

Why Samsung Is The Next Apple - zher
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/why-samsung-is-the-next-apple/

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adriand
The comparison to Apple makes no sense. The article shouldn't be "Why Samsung
Is The Next Apple", it should be, "Why Samsung Is Positioned To Be
Successful". For example:

* it says that Samsung controls a lot of appliances in the home. That's nothing like what Apple does. Apple does not make and has never made washing machines.

* it says Samsung is "happy to use anyone’s OS as long as it puts phones into boxes and boxes into shopping bags". This is nothing like Apple, which is obsessed with control over the entire user experience, and which is extremely vertically integrated.

* nowhere in this article is any kind of revolutionary product mentioned. A smarter TV is certainly not revolutionary in the way that iTunes, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were revolutionary. This appears to be yet another difference between Samsung and Apple.

So really, I'm not understanding this comparison.

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cube13
It could be a shot at Samsung, with regard to all the lawsuits between them
and Apple.

That's about all I've got.

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polyfractal
Unfortunately, I think it is just crappy reporting and a link-bait title.

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pragmatic
I was in a big box store and I saw a Samsung blu-ray player that allowed
control from your smart phone.

I don't know how well this works but if it works better than my current htpc +
android + remote apps (which don't well together), I'd be super impressed.

Samsung already has a lot of integration nailed. Their products work well
together. When I pop in a blu-ray, the tv turns on along with the sound bar.
The remotes work well together (I can't speak to how well this works for other
manufacturers like Sony).

If you throw a smart phone into the mix, that actually works as a remote for
the TV and Blu-ray, I would be very impressed.

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scdc
I have a Samsung TV and their iPhone app lets me control the TV. Handy for
when I can't find the remote.

But their whole Smart TV system with apps and stuff really stinks. Very hard
to understand the options, and the UI of the underlying apps is terrible. Just
terrible.

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Motorcycles
Seriously. The smart TVs are total crap. I disconnected mine from the internet
because it was a waste of a LAN cable. The only thing that's kind of useful is
the usb port. The software is going to need to get MUCH MUCH better before
this becomes any kind force in entertainment, considering an apple tv is less
than 100 bucks

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jmelloy
Doesn't this article paint them as the next Sony, not the next Apple?

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xelipe
I was thinking the same thing... It is the next Sony, or worse the next Dell
of consumer electronics.

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srbravo1
I see Samsung as great reproducers but not necessarily innovators (at least
not to the degree as a company like Apple). Their look&feel and
marketing("Galaxy S2 Now In White!") snuggle up too close to Apple(in my
opinion). On top of that, even though they make great individual products, I
don't believe they have nailed a solid integration for syncing or updating
between all them(Samsung Kies anyone?).

I see Apple making a huge dent in the TV market by providing stronger
integration, unique look/feel, and some bells & siris (just like they did to
the MP3 market and then the phone market). That is, if they do end up making a
stand alone TV at all.

Who knows? I do agree it will be fun to watch.

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edpark1
No need to compete for No 1 in the US, Apple has left plenty of room for a No
2 competitor to be dominant in pretty much all other markets outside of a
select few. As long as Samsung sticks to hardware and works well with google's
android os, they should be sitting pretty for quite awhile.

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kls
_Samsung is mercenary. They’re happy to use anyone’s OS as long as it puts
phones into boxes and boxes into shopping bags_

I would argue that that is their problem, no passion for the product may be OK
for the TV market but it is not working so well for the phone market, an their
performance in the tablet market has been horrible at best. The simple fact
that they cannot be bothered to upgrade their devices after it leaves the
sales center is driving a lot of customers into other vendors arms after a
single Samsung purchase. Just ask any early adopted of their tables who have
not seen a single upgrade. The mercenary mentality may be good for common
appliances but it is not a lasting strategy in the mobile market.

 _Add in some tablets, some washing machines, and some acceptable software and
you have a real and vibrant ecosystem._

Apple succeeded because their software was more than acceptable and now the
bar has been set. There is a lot I like about Android as an OS but as far as
Samsung and Android the lifetime of the device support lasts only until the
sale is made and it is not a winning strategy for even acceptable software.
They have to address this huge issue if they want to maintain customers after
their first Samsung device purchase.

 _they’ll be happy to plop down a few hundred for a TV that can evolve every
year with the addition of an upgrade package that ups the processing power and
adds features._

They will have to adopt a different strategy than their phone strategy if that
is the case. So far Samsung has shown a reluctance to upgrade the OS due to
fear that it will cannibalize new hardware sales.

