Herbivore2

robin huber said:

Lawsuits, the last refuge of companies who make buggy whips. 

This was an arbitrated decision. Seems like QCOM grossly overcharged Blackberry to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. 

This has to do far more with QCOM tactics than an irrelevant company trying to stay afloat. 

The South Korean govt. has a judgment against them also for nearly a billion. Apple has initiated a lawsuit also and Apple isn't making "buggy whips." The justice department has also decided to sue them. The Chinese have already won a substantial judgment. 

There is a pattern here and QCOM must be doing some awfully odious things. 

Fatman said:

A smart decision by Samsung - by releasing Bixby in its current state and disappointing users would have been a mistake. Samsung so desperately wants to lessen their huge dependence on Google software, but don't have the expertise to do it. Apple is getting close with their alternative offerings ... Apple Maps, Mail/Calendar, (Bing), Safari, Siri, Home Kit, Productivity apps... but still not yet the preferred choice or best in class in all of these categories.

Very true. Samsung is very keen on reducing their dependence on Google services. In turn, Google is trying to lessen their dependence on Samsung hardware. It is obvious that excellent hardware is far harder to duplicate than excellent software. Not that the software side is easy. Apple has struggled at times in trying to match Google services also, but more likely the struggle has been due to their respect for privacy while Google doesn't care. 

If Bixby turns out to be quite useful, it will have the effect of blunting Google's assistant on the best Android product on the market. Most people have a tendency to just use what comes integrated into the device. It is better for Samsung to get it right than to put forth a half baked product on time. The Apple maps roll out needs not to be duplicated. 

I understand the disdain and scorn for Google. The company is as bad as Microsoft was during their heady days of software dominance. 

I don't understand the same thing directed at Samsung. They actually make very nice hardware. So much so that Apple used them to build the A series SOCs for a lot of years. Apple is now using them to build huge numbers of OLED panels. It is having serious repercussions for the rest of the Android OEMs who are losing out on the ability to produce high end smartphones with the technology, Google itself included in that. 

Samsung's international phones also include the Exynos SOC which outperforms the QCOM equivalent with better battery life to boot. The Pixel uses the Snapdragon 821 exclusively. The Galaxy S8 will use the Snapdragon 835 for the US model and the Exynos 8895 for the international one. Though Samsung claims both versions will have equivalent performance, I suspect that battery life will be much better with the Exynos CPU. 

And Tizen isn't half bad speaking from the perspective of owning the Gear S3 Frontier which allows me to make phone calls on the AT&T network independently of a phone. It perhaps may be a security nightmare, but then again so is Android itself. The Apple Watch is nice, but until Apple delivers on puttting an independent baseband radio into it, the device has little appeal for me. Samsung is the only manufacturer that has delivered a compelling wearable. LG and Huawei's Android Wear watches are atrocious designs. 

Samsung has many advantages over Google and even Apple as they make a vast array of home appliances. Tizen is going to be the center of their IoT efforts. Google will not be playing in any of Samsung's products outside of the smartphone and there is coming a time when the flagship phone comes with Tizen and Android is relegated to a less capable model. 

Apple should be working closely with Samsung's IoT efforts making iOS the preferred platform for integration. 

I even have a great deal of respect for Amazon. And they are probably the fiercest Apple competitor of all. They have built a worthy competitor to iTunes and also to Siri. But they did not do it the way Google did with iOS. Amazon has no one sitting on the Apple board of directors like Schmidt who literally stole the iOS interface and design. Had Google not done that, Bing wouldn't be driving Siri's search results, there would be no Apple maps and YouTube would still be included as a default app. Google is slowly being choked off from the most profitable group of mobile users, those who use iOS. And now Samsung is attempting to do the same. And they won't stop until they best Google. It may take some time, but it will come. Back in the 90's the notion that Samsung and LG would be the premier consumer electronics companies over the likes of Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Sharp and the like seemed preposterous too. But it happened. Even the brainiacs from MIT gave Hyundai no chance against the Japanese, yet they now build vehicles with better technology than any Japanese nameplate. 

