If you have been paying attention to the battle between Samsung and Apple, you might have noticed that Samsung has been rather quiet about the lawsuits Apple has filed against the consumer giant. Apple has filed in multiple countries including Germany where the court ruled against Samsung and banned the direct sale of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country. The court said the design too closely resembles Apple’s 2. Samsung quickly appealed the decision, of course. The courts decision seems to have triggered a new attitude at Samsung. That new attitude is angry and now they are not being so quiet, or as Lee Younghee, head of global marketing for mobile communications for Samsung said “We’ll be pursuing our rights for this in a more aggressive way from now on”. Samsung has filed it’s own lawsuits against Apple claiming they are infringing on patents that they hold in wireless technology. The legal battle has spread to 10 countries from the US to of course, Germany.
The difficult part of this battle is that Apple is a huge customer for Samsung since they are the largest memory storage manufacturer and other products such as LCD screens that are a part of Apple products. If you compare the S and the Apple iPhone 4, it’s easy to see why Apple has picked this fight but, is there more to this battle? I think so. If you map out the digital media landscape you will notice that Apple has yet to truly capture one area, the living room. Samsung on the other hand not only resides in your living room, but, they have your kitchen and even your laundry room. Combine this with wireless tablets and phones enabled to run multi-media apps, games, music and movies and Samsung is positioned to be the single most dominant factor in the industry. With WiFi connections between these devices, housewives can get a notification on their TV from the dryer telling them the clothes are dry or operating your microwave from your phone so dinner is ready by the time you get home.
If Samsung were to make some strategic acquisitions and key partners in the content distribution space they could very well become a more compelling consumer value proposition down the road. I know there is a love affair with Apple but a solid consumer proposition that extends across multiple areas of your life can be cause for divorce from even the likes of Apple. If Apple delivers a 52 inch Ipad into living rooms in the near future, you will see this battle heat up even more.
For a perspective on the studio backed UltraViolet Alliance and its potential to change the digital media landscape. Read my next article here
Derek Broes is a media and technology executive with 16 years’ experience. He served as Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy and Business Development at Paramount Pictures and also ran Global Wireless Strategy and Business Development for the digital media division at Microsoft Corporation.
Author does not own stock in either company.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét