samsung

The End of A Dynasty?: Clash Between Industry Titans

Posted on by spr1333cpassage

 

The battle for technological dominance is beginning to heat up. Apple and Samsung have been at each other’s throats competing over market share and cultural relevance for years now, with Apple seeming to come away the victor year after year. However, the momentum has seemed to shift in Samsung’s favor recently. So why the sudden change? In 2013, Samsung took a huge leap forward against their arch rival by enjoying a monumental 56% surge in sales pertaining to smart-phones. Whereas Apple only saw a disappointing 6.6% increase in sales within the smart-phone sector. Samsung now has a stranglehold on the market share, controlling 33% of the smart-phone division compared to Apple’s mere 18%. With this sudden charge in 2013, Samsung experienced soaring profits and revenue sales of $47.6 billion, a 17% increase compared to Apple’s 11% increase.

People are beginning to wonder why Apple has become so stagnant with their products, while Samsung continues to innovate, push the limits, and surpass new boundaries as a organization. As we all know, Apple as a company has gone through major changes when it comes to management ever since the passing of their charismatic and brilliant leader Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. However, they are not helping themselves with their lack of new products entering the market, along with their rather “elementary” tweaks to the iPhone 5 that have left many longtime customers of Apple disappointed and looking elsewhere for new and innovative mobile devices. For example, Apple upset a good portion of their customer base by changing the adapter that charges the battery life for a majority of Apple products. One of the major draws for Apple’s iPhone line was the fact that their mobile devices had become standardized with the ability for users to charge their phones just about anywhere, even if they forgot their phone charger because they could just use someone else’s. All the while Samsung continues to focus on the quality of their products by offering a wider range of specifications regarding smart-phones that have consumers clamoring for more. Also, Samsung’s new handset, the Galaxy S4, has premiered to critical acclaim among customers and could potentially threaten Apple’s iPhone as the gold standard among smart-phones in the industry.

Samsung has been able to achieve this triumphant comeback through intense quality focus and strong leadership throughout the organization. Especially at the top with former Chairman Kun-Hee Lee who strove for product quality so much that he took a trip to one of the company’s plants that had developed a batch of defected products and required all 2,000 employees to wear headbands that read, “Quality First”. Through this philosophy, Samsung has been able to efficiently produce quality products at a cheaper price compared to industry standards, which in turn allows them to charge a higher price that consumers are willing to spend. The end result, an incredible first quarter of 2013 for Samsung and a devastating blow to Apple. Will Apple recover from this disappointing 2013 start? Possibly with  the iPhone-5S. Or will Samsung continue jabbing away at heavyweight champ?

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/04/26/samsung-trouncing-apple-gangnam-style/

 

How to forecast $43.6 billion?

Posted on by spr1313anasir

Apple has finally decided to give its shareholders back more now from the profit of $145 Billion. The shareholders demanded more return even though Apple posted their first decline in decades. Apple heavily relies on new product launches to make the mass amount of money; knowing this fact the company has decided to not launch any new products until fall and 2014. The company has to give the raging market a rest for a couple of months before they come out with something that will make the crowd go wild. The fall in the revenue has challenged the company to think of something truly innovative that will gain a higher popularity in sales than its competitors.

 The company did better than forecasted $39.2 billion; the actual revenue was $43.6 billion, exceeding the forecast by $4.4 billion. Apple had under forecasted due to past months revenue being over forecasted. As we learned in class, companies usually use naïve approach to forecast for their next month. Apple has been over forecasting since their iPhone sale success. Apple is not coming out with new innovative technology, their revenue has been declining therefore forcing the company to under forecast their revenue. This is the error of using forecasting because the company might not sell the same as the previous month because the company has not been able to come out with a product that would stabilize their revenue. In Apple’s case new product launches raise their revenue and place them on top of other companies.

 Many people are thinking that since Apple is not going to be launching any new products for a few months, the market is bound to fall. Samsung has been giving Apple good competition and now has been able to take over the market with recent launches. If Apple waits until fall to hit the market again with something innovative, will Samsung have taken over the market? Will Apple be able to compete with Samsung after staying out of the market for a couple of months? Only time will tell how innovative the new Apple products will be. Will the Apple products be able to beat the Google Glasses? Many people are not really sold on the new idea of using glasses as their cellphone but again no one can really tell how the market will react to products until they are launched. Before Steve Jobs died, he mentioned that his new invention was to make the TV remote user friendly. He emphasized that the remote was too complicated with so many buttons. This might be just the product to beat the Google Glasses or not. We all will have to wait for the next invention until fall of this year to find out.

Click here to read the article: http://trib.in/14El4B3

Sources: Gupta, Poornima. “Apple unlocks more cash for investors as profit slides.” Chicago Tribune 23 April 2013, Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-apple-resultsbre93m1b6-20130423,0,5337176.story?page=1>.

Apple Lacking Innovation? Or Master Plan…

Posted on by spr1313jmusolino

In the recent months, Apple has been the hot topic of debate for almost every media source. This can be derived partially due to its 25% stock price decrease in the past year, but also because of an increase in competition from companies such as Samsung. Despite record profits, critics argue that Apple is “lacking innovation,” which is vital for its continued growth. Does apple not understand what consumer’s want/desire? Or could their upcoming innovations be so groundbreaking that it just takes longer to unveil?

Despite popular belief, Apple produces almost none of the components that are in its products. What makes Apple products both beautiful and efficient is their ability to integrate the hardware and the software so seamlessly. This is done through their remarkably efficient and streamlined supply chain.

In my opinion, Apple tends to innovate backwards. Apples innovation can be described like this; Apple solves the puzzle first, and then finds the pieces they need to make their vision a reality. Apple’s size, power, and money give them the ability to do this, but the actual timeline for a finished product may not be so clear and defined. This is why an efficient and communicative supply chain is so important to Apple.

