Alright guys, really? I'm completely neutral on the technology front but lately this site has just been baaad, I know EVERYONE says this but I use a PC for my computer, 4 way crossfire 7970 3 monitors, for what I do suites me better than a mac could, use a Galaxy Note 2 for my phone, love the display, for my phone and PC those fit me best. But I temporarily had an Asus Transformer, didn't like it took it back and got an iPad 2, like it a million times more, have an iPod for my music, a million times better than a Galaxy player or any other music player.
Why are you guys so blinded by your fanboyism? You had a case with the S2, when I first saw it i said "damn that looks like a 4!" But Samsung has obviously moved away, this is nothing like an iPhone, and in a lot of ways is a lot better, yet all you guys have to say is OMG ITZ PLASTIC, research the plastic its made of, stop taking defeat as such a negative thing. As a person with no brand loyalty this is the new king of phones, stop being so blinded by your loyalty to a damn fruit.
1. Google is all about search advertising. Don't think they "invented" Android for any other purpose than for speeding up smartphones sales outside Apple ecosystem to get search hits. Whether Android is forked or not, Google will turn to partners that can generate the advertising hits. If Samsung goes it's own way, Google will simply turn to Apple.
2. Android fragmentation was always good for Apple, however, if Samsung comes out as the biggest Apple competitor, Apple will gain most of the Android crowd, since the brand consolidation is unavoidable...Apple haters will buy Samsung, Blackberry lovers will buy Blackberry, Windows enthusiast will buy Nokia and majority will buy iPhone.
3. Ecosystem CANNOT exist without PC. It is impossible to build recognizable, unique and efficient ecosystem around Windows and Linux. Without ecosystem Samsung can rely solely on hardware features with some "additional services".
4. All Apple has to do is:
- sell mid-range phone and premium with larger screen, thus spreading the offering in 3 lines...
- iOS7 with leap features
so, basically, they have to mend the flop in PM from last year...
Not exactly. Until recently, particularly in the US, the carriers controlled branding.
Very good point! Carriers are shortsighted and pushing cheaper phones which require less subsidy, however, iPhone generates much more revenue later. I have a feeling that carriers do slowly starting to get a point..For Apple, to keep this advantage is absolutely necessary to build larger screen iPhone version.
All Android manufacturers sell their brand, and their improvements, over regular Android.
Each brand has their own line of phones using whatever version of Android and then they put their own BS on top of whatever version they are using. And during the course of a couple of years, they only do whatever updates to the OS as they want to. Samsung is STILL selling older 2.3 Gingerbread phones and I don't think they'll get an update to the OS. It's kind of a joke if you ask me. They isn't much consistency, even among the brands like Samsung that make a bunch of different models. To me, they are just pushing out a bunch of what Apple would call prototypes, instead of focusing on one actual product design. The features the Android crowd are putting in are questionable. They might make interesting "demos" but from a practical standpoint? That's questionable. Air Gesture? Come on, a phone is used about a foot or two from the user's face. One doesn't need Air Gestures for that. Maybe for a BIG TV screen that 6 to 12 feet away, they might, but a foot or two away on a hand held device? Sorry, but to me, that's just a dumb feature.
Samsung's Galaxy S 4 launch appeared poised to leverage Android to further distract the public's attention from Apple's iPhone. Instead, the company appears to have created its own apps and services to distract away from Android.
You write as if this is something new but this is revisionist history. Samsung's user interface layer predates Android. Adding custom software and services on top of a smartphone platform has been Samsung (and other manufacturers') plan since the days of Symbian and Windows Mobile. It's one of the major reasons why the smartphone was invented.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Early last year, Samsung launched its Galaxy Note phablet, followed by the Galaxy S3. HTC launched two One phones, LG the Optimus 4X HD and G, and Sony the Xperia S and T, along with hundreds of other lessor known Android models. So many companies are clamoring to be heard during the Apple quiet period that, ironically, it's rare for any to really make an impression.
Manufacturers have always launched their big-hitters at this time of year. It coincides with WMC and gives the manufacturers plenty of time to spin-off "safer" products before the holiday season. The iPhone hasn't really changed anything (for better or worse) in this regard.