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Roritharr
Hi, i'm a Samsung Mobiler, please name me the one tablet that hasn't seen an
update, i'm curious as i've got to update the devices of customers who aren't
capable to do that themselves on the showfloor and can't remember a single
device that hasn't seen atleast one important update. Especially since the
7inch Galaxy Tab, which was the first one, has received an Android 2.3.6
Update a few weeks ago.

I know that some phones in the US don't see updates, but that's in part
because US Carriers always want their own branded version of the major phones
and put themselves between Samsung and the Customers regarding updates.

~~~
kls
_Android 2.3.6 Update a few weeks ago_

While there have been incremental updates to the major Android releases and my
post may have not reflected them, the point I was getting at is that we are on
Android 4, Honeycomb (Android 3) has been out for a while and the only effort
to move that tablet over to it is via the home-brew market. Honeycomb is the
first OS designed for tablets and yet the original 7 has not seen it. There
are no technical limitations to the 7 that would preclude it from receiving
the much needed Honeycomb update, but it has not seen it. Nor do I believe
that it will see it. Further, there was just a big media blow up about the
fact that the existing Samsung phone that is very similar to the Google
sanctioned phone in specs, will not receive the Ice Cream Sandwich update. I
am sorry but for me personally the 7 just now getting updated to 2.3.6 is a
little to late. I bough one, and learned my lesson, If I had known that the
end of life would have been in the 2.x branch of Android, I would have made a
different purchasing decision. I expect my devices to become obsolete due to
hardware limitations, with the device no longer being able to support the
current OS and not by arbitrary limitations placed on it by a vendor. It's
Samsung's prerogative if they want to handle their affairs in such a manner,
but for me personal that is not the kind of vendor I want for my equipment. I
like Android and have been contemplating a switch from my iPhone, but until I
can find a vendor that will supply recent OS advancements, until my hardware
is obsolete, I am forced to stick with Apple who has done a pretty good job of
it. My 3GS still runs the most current OS sans Siri, which is due to hardware
limitations.

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Roritharr
Where did you get the information that there is no ICS Update planned for the
Galaxy Tab? The Galaxy Tab 7 and the Galaxy S will get a special blend of ICS,
with a special version of touchwiz that has a lighter footprint to compensate
for their older processors.

It's basically all about touchwiz, in my own opinion Samsung would have no
problem throwing a stock ICS on the Tab 7, but Samsung wants a smooth TouchWiz
Launcher on it because the customers are accustomed to it and even demand it.

Compare this situation to MotoBlur or HTC Sense and you'll see that Samsung
does the right thing in the end.

Buy a Galaxy Nexus if you want to make sure that you'll really get the updates
asap.

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runjake
In my mind, this article has one big flaw: Apple's never been about competing
on volume. So, doesn't the closing line about Apple having to catch up defy
history?

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mrtron
At Apple's core (no pun intended) is an incredible user experience.

Anyone who has used Samsung products knows they focus 99% on hardware and 1%
on user experience. Their phones have long been painful to use. Their hardware
is usually top notch.

They seem positioned to leap past this issue with voice/gesture commands.
Minimizing the ways the user interacts with their products could result in a
huge success for them.

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abruzzi
This seems unlikely to me for several reasons. First is Apple's "all-in"
mentality, which I don't see in many other CE companies. It's the idea that
Apple makes it easy to know which products support which features, because,
with a few exceptions, all their products support the key features. Apple
doesn't sell many low end products just to fill a niche, and those low end
products are the ones that can't handle the banner feature like streaming or
remote control.

Second, (and related) Apple provides UI consistancy, which is hard to do when
you are 'mercenary' about OSs. And third, I simply don't see Samsung having
the level of consumer trust that Apple has. People that follow these things
may know a lot about Samsung, but most people I know don't care about the
difference between Samsung, Vizio, or any of the other brands of TVs that line
the walls of Best Buy. Sony once had a distinct advantage in consumer trust,
but I don't know if they still do, having gone so long without standing out.
Once upon a time, I wouldn't own a TV if it wasn't a Trinitron. Now? I just
look at the specs and assume the manufacturer is fungible.

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allenp
Samsung is more likely to be the next Sony rather than the next Apple.

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mattmiller
My Samsung Transform and I disagree. This phone should never have been for
sale. It is under powered and just about unusable. They made money when I
bought it, but I am now forever suspect of their products. The thing that
Apple has that most other device makers do not is my trust that the device
will work well.

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jinushaun
More accurately, Samsung is currently what Sony used to be.

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herval
The day Samsung "becomes the next Apple", how will it be able to keep
"innovating", as they'll have no one to copy anymore...?

