Samsung and more generally, Android, have a pretty solid presence in India among the well-off currently. I had initially thought that it might be the cheap, low-end stuff, but not anymore. High-end smartphone adoption could be at a major inflection point, and Apple will have a tougher slog than it thinks. It's not a gimme.
That said, China was similar, and Apple succeeded dramatically there. Some of that surely had to do with having large local presence.
What differentiates Apple is ecosystem and service (they're linked). Apple doesn't just sell a product, it sells also everything that goes with it. That's why stores have been so crucial to its resurgence unlike Microsoft were its just a place to peddle products..
Parts of the non-hardware ecosystem -- in particular, iTunes, ApplePay, Maps, iBooks -- have been a slog (or at least, slower-growing) outside of the US, and will be even more so in India.
Apple following in Samsung's footsteps. Samsung's largest overseas research and development center is located in Bangalore, which they started in 1995 and which has 4,500 employees. They have a further two research centres in India and overall they employ 10,000 people. Samsung's Bada OS was developed in Bangalore and I suspect Tizen probably was too. Nokia used to employ a lot of engineers there too.
It weakens your argument to surface facts about Bada and Tizen, both of which have been major disappointing flops.
What was my argument? I don't recall proposing one.
The success, or otherwise, of Bada and Tizen in the marketplace doesn't take away from, or diminish, the skill and software engineering prowess that went into making them, which itself is a testament to the talent available in India, a fact Apple's move would appear to be acknowledging.
Apple until a very few years ago prided itself on containing the vast majority of it's development within those two buildings in infinite loop ( 1 and 2). Producing amazing software with a tiny R&D crew. I mean I think the original iPhone team started off as a dozen and never got that large. The OS X team was relatively small as well. Certainly compared to MS. My feeling is, as with all large companies with multiple locations worldwide, is that managing those projects becomes a nightmare, and therefore management becomes more important than the actual engineering talent, which is often considered inter-changable. Apple was somewhat over resourced and management heavy prior to Jobs as well, he pretty much cleared most of it out. Even the bigger campus in Cupertino might reduce the number of times people meet.
Don't think anyone said that Apple was the first company to open an office in a foreign country, but if pointing out that Samsung did it first makes you happy then by all means knock yourself out.
Just thought I would add the information as for some reason DED failed to mention it. The article mentioned Microsoft and Google also - should DED have refrained from mentioning those, and if not, why do you seem so agitated?
he doesnt come across as agitated at all. rather, a calm identification of your typical trolling nonsense.
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The success, or otherwise, of Bada and Tizen in the marketplace doesn't take away from, or diminish, the skill and software engineering prowess that went into making them, which itself is a testament to the talent available in India, a fact Apple's move would appear to be acknowledging.
How about sticking to one user account, DED.
Apple until a very few years ago prided itself on containing the vast majority of it's development within those two buildings in infinite loop ( 1 and 2). Producing amazing software with a tiny R&D crew. I mean I think the original iPhone team started off as a dozen and never got that large. The OS X team was relatively small as well. Certainly compared to MS. My feeling is, as with all large companies with multiple locations worldwide, is that managing those projects becomes a nightmare, and therefore management becomes more important than the actual engineering talent, which is often considered inter-changable. Apple was somewhat over resourced and management heavy prior to Jobs as well, he pretty much cleared most of it out. Even the bigger campus in Cupertino might reduce the number of times people meet.
This is definitely Cook's Apple.
he doesnt come across as agitated at all. rather, a calm identification of your typical trolling nonsense.