Presentation Format: F- So cringe-worthy horrible it's beyond further commentary. Copier-Status: Working. Marketing messages copied not only from Apple, but Microsoft and Qualcom as well. Feature Bombs: everything except S Translate... if it actually works, which remains to be seen.
One feature though... actually product... that I've been hoping that Apple would get around to offering, is an [I]affordable[/I], standalone, and expandable iTunes Home Server, NAS, Cloud... whatever. I know it's the anti-thesis of what Apple and other proprietary cloud services want us to have, however one "key reason" is exactly what the Samsung marketing guy said, "much more storage for a far better price". Naturally the other main reason is that you're not dependent upon a stable and fast broadband Internet connection at all times.
If Apple was to do this, I would expect them to do it right and make available an App to configure and manage the server without a computer. This is (at the moment) the missing link to asking a number of my tech-adverse clients to turn on their WinBox... or even old Mac... ever again. Basically being able to go Total Post-PC, but still be able to save and archive locally your data. Going a step further, being able to mark certain additional items as "Automatic iCloud Backup", would be that added security that everyone should have in case of a local disaster like a fire.
NOTE: the marketing guy for Samsung was actually quite likable... and if I might add, even slightly better than Phil Schiller... WHOM... I must remember to Tweet and remind him to close his eyes, dejavu and recall the many 100's of times he heard SJ say, "STFU Phil... you're doing it wrong! :no:
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
Samsung went to great lengths to tell the WSJ in an interview that there is no "friction" with Google. Which, of course, means that there is plenty of friction. Google has lost control of Android. Amazon does its own thing, and now so does Samsung. Samsung is the only OEM making any serious money from Android. They should know more than anyone else that it is dangerous to become dependent on a single manufacturer. There's a reason they are pushing their own software solutions. At some point, they want to take everything in house.
Exactly. I especially like the "Safe for work" graphic - where most of the 'safe' products are from Apple with one Samsung phone while all the other Android products are 'unsafe'. Doesn't sound like a friction-free relationship between Samsung and Google.
Do you even know what having more megapixels does? I sold cameras for about 5 years and have been an amateur photographer for about 10.
The more megapixels you have, the larger the photo you can print. for the average person who takes a pic and uploads it to Instagram or Facebook, the most you'd need is 4mp.
Now if you were looking to do high res printing, then by all means please tout all you want about the fact that it's 13mp.
That's all true. However, you forgot to mention the tradeoff if you're not printing large pictures - each pixel is much smaller which means less light capturing ability. So under many conditions, the picture from the 4 MP camera can be better than the picture from the 13 MP camera.
It's also worth noting that the lens has an impact. It's very difficult to pack a lens capable of giving good 13 MP images into something the size of a cell phone (although it's easier if your cell phone is the size of a small car).
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
Well, I did not read it that way.
The author gives some clear indications that the biggest (by far) Android phone maker, and the only one making a profit, is definitely only using Android as a stopgap solution. In parallel they are developing an own App catalog, an own OS and replace more and more core Android apps and features with own features. They might not be too good yet, but Samsung is a big company with big pockets. It is only a matter of time. At some point Samsung could be ready to cause the biggest market shift in mobile ever. Bigger than the iPhone launch in 2007 was (the iPhone launch was more impressive, sure, but the smartphone market was tiny back then).
Just read the interview the new Samsung CEO gave the WSJ (also covered in detail on The Verge): He slams Windows Phone, Windows Tablets and Windows 8. The best thing he says about Google is that there is "no friction" between the companies. And he promises a "top of the line" and "premium hardware" Tizen phone for later in 2013. Not a BRIC markets low-end device as most people expected, a premium device. Not "sometime", in 2013. There is no tasseography required to see where this goes. If (admittedly a big if) Samsung executes this well, then Tizen will be the third smartphone platform in no time, and a big loss for Google.
I'm not so sure that this latest Samsung presentation was Apple-like so much as it was Microsoft-like. Big production number, an emcee with awkward jokes, even a incongruous child actor. Apple presentations tend to be entirely focused on products and numbers. No circus, no Broadway.
