

Android-leader Samsung puts iPhone 5 on notice




I. Specs


Samsung Galaxy S IV unpacked

Galaxy S IV spec


II. What's New


Samsung Galaxy S IV



Air Health
Samsung Air Health [Image Source: AnandTech]






Samsung Air Pause
Air Pause/Scroll [Image Source: The Verge]



III. The Impact on Apple and Google


Apple stock





Comments     Threshold


RE: .
By retrospooty on 3/15/2013 10:29:46 PM , Rating: 3
"The Android landscape may look very different in a couple of years."

Of course it will. Its Android, it adapts, it expands, it grows. That is what it does.

"In an interview with Bloomberg, Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile division, revealed that not only will Samsung release phones running Tizen later this year, they will be high-end"

Only you would see this as a bad thing. If Tizen is any good by then and Samsung can make it feature competitive then I am not just happy, I am thrilled. That is a good thing. Like Karlostomy said "Fact is, for every new powerful player that introduces competition, there is an increased incentive for exisiting players to innovate. If this truly comes to pass, it will literally force android to keep innovating to maintain and expand its marketshare, which it has already been doing admirably for a long time now" . Its totally true and a good thing... Scratch that. Its a great thing.

You, being loyal to a company see that as bad because more competition is not good for Google or "the precious" but for us normal people that are in it for the tech, not for the company its a good thing. I have said this before. If something comes along and knocks Android of its perch at the top, it could only be because its better than Android. How could that possibly be a bad thing? I dont think it will be Tizen. Samsung has long said it will be doing multiple OS's, but Android will still be its bread and butter until something beats it. Again, I would suggest you just stop trying to "get" Android and deal with the fact that it is and stop trying to figure out why it is and how it is. It is. Regardless of your distaste for it, its here and its on top. Competition is good for you too. It keeps Apple pushing as much as anyone.

Serious note... Remember that post the other day, where you glossed over that whole "Everything to you is "fear and threats" and "us vs. them""? Really give that some serious thought. Its not a Google vs. Apple world, or a Samsung knifing Google in the back or Google usurping Apple's place at the top... It's just business and Apple is just a company. You dont need to be afraid anymore Tony. Google or Samsung arent a threat to Apple... They are like siblings vying for attention. They will all 3 make plenty money and will all 3 survive.

RE: .
By Tony Swash on 3/16/2013 8:45:46 AM , Rating: 1
Only you would see this as a bad thing.

I didn't say it was a bad thing and it certainly isn't bad or good for me as I don't use Android and I won't be using Tizen. The point I was trying to make is that the dynamic of Android may be about to shift significantly. There is a lot ot lazy assumptions about Android that get thrown around as if they are facts when they are not, such as:

Any Android growth is good for Google. It isn't, for example the large Android devcie market in China brings not a single benefit to Google.

That Google really are pleased with the way Android has panned out. No matter what is says it is not, it's not happy about the chokehold Samsung now has on the Googlerised portion of the Android ecosystem and it's not happy about the size of the non-Google Android ecosystem. Android has not helped Google address the issues it needs to address around the growth of mobile devices. Hence the executive reshuffle and reorg.

That Android is commercially successful. It isn't. The only company making money on Android is Samsung.

That one can treat the whole Android device space as a single platform (particularly when compared to other platforms). Android, in terms of platform dynamics, is not so much a platform itself as a platform enabler. What has emerged is a sprawling series of only loosely connect ecosystems, which hardly connect and certainly cannot be treated as a single platform (ask a developer building an app for Google Play how many apps they have sold in China or for any Android based Amazon devices).

That the growth in the total global number of Android based devices is impacting adversely on Apple. It isn't, look at this graph and you can quickly see who is suffering and who is growing:

What one can see from the chart is that Samsung and Apple are both tracking each other in terms of growth, Apple ships fewer units but for much greater profitability.

To return to your point about me only seeing all this as a bad thing. I don't. I see it as an interesting and complex thing. I see the dynamics of the mobile device markets and the mobile platforms as a whole as a complex and interesting thing, the understanding of which is not helped by the the simplification of everything into a simple Android versus Apple fight.

For me the single most interesting thing to watch over the next year or two is going to be how Samsung and Google each evolve their strategies and how their relationship develops.

RE: .
By retrospooty on 3/16/2013 8:57:50 AM , Rating: 2

That is a given. Just curios, how much better would it have to be for you to jump ship? You are already using an OS that doesnt stack up to the competition by most measures. Lets say Apple stayed right where they are today and Android or Tizen or some other entity evolved at the rate Android has over the past 2-3 years (from worst to first). Would you jump ship in 2 years? 4 Years? How long would your blind loyalty last in the face of obviously superior products?

I suppose it will, as will Apple's reaction to the vastly superior products and the perception that they have been left behind technically. That isnt just me ribbing you, its all over the stock channels and financial outlets. I am getting it from them, not from nerd fodder sites like I visit.

Also, note you glossed over the whole us vs. them thing again.

