Slashdot Mirror
Will Apple Lose Siri's Core Tech To Samsung?
An anonymous reader writes Apple bought Siri in 2010, but its core technology is owned by Nuance, maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Now Samsung is looking to buy Nuance. From the article: "This past June, Nuance and Samsung began merger talks, but nothing came of it. At the time, the two companies said talks had 'slowed' due to 'complexities.' But they didn't say it was dead. Guess what? The talks are back on. The first hint came in June, after the company missed the quarterly projections. The Wall Street Journal then brought up the talks with Samsung and also noted the company had taken financial steps that could indicate a buyout was imminent. The company’s earnings report for June stated that Nuance was redeeming $250 million in 2027 convertible notes. By calling back the debt, that would save the future acquirer around $50 million from a debt-to-share conversion."
I have been in the tech scene for decades, and having have my "tech baptism" we always have that "community" feel to what we do
That was decades ago
Now, everything changed. Tech companies today are like warring fiefdoms. Instead of focus on innovation they wasted all their resources on making their competitors suffer
Take this SIRI/Nuance -- Apple/Samsung saga for example ---
Instead of innovate - Innovate - INNOVATE what we have here are "strategizing - scheming - blocking"
Instead of innovation the tech companies are more interested in dog fights, and the one thing that I need to know is this ---
Why are they doing all these?
Is it because they no longer have the urge to innovate?
Or is it because the corporate culture (the ROI mentality) that has taken over (in almost all the big tech companies that I know) and it is killing the tech field as we know it?
This is a very unhealthy trend, very very unhealthy, and if we let them corporate guys taking over our tech industry sooner or later we will be facing the sad cold reality that one day, somebody else, maybe India or China or Russia, will become much more technologically advance than the West
Please pay a visit to India or Russia or China, if you have the chance. Over there they still have a lot of people devoting their lives on innovation, because to them, it is the right thing to do
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
The first hint came in June, after the company missed the quarterly projections.
In an article about two companies possibly merging (and the possible ramifications of said merger for a third company), "the company" ends up being just a bit ambiguous.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I find it funny how this article implies that because Samsung might now own the technology behind Siri, Siri is in trouble.
Samsung is a REALLY big company with lots of different divisions. One of those, the phone division, is in stiff competition with apple. Another one of those, the chip division, has apple as their best customer.
Apple will continue licensing siri technology. Yes, they'll probably look for alternatives (the same way they are looking for an alternative to the Samsung chip fabrication).
But whether or not they're successful, all that will happen is two really big companies will continue having divisions that work together, and divisions that are in competition.
It's a non story.
Actually, nothing has changed.
The BUNCH vs IBM, Amdahl vs IBM, LANManager vs Netware, Word vs WordPerfect, Excel vs Lotus 1-2-3... The first big anti-trust case in IT was against IBM in 1969.
It may be seem different to anyone who arrived on the scene at a point in time when tech took its first Internet turn and there was enough virtual turf in cyberspace for everyone to have a piece of the action. However, most of those claims are now staked, so this is merely a return to business as usual.
Instead of innovation the tech companies are more interested in dog fights, and the one thing that I need to know is this --- Why are they doing all these?
Because they have to. It has nothing to do with their desire (or lack thereof) to innovate. Once you are an established player part of remaining a successful company is competitive strategy. Some products simply cannot be rapidly innovated. Coca-Cola isn't going to come up with some new miracle drink. Apple is not likely to reinvent the personal computer. Those are mature businesses and they have to be tended to and protected. The notion that every problem can be solved and every business can be run if we are just more innovative is incredibly naive. Even if you do have some incredibly innovative new product it is going to be copied within days and you will be out of business if you cannot protect that new product. To do otherwise is irresponsible and a one way ticket to bankruptcy.
For Apple or Samsung or Microsoft to grow at even a modest 5-8% rate they would have to create as much new business as the entire revenue of EBay *every year*. You think it is easy to create a new company the size of eBay each any every year? When you become big enough there simply are not that many new lines of business that are big enough to really move the needle. It is unbelievably difficult
Please pay a visit to India or Russia or China, if you have the chance. Over there they still have a lot of people devoting their lives on innovation, because to them, it is the right thing to do
I have been to China and India. There is no religion of innovation over there any more than there is lack of it here in the US. There are a bunch of people who are working hard to find economic opportunities, just like here. A lot of the effort over there is largely aimed at copying industry from other parts of the world with the advantage of cheaper Chinese labor rates. Sure there are a few companies doing some pretty nifty new stuff, but their economy is in no way centered around innovation. Most of it is engaged in contract manufacturing for export. They don't design the products, the just make or copy them. Nothing (generally) wrong with that but China is not driving product innovation in any big way yet. One day maybe but not today.
Like Google did with Maps? Like Motorola did with the PowerPC? Like Microsoft did with Internet Explorer? Nah, Apple would never let things like that happen.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.