Samsung seeks to strengthen, differentiate Bada smartphoens in wake of Google's Motorola deal

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Samsung's chairman has instructed the company's top management to "strengthen Bada and focus on differentiating the quality of Samsung?s smartphones" in order to compete with Apple's iOS and survive Google's acquisition of Motorola.



A report by Reuters noted that local media in Seoul, South Korea were informed by Kim Soon-taek, the head of the Samsung Group, that "Chairman Lee [Kun-hee] told top managers to come up with various measures including M&As to enhance software competitiveness."



Last month, Lee had encouraged Samsung managers to "boost software prowess, patent pools and talent," but that message has now broadened to include seeking out opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, which the company apparently sees as a faster track to building its software development skills.



A more pointed report by South Korean newspaper Dong-a Ilbo stated that Samsung's chairman "urged his company`s executives to strengthen Samsung`s smartphone operating system Bada in responding to Google's takeover of Motorola Mobility."



Lee was said to have convened a meeting with the company's vice chairman Choi Ji-seong, wireless division chief Shin Jong-kyun, image display division head Yoon Bu-keun, home appliances division vice president Hong Chang-wan, and IT solution division vice president Nam Seong-woo.



Following a briefing on the potential outcomes of Google's purchase of Motorola and an update on Samsung's ongoing patent litigation with Apple, Lee reportedly "urged them to strengthen Bada and focus on differentiating the quality of Samsung?s smartphones."



It added that "senior Samsung executives are known to have agreed on significantly expanding the number of talented software developers and emphasized the company?s technology prowess in hardware."



Bada bing



Samsung is primarily a hardware manufacturer, but began work to develop its own Bada mobile software platform for powering its line of Wave smartphones last year, an effort intended to move its simpler embedded feature phone business into more powerful and profitable smartphone capable of running "Samsung Apps."



Samsung's Bada-powered phones launched with greater success than Microsoft's entire Windows Phone 7 ecosystem, which Samsung also participated in as a licensee. According to Canalys, Samsung sold 3.5 million Bada phones in Q1 2011 and then 4.5 million in Q2, compared to a total of just 2.5 million Windows Phone 7 models in Q1 and only 1.5 million more in Q2.



Despite owning its own platform, Samsung has focused much of its efforts on Android, with a popular Galaxy line of smartphones (hardware siblings to its Bada-based Wave phone) and a series of Galaxy Tab tablets. Last December, Samsung adapted its Galaxy smartphone to be sold with Google branding as the "Nexus S," the first phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread.



Samsung has become the second largest smartphone maker after Apple, and is the largest Android licensee. Following news of the Google acquisition of Motorola, the company publicly stated, "Samsung welcomes Google?s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which we believe will provide intellectual property protection for the Android ecosystem. We do not expect this to have any impact on our mobile business.?



Intense potential impact on Samsung's mobile business



If Samsung were to rapidly shift its focus toward Bada, it would decimate the market share of Google's Android platform, forcing Google to focus even more of its resources on building integrated phones with Motorola and further alienating smaller Android licensees such as HTC and ZTE.



The move might result in an entirely different mobile landscape, with Apple, Samsung, RIM, and HP all promoting their own mobile platforms while Google focuses on integrated products with Motorola and Microsoft works closely with Nokia.



Such a move by Samsung could also bring it into patent contention with Google and Motorola Mobility, the latter of which already threatened to bring patent action against other Android licensees and is currently engaged in patent lawsuits with Apple and Microsoft.



Google could threaten offensive use of its new patents acquired in the purchase of Motorola Mobility in an effort to prevent Android licensees like Samsung from leaving the program.



At the same time, Samsung faces litigation from Apple claiming that many of its products, including the Galaxy S, Nexus S, Epic 4G and Galaxy Tab, are "slavish" copies of Apple's own products.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 54
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,616member
    And so it begins....
  • Reply 2 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by irnchriz View Post


    And so it begins....



