'Sense of crisis' at Samsung could affect patent disputes with Apple
Samsung's chairman sees a need for a "sense of crisis" at his company, with rumors suggesting a shakeup could be coming in the company's ongoing patent disputes with Apple.
To date, Samsung and Apple have been in adamant opposition against one another in a series of patent infringement suits filed around the world. But that could change after Samsung's Lee Kun-hee recently returned from a three-month trip to Japan and Hawaii, according to The Korea Times.
Lee has a history of taking lengthy overseas trips before making major changes at Samsung, including new directions for the business and managerial changes. The chairman has been on 20 such trips since 1993.
Sources who spoke with the Korean publication indicated that Samsung's ongoing patent dispute with Apple is one of "several pending issues" that Lee plans to personally consider. Just last week, a judge with the International Trade Commission ruled that Samsung's products are infringing on an Apple patent related to text selection on mobile devices.
As part of its anticipated changes, Samsung may also reportedly seek a way to "cut reliance on its mobile business." Lee met with reporters at Gimpo International Airport upon returning from his three-month sabbatical, where he said he believes Samsung should "always have a sense of crisis," and strive to "run faster and always study to have insights."
Any changes the chairman plans to implement could be announced as soon as Wednesday, when he plans to meet with reporters once again.
Lee's return comes only days after Samsung announced that its profits were up 53 percent year over year in the first three months of 2013 to 8.7 trillion won, or $7.7 billion U.S. The sales, which came ahead of the launch of the company's flagship Galaxy S4, were believed to have been primarily driven by low- and mid-level smartphones.
Separately, a new report from Korea's ETNews on Monday claims that Samsung is working on a smartphone with a large 6.3-inch display. The handset, which would double as a "smart pad," could launch as early as June, the report said.
Samsung, and the rest of the smartphone industry, have been trending toward larger screens in recent years. Apple even followed last year with the iPhone 5 debuting a 4-inch display, though at that size it still remains one of the smaller screen options on the market.
To date, Samsung and Apple have been in adamant opposition against one another in a series of patent infringement suits filed around the world. But that could change after Samsung's Lee Kun-hee recently returned from a three-month trip to Japan and Hawaii, according to The Korea Times.
Lee has a history of taking lengthy overseas trips before making major changes at Samsung, including new directions for the business and managerial changes. The chairman has been on 20 such trips since 1993.
Sources who spoke with the Korean publication indicated that Samsung's ongoing patent dispute with Apple is one of "several pending issues" that Lee plans to personally consider. Just last week, a judge with the International Trade Commission ruled that Samsung's products are infringing on an Apple patent related to text selection on mobile devices.
As part of its anticipated changes, Samsung may also reportedly seek a way to "cut reliance on its mobile business." Lee met with reporters at Gimpo International Airport upon returning from his three-month sabbatical, where he said he believes Samsung should "always have a sense of crisis," and strive to "run faster and always study to have insights."
Any changes the chairman plans to implement could be announced as soon as Wednesday, when he plans to meet with reporters once again.
Lee's return comes only days after Samsung announced that its profits were up 53 percent year over year in the first three months of 2013 to 8.7 trillion won, or $7.7 billion U.S. The sales, which came ahead of the launch of the company's flagship Galaxy S4, were believed to have been primarily driven by low- and mid-level smartphones.
Separately, a new report from Korea's ETNews on Monday claims that Samsung is working on a smartphone with a large 6.3-inch display. The handset, which would double as a "smart pad," could launch as early as June, the report said.
Samsung, and the rest of the smartphone industry, have been trending toward larger screens in recent years. Apple even followed last year with the iPhone 5 debuting a 4-inch display, though at that size it still remains one of the smaller screen options on the market.
Comments
Don't worry about having 2 skus. Just use a lenticular package.
Customer: "I want an iPad mini with Cellular"
Apple Store: "Here you go. Just make sure the top of the box is always closer to your eyes than the bottom"
Next customer: "I want an iPhone max"
Apple Store: "Here you go. Just make sure the bottom of the box is always closer to your eyes than the top"
Next customer: "I can't decide if I want an iPhone max or an iPad mini"
Apple Store: "No worries! You can have both! Just move the box back and forth"
Plus, think of all the "you're holding it wrong" jokes!
