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Forget Apple: Samsung Could Be Google's Next Big Rival
Nerval's Lobster writes "The idea of Samsung as a Google rival isn't unprecedented. For the past several quarters, Samsung has progressively molded Android to its own vision: layered with TouchWiz and sprinkled with all sorts of Samsung-centric apps, the software interface on Samsung devices is deviating rapidly away from the 'stock' Android that runs on other manufacturers' devices. During this year's unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S4 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, Samsung executives onstage barely mentioned the word 'Android,' and played up features designed specifically for the device. Establishing its own brand identity by moving away from 'stock' Android has done Samsung a lot of good: its smartphones and tablets not only stand out from the flood of Android devices on the market, but it's given the company an opportunity to position itself as the one true rival to iOS. While other Android manufacturers struggle, Samsung has profited. If Samsung continues to gain strength, it could become a huge issue for Google, which has its own eye on the hardware segment. Although Google purchased Motorola in 2011 for $12.5 billion, it hasn't yet remolded the brand in its own image, claiming that the subsidiary's existing pipeline of products first needs to be flushed into the ecosystem. But that reluctance could be coming to an end: reports suggest that Google will pump $500 million into marketing the Moto X, an upcoming 'hero' smartphone meant to reestablish Motorola's dominance of the Android space. If the Moto X succeeds, and Google decides to push aggressively into the branded hardware space, it could drive Samsung even further away from core Android. Never mind issuing TouchWiz updates until the original Android interface is virtually unrecognizable—with its industry heft, Samsung could potentially boot Google Play from the home-screen and substitute it with an apps-and-content hub of its own design. That would take a lot of work, of course: first, Samsung would need to build a substantial developer ecosystem, and then it would need to score great deals with movie studios and other content providers. But as Amazon and Apple have shown, such things aren't impossible. The only questions are whether (a) Samsung has the will to devote the necessary time and resources to such a project, and (b) if it's willing to transform its symbiotic relationship with Google into an antagonistic one."
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. I purchased it because it is the industry-leader. I do not use any of the samsung-specific features, and do not have a samsung account. It is a solid android phone, running the latest release, and is compatible with third party keyboards, facebook messenger (I can't get off facebook no matter how hard I try), and also mightytext and google voice. Like any computer, there are instabilities, but I report them, and samsung and at&t collaborate on updates. these instabilities are few and far between and do not appear to be related to touchwiz.
I did have to remove an at&t address book backup app, but that was at&t's fault.
They are also successful because they sell phones with styli which is very important in asian countries where the pen is used to write letters of the alphabet.
.. how well platform divergence works. In a few years we could have the choice between a dozen different mobile operating systems! Hellelujah
MS/Apple style lockin is what's to be feared, not good healthy competition.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Don't think it's too likely in the near future though. They now have the S4 Play Edition so I'm not sure that Samsung will be ditching andoid any time soon. I think they could make a go at it but without the Play ecosystem they'd basically be back to square one and be back with BlackBerry and Windows Phone for apps.
I can pop the back of a Galaxy S4, slide in a microSD memory card & replace the battery - all without tools. That's why the Samsung phones have become the default geek Android phones (well, that & they are also easily rooted) even more-so than the latest Nexus devices. With the latest quad-core devices having enough power to run Touch-Wiz seamlessly (from what I've seen in-store, anyway) they are very nice out-of-box, even without root.
Samsung is doing a better job of improving Android than Google is. Even though Google shipped hardware with BTLE, Samsung was the first company to offer libraries that actually let you use BTLE with Android!
I think at some point soon Samsung will take over where Android is heading, or just veer off with it's own version of Android entirely. And I'm not sure Android will be the worse for it.
I've also admired the custom work Amazon has done with Android. They had multi-user on the Fire before Google announced support for it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Let me get some popcorn. This is going to be a good debate with lots of well rounded and rational arguments.
Strangle the Google Nexus 10 is 2560 x 1600 and its made by Samsung.
That should be "Strangely".
:-)
That's an odd typo. I thought "strangely" and typed "strangle". I'm in a good mood and the Nexus 10 is my favorite Android tablet, I mean it no harm.
Samsung competes with Motorola, a side business of Android, one of Google's side businesses. Google has far bigger rivals in Microsoft's Bing and Facebook. Samsung sells a lot of phones, which is just what Google wants. It may be a version tarted up with a bunch of crapware, but it's still Android, and it's still funneling people into Google's web suite.
Unless Samsung become an advertising company, Google has nothing to fear from Samsung becoming completely independent from google. Googles main rivals is Facebook and maybe Amazon and that is not going to change any time soon.
In fact maybe slightly off topic its interesting to note that Google Chromecast is a dirt-cheap wireless video dongle that streams Netflix a company I thought of as direct competitive with Google Play
Samsung is doing a better job of improving Android than Google is.