It also strikes me that one big reason Samsung may have distanced itself from Android and Google is the huge market in China. Google is all but dead in China. All of their major web offerings are either banned or outcompeted by local providers. Most Android phones sold in China come without Google Play or other core Google apps. Google's relationship with the Chinese government is strained to put it mildly.
Samsung's big flashy show might have been presented in American English. But I suspect that its true audience was half a world away.
... Apple's success is built on the foundation of defeating your very logical notion. Unfortunately this blind brand loyalty has widened out into other groups of devout followers who worship the likes of Google, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. ...
There's nothing really new about this. There have been loyal followers of Microsoft for as long as there have been fans of Apple. The only reason Apple followers were referred to as a cult was that there were fewer of them than those who followed the Microsoft orthodoxy. These days, those whose psychology would have aligned them with Microsoft are followers of Google's doctrine, which isn't surprising since there are so many similarities between Microsoft and Google.
Well, assuming the HTC One is made just as easily available as the S4, HTC should be able to drastically increase their market share, and balance will be restored to the Android world.
I can't imagine anyone that, seeing the two phones side by side, would go for the GS4 over the One.
I can't imagine anyone would pick a crappy copy-cat cloner android phone over an iphone.
I'm not so sure that this latest Samsung presentation was Apple-like so much as it was Microsoft-like. Big production number, an emcee with awkward jokes, even a incongruous child actor. Apple presentations tend to be entirely focused on products and numbers. No circus, no Broadway.
It also strikes me that one big reason Samsung may have distanced itself from Android and Google is the huge market in China. Google is all but dead in China. All of their major web offerings are either banned or outcompeted by local providers. Most Android phones sold in China come without Google Play or other core Google apps. Google's relationship with the Chinese government is strained to put it mildly.
Samsung's big flashy show might have been presented in American English. But I suspect that its true audience was half a world away.
I watched the show and it was just embarassing in my opinion. Not sure what they were going for but it was like watching some terrible B movie.
I like this game. So whenever company or a representative from a company says x, the opposite is in fact true?
Does this same logic apply to Apple and Tim cook when he says we shouldn't take notice of dwindling orders from component suppliers and the real truth is things are bad for the iPhone? When he says things are a sideshow they in fact aren't?
No, but if a reporter is asking about "friction", it's likely because he knows through sources that there is "friction", it's not just a random question thrown out. The fact that a company representative finds himself in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of "friction" is very likely an indicator that the "friction" exists.
As for "dwindling orders" from component suppliers, we take those with a healthy dose of salt because, as DED likes to write, this all happened before, and the "dwindling orders" rumors turned out to be false or of no consequence.
In other words, the game is, to steal a line from Newsroom, to apply logic and reason and see where that takes us.
If Samsung forks Android, I wonder if Google continues to put their apps on Samsung phones? After all, Google already makes their apps for their competitor iOS. If they don't, the Google apps won't be on very many new Android phones! Even without Google, the main thing Samsung would need is a good-enough map app.
Samsung could fork Android, and Google wouldn't have much choice but to put their apps on it, since that's the only game Google has. On the other hand, not forking Android allows Samsung to take advantage of Google as a free software development service. That's also, obviously, the advantage of Android ovr Tizen for them. And, if there's anything Samsung likes, it's having someone else do the heavy lifting for them.
What Samsung is more likely to do, especially as they continue to crush the Android competition, is use their position as the only Android game in town, and on the strength of their Galaxy brand, to dictate to Google what constitutes "Android". In effect, Google will end up losing control of Android and the OHA, and there's not much they can do about it. The one thing they could do is dump Android and try to replace it with Chrome or something else. Interesting that Andy Rubin just left the Android division.
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
What the writer doesn't disclose is that he's an Apple shareholder. His pieces attempt to manipulate Apple's share-price upwards.
Samsung went to great lengths to tell the WSJ in an interview that there is no "friction" with Google. Which, of course, means that there is plenty of friction. Google has lost control of Android. Amazon does its own thing, and now so does Samsung. Samsung is the only OEM making any serious money from Android. They should know more than anyone else that it is dangerous to become dependent on a single manufacturer. There's a reason they are pushing their own software solutions. At some point, they want to take everything in house.
