Could Samsung ditch Android?

[Maitrikkataria]

I don't think Samsung can afford to drop Google. I could see them trying to de-emphasize their Google Android platform over time, but Samsung has been half-hearted with Windows Phone since the Focus, and I just don't see people lining up at the door to buy Tizen phones.

Tizen was initially targeted with low end phones, but now Samsung really has big plans. They want to integrate Tizen everywhere. But this will take time. :smile:

 

[anony_mouse]

People are not going to buy a product which has lesser chances of getting future updates.

With respect, I don't think that's true. If it was, everyone would buy Nexus or Apple phones. Or, to be fair, WP (if you can forget what happened to WP7).

 

[anony_mouse]

Tizen was initially targeted with low end phones, but now Samsung really has big plans. They want to integrate Tizen everywhere. But this will take time. :smile:

It's a mistake to assume that in a large company like Samsung (or Microsoft, Apple, Google, ...) there is a single aim or opinion on any given subject. I'm sure there are people in Samsung who want to push Tizen. It may make sense for Samsung to use it in some types of device, but for phones or tablets, it's simply not attractive without a good range of apps.

 

[tgp]

People are not going to buy a product which has lesser chances of getting future updates.

I don't think updates are important to most users. In fact, I doubt that the probability of an update has any effect on a buying decision for most users.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

It's a mistake to assume that in a large company like Samsung (or Microsoft, Apple, Google, ...) there is a single aim or opinion on any given subject. I'm sure there are people in Samsung who want to push Tizen. It may make sense for Samsung to use it in some types of device, but for phones or tablets, it's simply not attractive without a good range of apps.

Yes, indeed they are pushing it to a high end smartphone. It was rumored to be released recently, but looks like Samsung has postponed the release.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

With respect, I don't think that's true. If it was, everyone would buy Nexus or Apple phones. Or, to be fair, WP (if you can forget what happened to WP7).

That is not always applicable, but consider the case of a flagship phone like Samsung Galaxy SIII, it is not going to receive Kitkat(I9300), and it leads to heavy frustration among the millions of users who bought it. And as a matter of fact, a lot of people who are worried about future updates are going for Motorolla, because even with the very affordable devices like Moto G people will get Android Kitkat. Consider the fact that people who bought SIII paid nearly three times more than Moto G, and cannot even expect to get another update. That is just sad. I even feel bad about SI and SII users- A majority of SI users are still using android 2.1, which does not even provides them the benefit of using an android family.

3-4 years earlier synchronization was not that much of a bigger issue. Now with wearable tech, Electronics integration, IOT and a multitude of apps, people are wary of devices that will outdate soon( atleast techies and influencers are). We won't be living in the same world anymore, people now need these devices for more than taking photos and chatting with their friends.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

I don't think updates are important to most users. In fact, I doubt that the probability of an update has any effect on a buying decision for most users.

Industrial sector when dependent on mobility for their daily operations, will for don't buy anything that has no future. And the same goes for a vigilant users and influencers as well.

 

[Nokia Boy]

They should ditch making phones.every gen their reliability is worse

 

[Maitrikkataria]

They should ditch making phones.every gen their reliability is worse

Now that's unrealistic, I feel that there should be atleast 3 major OSes, otherwise Innovation will go down. :smile:
Competition leads to more innovation. And Common, it is not that bad of a company. Wouldn't you target HTC or BB first. :wink:

 

[tgp]

Industrial sector when dependent on mobility for their daily operations, will for don't buy anything that has no future. And the same goes for a vigilant users and influencers as well.

True, but that's still a relatively small number who cares. I said "most users."

 

[Maitrikkataria]

True, but that's still a relatively small number who cares. I said "most users."

I must say that the situation is not like the situation in past, if I am not wrong future updates will be a concern for people who will think about synchronization. Closely synchronized devices will rule this planet and devices that are feared to be outdated may get neglected.

And Industrial sector is not a small section, Read more about it from Gartners report:
Tablets are having a significant impact on the expansion of enterprise mobility. Gartner estimates that in 2012 purchases of tablets by businesses will reach 13 million units and will more than triple by 2016, to reach 53 million units

I said "most users."

I am excluding the fact that there are tech savvy people and influencers, who are directly connected with users through online media.

Read here what Deloitte thinks about it:
Wearable Technology Market Will Ship at Least 10 Million Units in 2014, 100+ Million by 2020

Gone are those times when we expected our mobiles to just take photo's, make calls, and message. Now, we are looking far beyond that. Consider WP, Cortana+Adam deep learning+kinetics is supposed to identify food calories, if someone is sick, etc just from a photo.

The thing is that this not going to take place in distant future, it will happen very shortly. And in such immediate developments, how will one go for a company, that has not even perfected their OS yet? Sounds difficult, right? :smile:

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Samsung will follow the money. Right now, that means using Android.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

Samsung will follow the money. Right now, that means using Android.

Looks like Samsung is not being able to keep it well even with that. It is reportedly loosing market to the Chinese competitors.
"With a 30 percent year-over-year drop in mobile revenue and a near 20 percent profit fall in the second quarter, Samsung appears to be in trouble."