RE: .
By Tony Swash on 3/16/2013 12:09:14 PM , Rating: 2

You think that, I don't.

I almost never talk about why I use the kit I do and what I personally prefer, I am not really here to discuss such things. As I have said before I am interested in debating how the tech industries and markets are developing, and doing so with people who have vastly different opinions and points of view to myself helps me enormously in developing that understanding.

But as you asked a direct question here goes.

I've played around with both Android and Windows Phone on friends and relatives handsets and chatted to them about their experience of using the different OS, how they do things, what's easy, what's hard and I can see nothing in Android which is better than iOS.

My iPhone 4s feels faster than most Android handsets (it seems the speed of the processor is only part of that equation), I get regular OS updates without a problem, I don't get carrier crap, I get access to the best and biggest digital contents store on the planet, I am 30 minutes away from one of the largest Apple Stores in the world and thus I know I can get the best technical assistance in the game anytime I want (although I have rarely used it), ditto with the best customer service support in the game (a number of friends new to Apple have been astonished by the level of customer care they get from Apple, including the exchange of damaged goods at no cost), all my devices, computers, tablets and my TV and stereo all just work together seamlessly, my data syncs instantly between all my devices, I get free messaging to other iOS devices, my iPad has access to over 300, 000 tablet optimised apps, my devices are effectively immune to malware, all my Apple kit looks and physically feels fantastic, well designed and beautifully crafted. Why would I switch to Android, what possible advantage would I get from doing such a daft thing?


And that's all it is - perception. The origin of that perception is interesting, it's partly just the usual slurping of media attention always looking for the bad news hype and the click bait headline, it's partly from the froth of iPhobics and Fanroids keen to talk up and amplify any bad news from Apple no matter how insubstantial or spurious it is, but it's also part of a deeper problem about the lack of understanding of Apple. For most of the media, and indeed the technarati, the insane rise of Apple and it's explosion into the music and mobile device markets was essentially incomprehensible, Apple had been talked down and dismissed for so long, the 'Apple doesn't innovate' meme was so deeply embedded amongst many commentators, that the ability of Apple to release a series of blockbuster products felt a bit like magic and in the end was put down to the unknowable and irreplaceable genius of Steve Jobs. Plus Steve Jobs was one of the best communicators ever so he could explain what Apple was doing and sell the company like no other. So now he is dead and more than a year has passed and no further new blockbuster has been released and Jobs is not here to calm the nerves and so the hysterical ninnies are all in a froth about Apple hitting the wall, a froth that iPhobics and Fanroids lap up like warm milk.

The important thing at times of silliness is to just try to keep an eye on the facts.

What does the data show about Apple's performance? Apple is in the very top echelons of the business world in terms of performance with immense reserves to weather any storms.

What does the data show about Apple's 'lack of innovation'.

The actual timeline of major product pillars is as follows:


3 years 4 months later


5 years 3 months later


3 years


I do think that not having a communicator is supremely competent as Steve Jobs selling the company does mean that the Apple is now not sold, as a company, as strongly as it was so it's easier for the doubters to doubt.

Everything I have read about the internal workings of Apple and of Steve Jobs second stint as company leader points in the same direction: that Steve Jobs greatest product, the one he lavished the greatest care and attention on, the one he most shaped to leave as a legacy, was Apple itself.

Apple is strong, competitive and it will be a very, very large player in the new tech markets, and it will be around for a long time yet.

Lastly: did you not look at Samsung's overblown and tasteless mega launch show and at the actual product released and not think 'what a lot of noise for a minor upgrade?' Samsung have spent a vast fortune on advertising and marketing, many times what Apple has, and amusingly it's those who have always dismissed Apple as primarily a marketing phenomena that seem to have been totally hypnotised by it.

RE: .
By retrospooty on 3/16/2013 2:59:00 PM , Rating: 2
That's a long post to not answer the questions posed. OK, fine you don't see Android as better now. If Apple stays where it is today and other platforms advance how long would you stay with the inferior product out of loyalty? How many years? Just curios. You obviously hold the company in very high regard for some reason that I cannot understand so I am wondering how long you would hold out.

You post an awful lot on Android articles, like you are obsessed and afraid of its power LOL. No Android related article gets posted here without you trying your best to detract from it. Again, you should stop trying to figure out why it is and how it is and deal with the fact that it is.

RE: .
By retrospooty on 3/16/2013 3:32:38 PM , Rating: 2
I forgot your last part... Yes, the S4 launch was a lot of hype for a small upgrade. Not unlike the iPhone releases. I am not too impressed with the S4. I love the idea of eye scrolling, but I suspect it won't work as seamless as it needs to to be a big draw, but that remains to be seen. I am really liking the Optimus G Pro a lot more than the S4. That and the Moto/Google X phone coming. Its gonna be a good year for smartphone fans, but I thing the S4 will fall short of its 100 million unit goal. Its just not that great. Spec and feature whose its like any 1080p Android phone, with a plastic shell. Just all right.