Personally, I have yet to see someone holding one of these behemoths to their ear and talking on it. I don't get it I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
Personally, I have yet to see someone holding one of these behemoths to their ear and talking on it. I don't get it I guess.
I think most people use the really big ones as a mini tablet with a data connection with the phone part more there as an emergency than anything else.
All else is bogus. Like the 'sabbatical' in Hawaii.
Apple could drive Samesung's innovation more smoothly and reduce the Korean's tensions if it leaked a little more...
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
I think most people use the really big ones as a mini tablet with a data connection with the phone part more there as an emergency than anything else.
Gotta admit though that Hawaii is a neat destination for a sabbatical. Been there, done that.
Crisis must be in the air. Samsung commercials saturated my TV last night. One was a carrier commercial implying unlimited data plans require a Samsung device. The only break I saw was an Amazon Fire HD commercial that I originally thought was an Apple commercial because most of it was spent showing off an iPad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
Personally, I have yet to see someone holding one of these behemoths to their ear and talking on it. I don't get it I guess.
Most people spend more time using their smatphone in their hands (texting, emailing, using apps, browsing the web, etc) than speaking on them, so I think it makes sense to have a bigger screen even if it makes you look like a doofus when you do take a call.
Maybe "sense of urgency" is more what he meant (mistranslation)?
This could be mostly BS -- just management propaganda designed to motivate employees.
But it would be more interesting to consider the possibility that he's serious, and to guess at what he sees as Samsung's primary problem.
I'll guess that he's worried that Samsung's current boom in mobile profits is about as sustainable as Motorola's or Nokia's in years past. And the reason for that worry is that Samsung does not control a platform -- there is no reason for consumers to consistently prefer a Samsung phone to any other Android phone. If Samsung loses a product cycle to another Android manufacturer (Motorola, backed by Google $$, could be a contender, as could any given Chinese firm backed by the Chinese government, could be another), then Samsung could be in trouble. And of course Samsung is in the process of losing its largest customer for semiconductors -- a business that could have been much more reliable over time than mobile.
But if this is right, what should Samsung do about it?
I see two options:
(1) fork Android and become a platform company, not just an OEM
(2) take the profits they've made in mobile, reinvest in the rest of the business, and return to being a reliable supplier to companies like Apple instead of competing with companies like Apple. With such a reinvestment, Samsung could displace Intel and TSMC as the premier semiconductor firm in the world.
Option 1 is probably the riskiest -- the highest upside and downside potentials.
Option 2 is safer yet still very rewarding.
So, put another way, Samsung's choice is to either become the next Apple or the next Intel.I have no idea what they'll pick, but I think attempting to displace Intel is the smarter choice.
So it says the chairman has a 3-month hawaii vacation every year (for the last 20 years). Sure one can come up with excuses like "need to make structural changes" to justify the trip. Nothing newsworthy.
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RE: Posting "news" about Samsung and Google: What Apple news is there to share on this Apple news site? Rumors? Short of that, news about their competitors will do, no? Or would you have this site go dark between product launches?
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
I think most people use the really big ones as a mini tablet with a data connection with the phone part more there as an emergency than anything else.
Good observation; with all a phone can do these days, the device is rarely used for its primary purpose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poke
Most people spend more time using their smatphone in their hands (texting, emailing, using apps, browsing the web, etc) than speaking on them, so I think it makes sense to have a bigger screen even if it makes you look like a doofus when you do take a call.
What people seem to be ignoring is that a tablet + iWatch-type front end device solves the "holding a frisbee to your ear" problem. The mini (8 inches diagonal) makes it easy for women to carry the tablet part in their purse...
I hate to say this, but the Asian as bigger sheep than most of the consumers in the US. This smart phone is a whole Asia thing.
Over 10 yrs ago there was the movement in Asia to make things as small as possible, the cellphone were so small they were barely usable. Then Apple came out with a phone which was about the perfect size, it fit well into your hand and did what you wanted. The same is true about the tablet market. Now you have this trend of phones getting bigger since bigger display are obviously better. Just like the tiny phones of 10 yrs ago, which were barely usable as phone, so are these big smart phones. I have seen these phablets in use and they silly watching people hold them up to their head.
Again, if you want to know what matters in technology, watch the kids, most everyone one of them stick their phone in their back pocket and fitting a phone much larger than a iphone does not work.