplies. This has happened three times now, firstly with th…

Interesting, I thought Apple didn't know they would get such a hit with the iPad? They had gotten options on production?

I assumed the problem was developing something that could compete with the software (which might have happened with Android 3?).

Edit: My problem with Samsung is abandonware -- drivers, etc -- but I don't know if they are worse than others.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#33

Post by jdub »

azakai wrote: post #27
jdub wrote: post #12

There is one area in which Samsung is lacking: software. Unlike Apple or RIM, they are entirely dependent on Android. [...] That, however, could change completely if Samsung dominates the Android market like I think it will. Want to be even more scared? http://www.rasterman.com/index.php?page=News :-)

I don't get it, I thought Samsung Bada was not a secret project anymore? http://www.bada.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bada_%28operating_system%29

I don't think he's talking about Bada (certainly not current Bada... though what he's doing might relate to future-Bada).

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#34

Post by TimothyBurgess »

I hope Samsung sticks with hardware... they should stay far, far away from software.

I (sadly) still use a Samsung Instinct and the OS is of their own design. If you've ever used Samsung's Instinct you'd know it's absolutely terrible and slow. I can't remember the last time I typed something - and I don't even type fast - and it wasn't at least a couple of seconds behind my fingers... pretty annoying when the touch screen won't calibrate and you make at least one typo every other word!

The only upside to the phone is the relative ease of "unlocking" it for use as a 4G modem.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#35

Post by Keyframe »

jdub wrote: post #12

There is one area in which Samsung is lacking: software. Unlike Apple or RIM, they are entirely dependent on Android. [...] That, however, could change completely if Samsung dominates the Android market like I think it will. Want to be even more scared? http://www.rasterman.com/index.php?page=News :-)

Unlike Apple or RIM, they are entirely dependent on Android.

My Samsung Omnia 7 disagrees (WP7).

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#36

Post by Create »

you are talking of the Samsung Linux Platform [this is not Bada nor Android ], to be launched in 2011. It uses 2.6.32-es Linux, X Window System, Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), GTK keretrendszer, Gstreamer etc.

Applications are C/C++ UI is GTK/EFL. Has multitasking and Debian package management.

http://jeffhoogland.blogspot.com/2011/02/samsung-is-backing-...

http://www.oss.kr/?module=file&act=procFileDownload&...

now let us wonder about the non-goog customers of canonical, with Unity, the need to ditch X11, ditch Gnome3 …fresh release of GTK3.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#37

Post by fomojola »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #14

The OP's argument rests on the notion that Samsung could somehow make phones so compelling that they take over 80% of the market. I don't think they can do that on price alone. Their price advantage over LG, HTC, etc could be what... 10%? They need more of an advantage than that to have Microsoft-level dominance. And even though they have the price advantage over the other "premium" vendors, they are fighting a war o…

Yeah, Samsung's Android devices may look pretty, but the software builds are not only very slow to be upgraded (mostly 'cause they want you to buy the new hardware, which is kind of stupid on their part) but they actually have very poor performance running apps. I've used multiple members of the Galaxy S family and have a Galaxy Tab for development purposes and to put it mildly they suck from a software perspective. The Tab arbitrarily locks up depending on the software you're running (as in stops responding, requires a hard reset to be usable again), their Bluetooth implementation is terrible and doesn't function right (I guess their choice of Bluetooth hardware didn't work with the default Android drivers so they had to write their own; somehow software that runs perfectly on a Nexus One or Motorola/LG hardware totally keels over on Samsung hardware) and their customized software overlay is amazingly sluggish.

Lets not get into the monstrosities that are their feature phone operating systems. I for one don't believe anyone is in danger from Samsung.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#38

Post by mgkimsal »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #24
Kylekramer wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When your aim is ubiquity, 18 models of the same basic product is a positive, not a negative. Apple and Samsung are playing entirely different games. Apple is built on brand and large profit margins, Samsung on controlling the components and being everywhere. They are equally valid plans, but Apple's way is more likely to win fans.

But Apple is successfully training customers that it is nice to be able to shop a simple product line. People are tired of being confused, and Apple makes it trivial to not be confused. Samsung's ubiquity game isn't going to work if the customers are sick of playing it.

Agreed.

I know there's going to be an 'iPhone' for a long time to come, and I'm confident now that there'll be a peripherals ecosystem around it. I have no such confidence that any other company will keep the same model of phone around for more than a few years. Even the mighty RAZR seemed to lose the support of Motorola - RAZR, ROKR, PEBL, SLVR variations came out, and now none of them are being actively pursued - MOTO shifted focus to Android as 'flavor of the month'. They'll have no such problems shifting to something else more profitable in 2 years if it suits them, leaving everyone who purchased or supported current phones high and dry.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#39

Post by mgkimsal »

berntb wrote: post #31
nl wrote: post #25

A vertically integrated manufacturer does not necessarily mean their costs will be dramatically lower than the competition. For example, Apple doesn't do any manufacture themselves, and yet they have costs so much lower than the competition that they are able to define entire new markets in the time it takes for their competition to develop cost-competitive supplies. This has happened three times now, firstly with th…

Interesting, I thought Apple didn't know they would get such a hit with the iPad? They had gotten options on production? I assumed the problem was developing something that could compete with the software (which might have happened with Android 3?). Edit: My problem with Samsung is abandonware -- drivers, etc -- but I don't know if they are worse than others.

IIRC, Apple was predicting iPad sales of 10M in 2010, which many analysts scoffed at. Also, IIRC, they sold 7M in just the last quarter of 2010 (admittedly, the holiday season). So yeah, I believe Apple was pretty confident.

Re: The Scariest Company in Tech

#40

Post by dagw »

brianbreslin wrote: post #22
jdub wrote: post #12

There is one area in which Samsung is lacking: software. Unlike Apple or RIM, they are entirely dependent on Android. [...] That, however, could change completely if Samsung dominates the Android market like I think it will. Want to be even more scared? http://www.rasterman.com/index.php?page=News :-)

If samsung is building out their own os using it for only mobile phones seems myopic... Think about all the markets they play in

Samsung already has a mobile OS, called Bada, that they have been shipping for a while now.
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