    My exact words... but you beat me to it...
  • Reply 3 of 54
    Program.. Program... Getcher Program here...



    ... Can't tell the players without a Program..
  • Reply 4 of 54
    Like the old lady in Arizona who made a Tucson turn* and caused instant global gridlock.



    * For those who haven't had the pleasure of driving there -- A Tucson turn is where, at the last possible minute, you pull out of, say, a Wal-Mart parking lot at 30 mph -- directly into the center lane because you want to make a u-turn 3 miles down the road -- and lane changes are unsafe... Once in the center lane, you slow down to a prudent 15 mph...
  • Reply 5 of 54
    leesmithleesmith Posts: 121member
    Samsung would be a very nice acquisition for Apple, no? Of course, it would require stock. Not enough cash on hand to pull that one off.
  • Reply 6 of 54
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Google could threaten offensive use of its new patents acquired in the purchase of Motorola Mobility in an effort to prevent Android licensees like Samsung from leaving the program.



    It couldn't happen to a more deserving company.
  • Reply 7 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Google could threaten offensive use of its new patents acquired in the purchase of Motorola Mobility in an effort to prevent Android licensees like Samsung from leaving the program.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by quinney View Post


    It couldn't happen to a more deserving company.



    Allemande left and sue your partner... Dos y Dos and Do No Evil..



    Now, Sit down, STFU and tell me why you don't love me!
  • Reply 8 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by leesmith View Post


    Samsung would be a very nice acquisition for Apple, no? Of course, it would require stock. Not enough cash on hand to pull that one off.



    No, but Apple could support Sammy by licensing patents to protect them against Moogle -- while, at the same time pursuing their own suits against Sammy on other patents.
  • Reply 9 of 54
    guch20guch20 Posts: 173member
    Am I the only one in love with the fact that they have a newspaper called Dong-a Ilbo in South Korea?
  • Reply 10 of 54
    This is completely unsurprising. Samsung would be crazy not to have a contingency plan.



    As far as speculation that Google could potentially sue Samsung for patent infringement - sure, it's possible but how many times has Google sued another company for patent infringement? Never.



    I don't think anything much will come of this acquisition in terms of global market share. iOS will hold their roughly 20%, Android will continue to gobble up Symbian and Blackberry and pass 50%, and Samsung will continue to be the top Android manufacturer.
  • Reply 11 of 54
    jetzjetz Posts: 1,293member
    Android is doomed! (TM)
  • Reply 12 of 54
    Seems like Google did not tell their biggest Android partner what they were doing.



    Larry Page: "No no Chairman Kun-hee Lee. We are not buying Motorola to compete with you, we are buying them to help you. Really!"
  • Reply 13 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jetz View Post


    Android is doomed! (TM)



    IMO, the best way forward is:



    1) Google cancels the MMI deal and pay the $2.5 Billion Alienation of Affections penalty



    2) Google sweetens the pot and buys Android and its partners freedom from MMI lawsuits for any existing and pending MMI patents,



    3) Google tries to mend fences with Android partners



    So, Google is out, say, $4 Billion (over time) and has bought itself and Partners some protection from IP lawsuits



    Maybe, the best of a bad deal... Larry is young, inexperienced, and takes a Mulligan
  • Reply 14 of 54
    orlandoorlando Posts: 601member
    Quote:

    If Samsung were to rapidly shift its focus toward Bada, it would decimate the market share of Google's Android platform, forcing Google to focus even more of its resources on building integrated phones with Motorola and further alienating smaller Android licensees such as HTC and ZTE.



    More likely it would decimate Samsung's market share. I can't see Bada going anywhere. There are already too many smartphone OSes (iOS, Android, QNX, Windows Phone, WebOS). Not all of these will survive. Developers are not going to support them all. Yet another OS is simply going to get lost in the crowd.