Who is to blame on that? The hardware innovation is hard to come. Android manufacturers have to distinguish themselves from the competition by adding features or, in Amazon's case, it needs to sell its products for giving the device away at cost.
Comments
Alright guys, really? I'm completely neutral on the technology front but lately this site has just been baaad, I know EVERYONE says this but I use a PC for my computer, 4 way crossfire 7970 3 monitors, for what I do suites me better than a mac could, use a Galaxy Note 2 for my phone, love the display, for my phone and PC those fit me best. But I temporarily had an Asus Transformer, didn't like it took it back and got an iPad 2, like it a million times more, have an iPod for my music, a million times better than a Galaxy player or any other music player.
Why are you guys so blinded by your fanboyism? You had a case with the S2, when I first saw it i said "damn that looks like a 4!" But Samsung has obviously moved away, this is nothing like an iPhone, and in a lot of ways is a lot better, yet all you guys have to say is OMG ITZ PLASTIC, research the plastic its made of, stop taking defeat as such a negative thing. As a person with no brand loyalty this is the new king of phones, stop being so blinded by your loyalty to a damn fruit.
Can't wait to hear how big a troll I am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb85
All Android manufacturers sell their brand, and their improvements, over regular Android.
Not exactly. Until recently, particularly in the US, the carriers controlled branding.
This is absolutely good news for Apple!
1. Google is all about search advertising. Don't think they "invented" Android for any other purpose than for speeding up smartphones sales outside Apple ecosystem to get search hits. Whether Android is forked or not, Google will turn to partners that can generate the advertising hits. If Samsung goes it's own way, Google will simply turn to Apple.
2. Android fragmentation was always good for Apple, however, if Samsung comes out as the biggest Apple competitor, Apple will gain most of the Android crowd, since the brand consolidation is unavoidable...Apple haters will buy Samsung, Blackberry lovers will buy Blackberry, Windows enthusiast will buy Nokia and majority will buy iPhone.
3. Ecosystem CANNOT exist without PC. It is impossible to build recognizable, unique and efficient ecosystem around Windows and Linux. Without ecosystem Samsung can rely solely on hardware features with some "additional services".
4. All Apple has to do is:
- sell mid-range phone and premium with larger screen, thus spreading the offering in 3 lines...
- iOS7 with leap features
so, basically, they have to mend the flop in PM from last year...
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
Not exactly. Until recently, particularly in the US, the carriers controlled branding.
Very good point! Carriers are shortsighted and pushing cheaper phones which require less subsidy, however, iPhone generates much more revenue later. I have a feeling that carriers do slowly starting to get a point..For Apple, to keep this advantage is absolutely necessary to build larger screen iPhone version.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb85
All Android manufacturers sell their brand, and their improvements, over regular Android.
Each brand has their own line of phones using whatever version of Android and then they put their own BS on top of whatever version they are using. And during the course of a couple of years, they only do whatever updates to the OS as they want to. Samsung is STILL selling older 2.3 Gingerbread phones and I don't think they'll get an update to the OS. It's kind of a joke if you ask me. They isn't much consistency, even among the brands like Samsung that make a bunch of different models. To me, they are just pushing out a bunch of what Apple would call prototypes, instead of focusing on one actual product design. The features the Android crowd are putting in are questionable. They might make interesting "demos" but from a practical standpoint? That's questionable. Air Gesture? Come on, a phone is used about a foot or two from the user's face. One doesn't need Air Gestures for that. Maybe for a BIG TV screen that 6 to 12 feet away, they might, but a foot or two away on a hand held device? Sorry, but to me, that's just a dumb feature.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Samsung's Galaxy S 4 launch appeared poised to leverage Android to further distract the public's attention from Apple's iPhone. Instead, the company appears to have created its own apps and services to distract away from Android.
You write as if this is something new but this is revisionist history. Samsung's user interface layer predates Android. Adding custom software and services on top of a smartphone platform has been Samsung (and other manufacturers') plan since the days of Symbian and Windows Mobile. It's one of the major reasons why the smartphone was invented.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Early last year, Samsung launched its Galaxy Note phablet, followed by the Galaxy S3. HTC launched two One phones, LG the Optimus 4X HD and G, and Sony the Xperia S and T, along with hundreds of other lessor known Android models. So many companies are clamoring to be heard during the Apple quiet period that, ironically, it's rare for any to really make an impression.
