Samsung Could Soon Start To Twist Google's Arm

Hugh Pickens writes "For the past three years, Android has experienced a kind of free space expansion, but as we enter 2012, it seems the game may be changing. Instead of the old 'there's more than enough room for every Android handset maker to be a winner,' we have a three-horse's-length leader: Samsung shipping close to 55% of all Android phones, while Motorola and HTC lag behind. '[Samsung] could be in a position to twist Google's arm,' writes Jean-Louis Gassée.'If last quarter's trend continues — if Motorola and HTC lose even more ground — Samsung's bargaining position will become even stronger.' But what is Samsung's 'bargaining position'? What could they want? Perhaps more search referral money, earlier access to Android releases, or a share of advertising revenue. Will Google let Samsung gain the upper hand? It's not likely, because Motorola is about to become a fully-owned but 'independent' Google subsidiary, and its 16% of the Android market could counterbalance Samsung's influence to some extent. So what could Samsung do? 'Consider the Kindle Fire example: Just like Amazon picked the Android lock, Samsung could grab the Android Open Source code and create its own unlicensed but fully legal smartphone OS and still benefit from a portion of Android apps, or it could build its own app store the way Amazon did,' writes Gassée. 'Samsung is a tough, determined fighter and won't let Google dictate its future. The same can be said of Google. This is going to be interesting.'"

Comments

Re:I Hope They Do

[iluvcapra]

Just because Google thinks they can dictate anyone and tell them what to do with impunity.

Well they did write the thing. This is Slashdot, where an open source developer is something more and less than a saint, to be quoted reverently, loved as a brother, feared as a tyrant, and accorded all the perquisites of an 18th level mage. Everybody knows that a copyright license is a holy compact, reifying Lockean rights and Benedictine virtue, and none shall interfere with the licensor's prerogatives (unless the licensor is rich, "doesn't give back to the community," or creates something that isn't source code, that is).

Re:We've seen this before....

[Daniel Phillips]

Open Source software has a tradition of ending up this way...

Sure, just like Linux ended up "this way" and GCC ended up "this way" and Apache ended up "this way". Wow, Google could use some more of "this way". The solution for Google is obvious: open up more and let it be a true community project instead of Google's lapdog. That way, Samsung could never hope to keep up with the pace of development, even if they try it for a while. Historical note: Red Hat once forked Linux (2.4.9) and only managed to maintain the fork for a few years, even with about half the highest contributing coders on staff. Samsung could not even come close to that kind of effort, and in the end Red Hat failed to create a compelling business case for its fork, let alone a compelling case for Linux users in general. Google has already accomplished its purpose with Android. The handset market is now blown wide open and nobody will be running a tollbooth on that highway. Now the smart thing is to consolidate this victory by removing the value proposition for a fork.

So long as Google fails to let the baby grow up and be a grownup, yes, there is clear and present danger of forking. And after that, toll booths.