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Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

businessweek.com

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Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#61

Post by jhuni »

dereg wrote: post #41
jhuni wrote: post #33

Well overtaking Apple is a good start, we shouldn't stop until Apple tyranny is totally wiped off the face of the Earth.

Samsung is indisputably more "tyrannical" than Apple. The corporation has unsurpassed political influence in South Korea. For instance, scumbag Chairman (former CEO) Lee Kun-Hee is a nepotist and admitted guilt to political bribery in 2008. Guess what? He paid his way out of jail time and was even pardoned by LMB in 2009. Samsung also has tremendous media influence in the nation. The company influences the media by g…

As anti-capitalist, I oppose all corporations, including Samsung. On the other hand, as a free software activist, Apple has made itself my number one enemy in the past year or so with the considerable spread of the DRM-ridden iOS.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#62

Post by ZeroGravitas »

Tichy wrote: post #55
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"They set out to make the most money." It really worries me that there's a new breed of Apple fan that actually believes this. In reality they set out to build the best device (for affluent, white, middle-aged, American males with a taste for minimalism) and semi-accidentally became fashionable status symbols. The crowing about making the most money was just fanboy bragging because every other stat they bragged about…

"for affluent, white, middle-aged, American males with a taste for minimalism" So what do you reckon, what would a perfect smartphone for black, middle-aged American males look like?

Well these stats seem to suggest that iPhone is half as popular with the African-American demographic (with RIM and "other" noticeably more popular):

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/among-mobile-ph...

And this suggests that "Demographically, Android phones are especially common among young adults and African-Americans, while iPhones and Blackberry devices are most prevalent among college graduates and the financially well-off."

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2054/smartphone-ownership-demogr...

Blackberry seems to win, probably through being an early provider of group messaging to a young, early-adopter demographic on one side and a business staple on the other and the twin lock-ins that provides.

Though note that "white people" are about 10-15 years older than other categories on average so white, middle-aged, and affluent kind of go together and can be hard to tease apart.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#63

Post by falling »

jhuni wrote: post #61
dereg wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung is indisputably more "tyrannical" than Apple. The corporation has unsurpassed political influence in South Korea. For instance, scumbag Chairman (former CEO) Lee Kun-Hee is a nepotist and admitted guilt to political bribery in 2008. Guess what? He paid his way out of jail time and was even pardoned by LMB in 2009. Samsung also has tremendous media influence in the nation. The company influences the media by g…

As anti-capitalist, I oppose all corporations, including Samsung. On the other hand, as a free software activist, Apple has made itself my number one enemy in the past year or so with the considerable spread of the DRM-ridden iOS.

I can never remember if Apple is a monopolist or Android is taking over.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#64

Post by recoiledsnake »

falling wrote: post #63
jhuni wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As anti-capitalist, I oppose all corporations, including Samsung. On the other hand, as a free software activist, Apple has made itself my number one enemy in the past year or so with the considerable spread of the DRM-ridden iOS.

I can never remember if Apple is a monopolist or Android is taking over.

I similarly can't understand how Microsoft is dying in the post-PC world that we are supposed to be living in, but somehow trying to kill Linux by requiring secure boot on it's PCs(which no one is supposed to be buying anymore).

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#65

Post by davidedicillo »

ramchip wrote: post #57
Terretta wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but that seems dumb. You'd rather pay $100 for a flash drive to the guy that only makes 10% on them because of his low volume or bad logistics, than pay $80 for the flash drive to the guy that makes 50% margin because he's the high volume buyer and has great logistics? Me, I'd rather pay less for the best, and if that guy has better margins, so much the better.

What if the guy that makes 10% on them doesn't earn more because his drives are made to last longer and he provides better working condition in his factories? Not saying that Samsung is like that, but there are plenty of reason beyond volume and logistics to justify different margins.

That would be Apple ;) You can probably use the latest iOS longer (as discussed yesterday) and it also hold a much much better resell value.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#66

Post by moomin »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #6
moomin wrote: post #2

Apple never set out to make the most smartphones, it just kind of happened. They set out to make the most money. Samsung are a fair distance from achieving that.

"They set out to make the most money." It really worries me that there's a new breed of Apple fan that actually believes this. In reality they set out to build the best device (for affluent, white, middle-aged, American males with a taste for minimalism) and semi-accidentally became fashionable status symbols. The crowing about making the most money was just fanboy bragging because every other stat they bragged about…

To be honest, I'm not an Apple fan. I'm a fan of the iPhone; I think it's a superb bit of kit. But I waited 4 years to upgrade my last one, so I'm probably not exactly their best customer.

I don't really see the problem with claiming a company sets out to make money. But Apple's achievement in this area is nothing short of phenomenal. They've driven component costs down to the point that there's _hundreds_ of dollars of margin on every device. Then they've got the app store. The only firm I can think that does it this well is Nintendo, who even in the days they weren't fashionable were nonetheless very profitable.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#67

Post by notatoad »

Mordor wrote: post #12

... and so the pressure builds on Apple to diversify, which is what killed it last time. Really Apple needs to invent and come up with something special, but as SJ would tell you - which idea do you pick?

in what way is the pressure building? they are still very successful, and i don't see anything to indicate that their current strategy won't remain successful for a long time to come.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#68

Post by backprojection »

davidw wrote: post #59
Retric wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huge margins tend to come from good software, and I would much rather have better software than care what the manufacture's costs are.

As ramchip says below, there are a zillion reasons why high margins may happen, including some that are "good", and some that are "bad". All other things being mostly equal , I'd go for the guy who's not making as much money off of me, because that means that more of the value is accruing to me, rather than to him. Simple as that.

This seems a bit backwards. The price and hence profit that the guy can sell you his widgets for is set largely by how much you (on average) are willing to pay for the value his widget brings you.

Saying, hypothetically, "All other things being mostly equal" isn't really useful here I don't think. It's saying: 'assume the iPhone and SGSII generally represent the same value to people' clearly for a large portion of the people, they don't.

( I own a SGSI )

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#69

Post by falling »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #64
falling wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can never remember if Apple is a monopolist or Android is taking over.

I similarly can't understand how Microsoft is dying in the post-PC world that we are supposed to be living in, but somehow trying to kill Linux by requiring secure boot on it's PCs(which no one is supposed to be buying anymore).

Well, in that case you would say that Microsoft is trying to survive by eliminating competition on scarce resources. But then, I don't think Microsoft is dying.

Re: Samsung Overtakes Apple as World’s Biggest Smartphone Seller

#70

Post by davidrhunt »

hpaavola wrote: post #25
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it? It may not ship the units that Samsung ships but it makes far more money off the smaller number of units it does sell. The reality is that Apple were the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world for one quarter. It would be more accurate to view the fact that they were (briefly) number one as a blip rather than see it as a major title they lost and something they need to react to.

How much money does Apple and Samsung make from smartphones?

From Q2 2011

http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/29/apples-iphone-accounted-for-66...

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