 

[anony_mouse]

Looks like Samsung is not being able to keep it well even with that. It is reportedly loosing market to the Chinese competitors.
"With a 30 percent year-over-year drop in mobile revenue and a near 20 percent profit fall in the second quarter, Samsung appears to be in trouble."

Was this because of a fall in unit shipments, or because of a fall in the average selling price of a handset (or both)? The smart phone industry is ready for some serious price falls. The high end devices in all ecosystems now offer little over much cheaper (and less profitable) products. I expect a shift towards cheaper phones, both in developing *and* developed markets as the functional gap between cheap and expensive phones narrows.

The next few years will not be pretty... I remain astonished that Microsoft thought it was a good idea to get into large scale phone manufacturing at this stage, and I think the Nokia board got a fantastic price for their already heavily loss making mobile phone unit.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

Was this because of a fall in unit shipments, or because of a fall in the average selling price of a handset (or both)?

Actually there are several reasons that will take Samsung down. The most important of which is that Samsung never had any actual success, except for Samsung Galaxy SIII. Other handsets either gave an average performance or performed poorly. SIII was the only phone that went literally viral.

Set aside their success, they don't do anything that cannot be replicated by their cheap Chinese counterparts. Samsung S5 is was a recent attempt to focus on users rather than offering services that no one uses, but it didn't went well though.

 

[anony_mouse]

Actually there are several reasons that will take Samsung down. The most important of which is that Samsung never had any actual success, except for Samsung Galaxy SIII. Other handsets either gave an average performance or performed poorly. SIII was the only phone that went literally viral.

It seems bizarre to claim Samsung never had any success, presumably you mean in smart phones, when they have by far the largest market share and certainly made a lot of money. How do you couple that fact with your statement?

Set aside their success, they don't do anything that cannot be replicated by their cheap Chinese counterparts. Samsung S5 is was a recent attempt to focus on users rather than offering services that no one uses, but it didn't went well though.

The S5 was the third best selling smart phone in Q2, so it did pretty well. Maybe not as well as Samsung hoped, but for a very expensive phone (3 x the price of the Moto G!!!!!!!!) I would say it did astonishingly well.

I agree that Samsung don't do much that Chinese manufacturers can't replicate. This is also true of Nokia/Microsoft, HTC, Sony, Motorola and others. Have you tried a Huawei phone recently - they are really very good. As I said, I expect the average selling price of smart phones to fall significantly in the coming few years, and that will mean lower profits for everyone. The interesting question is what happens to Apple. They have something no-one else does - iOS and its ecosystem. Will people still find it worth the increasingly huge price difference to get an iPhone?

 

[Maitrikkataria]

The S5 was the third best selling smart phone in Q2, so it did pretty well. Maybe not as well as Samsung hoped, but for a very expensive phone (3 x the price of the Moto G!!!!!!!!) I would say it did astonishingly well.

Go through the following statistics for this: Samsung falls behind Xiaomi in smartphone market share in China | SamMobile

The S5 was the third best selling smart phone in Q2, so it did pretty well. Maybe not as well as Samsung hoped, but for a very expensive phone (3 x the price of the Moto G!!!!!!!!) I would say it did astonishingly well.

S5 sales statistics: Samsung’s profits fall 20 percent as Galaxy S5 sales disappoint- The Inquirer

The thing is that you just don't sell cell phones worth pennies and say that you are a market leader. To be a true market leader you need to have an impact at the rather creamy layer, which are easily influenced by experiences. And the most disturbing fact was S5's cost has drastically been reduced to a minimum. Before the release of S5, S4 was priced at 40,000 INR even after failing so much, and S5 is priced at around 34-37,000 INR, right now. Just after a few couple of months!

Read this too from Forbes:
"A recent report in Reuters puts sales at the five million mark for May 2014, which sounds great. In context it shows a slowing demand for the Galaxy flagship. It has been outsold by the older iPhone 5S which had sales of seven million units in May, and year on year the Samsung Galaxy S4 also sold seven million units at this time last year."

S5 cannot outsell older counter parts, and there's certainly a looming negativity for the giant. IT has to be innovative in its offerings now.

 

[anony_mouse]

I'm not arguing that Samsung aren't losing market share. I was responding firstly to your claim that "Samsung never had any actual success", which is obviously not true.

As for selling 5 million units in one month - disappointing perhaps. But probably close to twice as many units as the total Windows Phone market, and I would guess 3-6 times the market value of WP (as an S5 is much more expensive than the average price of a WP handset). Maybe Samsung are in decline, following the path that Nokia, Microsoft, Sony and many more have gone down before, but they have been astonishingly successful in the last ten years.

Xiaomi is certainly a company to watch.

 

[Maitrikkataria]

As for selling 5 million units in one month - disappointing perhaps. But probably close to twice as many units as the total Windows Phone market, and I would guess 3-6 times the market value of WP (as an S5 is much more expensive than the average price of a WP handset).

You are right in this context, WP has only ~ 8 Million sales in a Quarter. But I still feel that Samsung still needs a good strategy. Xiaomi and Motorola has certainly gotten a chunk of their market. Both of their phone crashed eCommerce websites, setting up a record of selling 10,000 of phones in a few seconds( Xiaomi).

 

[anony_mouse]

But I still feel that Samsung still needs a good strategy.

On that point, I agree. Samsung need a good strategy. Having a bad strategy would be a mistake.