Samsung is Apple's true competitor. Google is going to go by the wayside. It is just a matter of time. That being said, the two companies have far more to gain by collaborating than trying to wantonly compete. A Wintel type allliance would be best for both. And in doing so, Google can see their nightmare come true. Being locked out of the premier hardware systems. It was their worry with respect to Microsoft and now they are worried about Samsung also. Why else are they building the Pixel along with that half baked Home product. They lost that market too. To Amazon of all companies. 

Apple and Samsung should work closely together on more than just OLED panels. Porting Apple maps, iChat, etc. over to Tizen would go a long ways in reducing Samsung's need for Android. Apple could also make use of Samsung's 3D flash memory product also. Toshiba's product is falling behind and Micron is overpriced. 

Apple and Samsung could easily have a very amicable and collaborative relationship. Both make premier hardware. They both profit from making smartphones although Apple does take the vast majority of the profits. However, Samsung can take the profits Google now makes from the software side allowing Apple to keep what they are already making. Both companies could be quite profitable and keep the market divided between themselves much like Intel and Microsoft did in the 90's and early 2000's. 

If the Google/Android fans don't like it, tough. Denial isn't going to change what is happening. Perhaps Google should start investing its billions into developing something worthwhile instead of stealing my personal data and selling it to advertisers. Tizen may be a coding disaster, but Samsung isn't stealing my data the same way Google would and blast me with targeted advertising. And the company does build the best components in the industry. So they can do something right. They just need to apply the same standards to their software as they do with their hardware. They need to hire a guy like Avie Tevanian. Seoul National University produces the among the best scientists and engineers on the planet. Many of them go straight to Samsung. They are quite capable. They only need capable leadership and guidance. Apple could and should help them there. Google provides virtually no value to Apple. Samsung is an entirely different matter. 

sog35 said:

Google and Amazon are in the bidding to jack up the price. Bunch of clowns. They have no need for buying a NAND company. They only sell a couple thousand devices a year.

Both companies have delusions of grandeur and both expect to be competitive in hardware, eventually achieving serious marketshare in devices. 

Amazon has a legitimate plan at least. Google is completely lost and clueless. They are legitimately worried that Apple's move will drive up the open market price of NAND flash. It very likely will. But Google sells so few Pixels, it is ridiculous for them to even attempt this. Google will destroy the company through mismanagement like they did to Motorola and Nest. The result will be even fewer players with Apple still driving the show. It will be even worse for Google in the long run. 

Amazon at least has a decent chance at keeping the memory maker afloat. Not in the same league as Apple, but still head and shoulders above Google. 

Yawn. While Google gets called on the carpet for sponsoring hate content using ad revenues from major corporations to do so. 

Right now, my distaste for Google is quite high. And anything that spins a positive light on them or their products like these articles from AppleInsider are doing will likely lead me to drop my membership. 

£250,000 estimated paid out by the corporation to hate groups. Check it out. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/17/extremists-ads-uk-brands-google-wagdi-ghoneim

It will likely become a non-issue as Google's advertising revenues are taking a big hit as a result. They won't have any development capital to fund new software advancements. Still, the company's outlook and philosophy leave much to be desired. 

Avon B7 said, "No manufacturer of low or mid tier phones has even the slightest intention of massive profit. Comparing those profits to those of Apple serves little or no purpose."

If maximizing profits isn't the goal, then it's time for those companies to get out of the business. 

The criticism of the points DED made with statements like this are pretty ridiculous. 

Apple and Samsung are the only two companies capable of reliably profiting from the smartphone industry. Samsung primarily in components and Apple in the finished product and vertically integrated system. 

Samsung is attempting to move to Apple's vertically integrated model much to the consternation of Google. Samsung's plan is to move off of Android all together and over to Tizen. Samsung's Tizen phone sales in India are pretty nice. And it is quite worrisome to Google. Because if Samsung is successful, the only high end players will be Apple and Samsung. And neither will be running on Android. 

https://techviral.net/samsung-shift-devices-android-tizen-os/

So it actually be self-fulfilling if the low end Android device manufacturers aren't interested in large profits. Because it won't happen. There will be Apple and Samsung. The others, including Huawei won't be playing at the high end of anything. Samsung's Gear S3 makes the Android wear watches from Huawei and LG look atrocious.