Except its interesting to note that Samsung have started offering Google Play Edition Phone due to demand for it. HTC has also a Google Play edition.
Where are the Samsungs compelling first party Apps? A quick search on Google Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=samsung&c=apps shows a couple of nice Applications to use with your Samsung smart tv and nothing else. Google Inc is a different story https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Google+Inc.
As more features are added to new versions of Android from Google it takes longer for Samsung to merge its changes into that new version
Why? I hate to say it but as a programmer, I would find it shocking if there is not a massive move towards making sure that as little work as possible is needed in making sure that Samsung changes are not trivial to apply.
I find it even more surprising considering that Android is pretty modular in the interface, You can swap all interface elements, many are sold in their play store I own several.
I find it even more surprising again In fact Google is moving most of their first party applications out of the core OS, making it easy to update whatever version of Android you are running.
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-play-edition-htc-one-galaxy-s4 Its interesting that the article points out how Samsung is moving away from Stock Android, but fails to point out that they are offering stock android as an option, because people desire just that, and they are not the only company doing so.
Why would Samsung want to create it's own appstore when it can leverage Google's to sell more devices?
A year too late..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history A quick look shows 4.1.2 only released October last year. 4.2.2 was released in February.
Samsung plan on skipping a version. I am not sure I am against that strategy, and could see a whole host of reasons why they would do so.
When I pee I use the no-touch system.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
It's interesting that Google is pulling the same trick Apple did with regard to reducing ports and expansions. For example the new nexus 7 doesn't have HDMI out even though all its major competotrs besides Ipad do. The apple solution is appleTV which, while costing a bit more, is an overall better solution aside from portability. Google just came out with chromecast which also offloads the need for a port onto a wireless device that costs extra. same scheme. Likewise, icloud is apples way of not requiring as much memory in their devices (or power for things like Siri). And google follows the same path with chrome.
Samsung can't match that. THey can toss in ports but in the long run the cloud model and the wireless model are going to win. Apple got it right and google figured that out too. Samsung is not going be building a cloud of their own on short notice. THeir only hope will be to buy or partner with someone who has a cloud (Nokia or Amazon) if they want to go toe to toe with google.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
but Google own a hardware manufacturing company capable of generating more patents, and those will not be squandered on Frand patents this time.
FRAND patents are the only patents actually worth anything, because they earn you regular licensing income over a very long period of time.
All other patents are just nerf darts in a world where everyone has a pile of a million nerf darts stockpiled. You can fling them at each other all day long and in the end nothing changes, and you each have a pile of nerf darts.
Metaphorically speaking, Google doesn't even have the whistlers nor are any likely to be forthcoming from the husk of Motorola...
The big deal is Google is expected to spend US$500 million in marketing the Moto X
Which would be an excellent reason to sell GOOG, and expect Samsung to take Android for itself. Did you really think Samsung would just sit there and say Hurrah! when Google makes such a heavy push to steal sales from the Galaxy line?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In the real world, you have *either* competition *or* interoperability.
Hardware USB, SATA, HDMI, WIFI 802.11 standards
Software OpenGL ES, JAVA, HTML5
6 years on and obviously not Winning, but you're going to keep banging that drum, aren't you? Couldn't stop Android from getting top dog with this story, but still trying to find some fool to influence with it. Why don't we talk about Windows fragmentation, and all of the devices and apps left behind each version, how even Microsoft doesn't even support their own older OS with their apps and so fragments their own installed base? Or maybe Windows Phone, where 7.x apps don't even run on 8.x?
Help stamp out iliturcy.
> Except Google is not interested in money, they are interested in advertising space.
Did you actually read what you wrote?
Yes, If you don't understand that *Google* spent $12.5Billion on acquiring patents to protect Android...Its mobile platform...to deliver advertising on. Not to become a Patent Rapist like Nokiasoft.
lol.. nobody besides samsung is making any real money... go look it up.
android is like the kiss of death for most manufacturers
Except its not true :) In fact the reverse is true. The financial statements are out for all the major companies. Do you know how I know its true, because they continue to make phones while posting profits, and would not be able to do so at a loss...not everybody has a sugar daddy like Microsoft to subside each of your phones like Nokia :) and still make a loss.
Putting lots of love in front does not make it true.
So how does Apple do it? The iPhone 3gs released in 2009 can run the latest iOS 6.
The premise of the article is completely wrong. Apple isn't Google's rival at all. Apple sells devices to end users, Google sells end users to advertisers.
What will happen however is that Apple will do more and more to upset Google's business, just as Google has been working hard to upset Apple's and Microsoft's business. The first step is Apple's maps, which meant that Apple isn't paying anymore for licensing maps from Google, and Apple is destroying Google ad revenue (Apple maps comes without adverts). iWork in the cloud is another step. Apple switching to Bing is another one.