    The true advantage of Android for Samsung is it can be customized so Samsung can make Android phones that look nothing like those from Motorola and the other Android licensees. There is no need for a separate OS.
  • Reply 15 of 54
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Next move is a search engine from Samsung called "Boom" to go with Bada ... As and alternative to Bing.



    Did they register 'smartphoens' as a trade name?



    \t*\tAppleInsider > iPhone

    Samsung seeks to strengthen, differentiate Bada smartphoens in wake of Google's Motorola deal
  • Reply 16 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by guch20 View Post


    Am I the only one in love with the fact that they have a newspaper called Dong-a Ilbo in South Korea?



    Gotta' be careful with names... believe me I know,



    Reminds me of a ComputerFaire presentation in the early 1980s... At the time, there was no MS Office -- the best WP was a dedicated WP computer called the Wang -- they sold millions.



    Anyway, Guy Kawasaki* (then Apple Evangelist) is on this panel discussion on the state of computing (or some such).



    When it's Guy's turn to give his preso... he makes a comparison of "a guy with his Apple in one hand and his Wang in the other+,,,



    My wife, Lucy, called him Guy Kawabunga-- and the name kinda' stuck within our crowd
  • Reply 17 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    More likely it would decimate Samsung's market share. I can't see Bada going anywhere. There are already too many smartphone OSes (iOS, Android, QNX, Windows Phone, WebOS). Not all of these will survive. Developers are not going to support them all. Yet another OS is simply going to get lost in the crowd.



    The true advantage of Android for Samsung is it can be customized so Samsung can make Android phones that look nothing like those from Motorola and the other Android licensees. There is no need for a separate OS.



    You make some good points!



    But, there may be another alternative -- like Amazon is apparently considering, Sammy could Fork Android, possibly settle (license) with Oracle... then offer its own, Superior Android variant.
  • Reply 18 of 54
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Samsung and "differentiate" don't quite belong in the same sentence.



    MS is already having a hard enough time getting consumers to give a damn about WP7 after almost a year. No one really cares about it - in fact according to the numbers we're seeing they care about it even less *now* than a few months ago.



    What incentive is there to try and care about yet another platform? Samsung an OS-maker?? Do they know what "user experience" means? Where is their software-hardware pedigree?



    Bada? Where are the apps? Where is the cohesive ecosystem? Why should consumers be looking at this *instead* of Apple gear?



    Because that's what all the rest are being compared to: Apple. Which is not a really fun comparison if you're not Apple.
  • Reply 19 of 54
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


    IMO, the best way forward is:



    1) Google cancels the MMI deal and pay the $2.5 Billion Alienation of Affections penalty



    2) Google sweetens the pot and buys Android and its partners freedom from MMI lawsuits for any existing and pending MMI patents,



    3) Google tries to mend fences with Android partners



    So, Google is out, say, $4 Billion (over time) and has bought itself and Partners some protection from IP lawsuits



    Maybe, the best of a bad deal... Larry is young, inexperienced, and takes a Mulligan



    Motorola wouldn't sell just the patents. Motorola made Google buy the whole of MMI -- or nothing.



    Remember that part of this was precipitated by Motorola threatening patent lawsuits for all of Google's other Android partners.



    Google was PLAYED!



    Helluva trial by fire for Larry, though. Bet he longs for the day when it was only about "free" software and ad revenues from web search.



    But, hey, really, how hard can hardware be for a software company?
  • Reply 20 of 54
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    Motorola wouldn't sell just the patents. Motorola made Google buy the whole of MMI -- or nothing.



    Remember that part of this was precipitated by Motorola threatening patent lawsuits for all of Google's other Android partners.



    Google was PLAYED!



    Helluva trial by fire for Larry, though. Bet he longs for the day when it was only about "free" software and ad revenues from web search.



    But, hey, really, how hard can hardware be for a software company?



    Yes, I understand that. What I was trying to say is that Google could license use of those patents for current Partners for $1.5 Billion over a few years.



    MMI would retain ownership and the right to litigate.
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