This post will be about the emailed out article: http://news.msn.com/science-technology/stalemate-between-apple-samsung-in-smartphone-wars
If you guys have been following this, it's been pretty intense for a while. Right now though, it seems like things have fallen into a stalemate between these two companies. To quote:
"Indeed, a series of recent court rulings suggests that the smartphone patent wars are now grinding toward a stalemate, with Apple unable to show that its sales have been seriously damaged when rivals, notably Samsung, imitated its products."
So what happens now?
It seems like both of these companies have greatly benefited from this war in some aspects. Cook apparently never really wanted to sue Samsung because of manufacturing diplomacy stuff, and Samsung got some pretty good market research data from selling phones that greatly resembled the iPhone.
The article is leaning towards the idea that these two super companies might actually band together in terms of furthering technology. They even go so far as to say that there might be a possibility these huge firms might go after some of the smaller ones like Blackberry.
In some aspects this legal war seems to be almost like a battle of who'd better. So perhaps they're squaring up and this war might result in some awesome technology as the battle to be the best. That would be a cool outcome though it might go in the opposite direction in terms of stifling innovation and iteration.
Did anyone else who read this article agree or disagree with it?
I definitely think that there is potential for Apple and Samsung to increase innovation by competing against each other for the attention (and wallets) of consumers. I don't think that either of them will ever unite with another smaller company such as Blackberry, given that most of these smartphone companies have very different products that run different operating systems. However, I definitely do think that there is a possibility of collusion and stifling of competition if Samsung and Apple remain as the top smartphone producers for years to come.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I guess we'll see if they end up stifling competition between other companies, or between themselves!
DeleteVery interesting! I wrote a similar article actually. After reading your article, I have to question whether patent wars like this help or hurt innovation in general. If Apple wins will it lead more people to create things knowing their creation is protected? Or will it slow human progress by not allowing people to transform other's ideas for the better?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I know the answer to that... hmmm?
It's pretty crazy how all of this strife between Apple and Samsung resulted in more innovation. They could band together and dominate most of the marketplace with technology that could be used for iOS and android.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this is a form of a prisoner's dilemma game. Each company benefit more from hiring lawyers and suing each other but both companies could benefit much more if they banded together and cooperate. Similarly, Apple and Samsung are stuck in this prisoners dilemma game where they cannot do anything else but sue each other. I wonder what would happen if they were to end, what kind of compromise could we possibly reach?
ReplyDeletejames Maa
I made a similar post. I like how you analytically approach this competitive landscape. I agree with Christopher Chen, none of them will ever unite. I simply hope from competition they will push each other to innovation and new technology.
ReplyDelete