Manufacturers have always launched their big-hitters at this time of year. It coincides with WMC and gives the manufacturers plenty of time to spin-off "safer" products before the holiday season. The iPhone hasn't really changed anything (for better or worse) in this regard.
http://www.sizeall.com/compare/Apple-iPhone-5-Samsung-I9300-Galaxy-S-III-Samsung-I9500-Galaxy-S4/615
Copier-Status: Working. Marketing messages copied not only from Apple, but Microsoft and Qualcom as well.
Feature Bombs: everything except S Translate... if it actually works, which remains to be seen.
One feature though... actually product... that I've been hoping that Apple would get around to offering, is an [I]affordable[/I], standalone, and expandable iTunes Home Server, NAS, Cloud... whatever. I know it's the anti-thesis of what Apple and other proprietary cloud services want us to have, however one "key reason" is exactly what the Samsung marketing guy said, "much more storage for a far better price". Naturally the other main reason is that you're not dependent upon a stable and fast broadband Internet connection at all times.
If Apple was to do this, I would expect them to do it right and make available an App to configure and manage the server without a computer. This is (at the moment) the missing link to asking a number of my tech-adverse clients to turn on their WinBox... or even old Mac... ever again. Basically being able to go Total Post-PC, but still be able to save and archive locally your data. Going a step further, being able to mark certain additional items as "Automatic iCloud Backup", would be that added security that everyone should have in case of a local disaster like a fire.
NOTE: the marketing guy for Samsung was actually quite likable... and if I might add, even slightly better than Phil Schiller... WHOM... I must remember to Tweet and remind him to close his eyes, dejavu and recall the many 100's of times he heard SJ say, "STFU Phil... you're doing it wrong! :no:
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I think that's possible but I think Samsung has a better play by forking Android over using Titzen.
Samsung forks Android.
Larry and Sergey's worst forking nightmare...
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
Exactly. I especially like the "Safe for work" graphic - where most of the 'safe' products are from Apple with one Samsung phone while all the other Android products are 'unsafe'. Doesn't sound like a friction-free relationship between Samsung and Google.
That's all true. However, you forgot to mention the tradeoff if you're not printing large pictures - each pixel is much smaller which means less light capturing ability. So under many conditions, the picture from the 4 MP camera can be better than the picture from the 13 MP camera.
It's also worth noting that the lens has an impact. It's very difficult to pack a lens capable of giving good 13 MP images into something the size of a cell phone (although it's easier if your cell phone is the size of a small car).
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3Eleven
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
Well, I did not read it that way.
The author gives some clear indications that the biggest (by far) Android phone maker, and the only one making a profit, is definitely only using Android as a stopgap solution. In parallel they are developing an own App catalog, an own OS and replace more and more core Android apps and features with own features. They might not be too good yet, but Samsung is a big company with big pockets. It is only a matter of time. At some point Samsung could be ready to cause the biggest market shift in mobile ever. Bigger than the iPhone launch in 2007 was (the iPhone launch was more impressive, sure, but the smartphone market was tiny back then).
Just read the interview the new Samsung CEO gave the WSJ (also covered in detail on The Verge): He slams Windows Phone, Windows Tablets and Windows 8. The best thing he says about Google is that there is "no friction" between the companies. And he promises a "top of the line" and "premium hardware" Tizen phone for later in 2013. Not a BRIC markets low-end device as most people expected, a premium device. Not "sometime", in 2013. There is no tasseography required to see where this goes. If (admittedly a big if) Samsung executes this well, then Tizen will be the third smartphone platform in no time, and a big loss for Google.
It also strikes me that one big reason Samsung may have distanced itself from Android and Google is the huge market in China. Google is all but dead in China. All of their major web offerings are either banned or outcompeted by local providers. Most Android phones sold in China come without Google Play or other core Google apps. Google's relationship with the Chinese government is strained to put it mildly.
Samsung's big flashy show might have been presented in American English. But I suspect that its true audience was half a world away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eksodos
... Apple's success is built on the foundation of defeating your very logical notion. Unfortunately this blind brand loyalty has widened out into other groups of devout followers who worship the likes of Google, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. ...
There's nothing really new about this. There have been loyal followers of Microsoft for as long as there have been fans of Apple. The only reason Apple followers were referred to as a cult was that there were fewer of them than those who followed the Microsoft orthodoxy. These days, those whose psychology would have aligned them with Microsoft are followers of Google's doctrine, which isn't surprising since there are so many similarities between Microsoft and Google.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikeb85
Well, assuming the HTC One is made just as easily available as the S4, HTC should be able to drastically increase their market share, and balance will be restored to the Android world.
I can't imagine anyone that, seeing the two phones side by side, would go for the GS4 over the One.
I can't imagine anyone would pick a crappy copy-cat cloner android phone over an iphone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaker's Ugly Brother
I'm not so sure that this latest Samsung presentation was Apple-like so much as it was Microsoft-like. Big production number, an emcee with awkward jokes, even a incongruous child actor. Apple presentations tend to be entirely focused on products and numbers. No circus, no Broadway.
It also strikes me that one big reason Samsung may have distanced itself from Android and Google is the huge market in China. Google is all but dead in China. All of their major web offerings are either banned or outcompeted by local providers. Most Android phones sold in China come without Google Play or other core Google apps. Google's relationship with the Chinese government is strained to put it mildly.
Samsung's big flashy show might have been presented in American English. But I suspect that its true audience was half a world away.
I watched the show and it was just embarassing in my opinion. Not sure what they were going for but it was like watching some terrible B movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GalaxyTab
I like this game. So whenever company or a representative from a company says x, the opposite is in fact true?
Does this same logic apply to Apple and Tim cook when he says we shouldn't take notice of dwindling orders from component suppliers and the real truth is things are bad for the iPhone? When he says things are a sideshow they in fact aren't?
No, but if a reporter is asking about "friction", it's likely because he knows through sources that there is "friction", it's not just a random question thrown out. The fact that a company representative finds himself in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of "friction" is very likely an indicator that the "friction" exists.
As for "dwindling orders" from component suppliers, we take those with a healthy dose of salt because, as DED likes to write, this all happened before, and the "dwindling orders" rumors turned out to be false or of no consequence.
In other words, the game is, to steal a line from Newsroom, to apply logic and reason and see where that takes us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NormM
If Samsung forks Android, I wonder if Google continues to put their apps on Samsung phones? After all, Google already makes their apps for their competitor iOS. If they don't, the Google apps won't be on very many new Android phones! Even without Google, the main thing Samsung would need is a good-enough map app.
Samsung could fork Android, and Google wouldn't have much choice but to put their apps on it, since that's the only game Google has. On the other hand, not forking Android allows Samsung to take advantage of Google as a free software development service. That's also, obviously, the advantage of Android ovr Tizen for them. And, if there's anything Samsung likes, it's having someone else do the heavy lifting for them.
What Samsung is more likely to do, especially as they continue to crush the Android competition, is use their position as the only Android game in town, and on the strength of their Galaxy brand, to dictate to Google what constitutes "Android". In effect, Google will end up losing control of Android and the OHA, and there's not much they can do about it. The one thing they could do is dump Android and try to replace it with Chrome or something else. Interesting that Andy Rubin just left the Android division.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3Eleven
I don't understand posting articles like this. Samsung released a new phone, yay? I don't need to be wrapped in a reassurance blanket about my phone which is all this article does.
What the writer doesn't disclose is that he's an Apple shareholder. His pieces attempt to manipulate Apple's share-price upwards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KPOM
Samsung went to great lengths to tell the WSJ in an interview that there is no "friction" with Google. Which, of course, means that there is plenty of friction. Google has lost control of Android. Amazon does its own thing, and now so does Samsung. Samsung is the only OEM making any serious money from Android. They should know more than anyone else that it is dangerous to become dependent on a single manufacturer. There's a reason they are pushing their own software solutions. At some point, they want to take everything in house.
Who is to blame on that? The hardware innovation is hard to come. Android manufacturers have to distinguish themselves from the competition by adding features or, in Amazon's case, it needs to sell its products for giving the device away at cost.