Most analysts would agree that the biggest upcoming feature on the iPhone 5S is its fingerprint sensor. This is not a new concept, but the way Apple will use it will be remarkable. The mobile payment system is the way of the future, yet is has failed to take off. This is not due less to lack of technology, but more because of security concerns. By having someone’s phone password, one could gain access to every credit card they own. A fingerprint sensor would basically eliminate this problem, and would allow the mobile payment system to grow exponentially.

Keep-Calm-And-Slide-to-Unlock-iPhone-Fingerprint.jpg

Apple sold over 50 million iPhone 5s, so a small glitch in hardware or software can be detrimental. First, Apple needs to make sure the hardware is functioning properly. Last week Reuters reported this, “A supply chain source in Taiwan said Apple was trying to find a coating material that did not interfere with the fingerprint sensor, and this may be causing a delay.” Second, Apple needs to make sure its manufacturers can produce the product that keeps up with demand. Third, the software needs to be 100% accurate to prevent possible fraud. Last, Apple needs to beta test the product until they know it is absolutely perfect.

Personally, I believe that Apple’s master plan is much smarter and more innovative then any analyst can predict. Critics thought the first iPhone would fail because it didn’t have a keyboard. They thought the iPad was just a “big iPhone,” and no one would buy it. Currently, these are two of the most successful and profitable consumer devices on the market. Apple’s master plan is bigger than we think. Supply chain issues may slow its product cycle down now, but I think it will only be a minor speed bump in Apple’s continued dominance.

What is your current view on Apple? Are you continuing to buy Apple products? Will a fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S be the deciding factor on whether you will upgrade or not?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/04/28/is-the-iphone-5s-fingerprint-reader-worth-the-wait/

https://www.google.com/finance?cid=22144

Where is my phone?

Posted on by Dom

The HTC One, High Tech Computer Corporation’s leading phone is currently experiencing worldwide delays. As of April 24th, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile are the sole wireless communications service providers that offer the cell phone for sale. Unfortunately, potential clients will be disappointed upon hearing that the phone will be delayed; potentially for several weeks. Originally the HTC One was scheduled to launch in mid-March, but supply issues have pushed back the release for over a month.

Over the prior year, HTC’s profits have dropped to a record low $2.83 million. This accounts for a 98% drop in profits. The HTC One is the paramount flagship model and in order to turn around the company, it must sell well. In March alone, HTC moved only 300,000 phones to nationwide retailers in three countries as supply bottleneck issues arose. HTC indicated a shortage of camera components as the problem responsible for the mass delays. By the end of April, J.P. Morgan Securities’ supply chain checks forecast 1.2 million phones shipping as well as 2.0 million in May.

Oddly enough, the main competitor of the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4, will also be delayed until April 29th on T-Mobile. The Galaxy S4 will be launching on six carriers, however only T-Mobile has set a definitive launch date. In order to cope with the anticipated sales forecasts, Samsung is currently producing 10 million units monthly. T-Mobile will likely be the first carrier to launch with the Galaxy S4 but is already experiencing delays before pre-ordering is available. Once the five other carriers set their release dates, demand will go up and Samsung may not have enough available phones for the amount demanded.

Anticipated sales forecasts generated for both HTC and Samsung may not be realistic over the next several months as both corporations are struggling to produce enough inventory for the demand. This, however, brings up a question of quality. If HTC and Samsung are rushing to mass produce these phones to clear the backorders, will the quality of the phones suffer, or will crashing methods have to be implemented to speed up project length?

In our class we discussed bottleneck situations and how that may jeopardize the timeliness of the process but this article also brings up forecasting models. Unfortunately forecasts are just predictions. When unanticipated situations arise, these forecasts may not be accurate; as exemplified in HTC’s case. Stock markets also rely heavily on forecasts, thus a company may decrease or increase in value today pertaining an act that will be committed in the future. Only time will tell how long consumers will have to wait for their phones as both companies are working relentlessly to produce more phones.

Do you believe that HTC and Samsung should have prepared better for this problem and stockpiled phones ahead of time to avoid this situation?

Which company do you feel will tackle this issue most effectively?

 

References:

Brown, Justin. “HTC One US Bottleneck Won’t Clear Until After Galaxy S4 Is In Stores?” SidhTech RSS. N.p., 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.sidhtech.com/news/htc-one-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-us-release/1003194/>.

Davies, Chris. “HTC One Turnaround Tipped as Supply Bottleneck Loosens.” SlashGear. N.p., 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-turnaround-tipped-as-supply-bottleneck-loosens-15277830/>.

Epstein, Zach. “BGR.” Samsung Galaxy S4 Deemed a Winner: Shipments Seen Topping Early Estimates. N.p., 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://bgr.com/2013/04/05/samsung-galaxy-s4-sales-estimates-414846/>.

Harvey, Cynthia. “HTC Profits Drop 98%.” Datamation. N.p., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.datamation.com/news/htc-profits-drop-98.html>.

Kovach, Steve. “Samsung Galaxy S4 Delayed On T-Mobile Until April 29.” Business Insider. N.p., 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s4-delayed-on-t-mobile-2013-4>.

Tofel, Kevin C. “HTC One Launch: Available at 2 Carriers; Web Orders for 1; Delays for Dev Edition — Tech News and Analysis.” GigaOM. N.p., 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://gigaom.com/2013/04/19/htc-one-launch-available-at-2-carriers-web-orders-for-1-delays-for-dev-edition/

Will HTC survive?

Posted on by spr1332umoroz

HTC has been a leading competitor in the smartphone market for years. Recently, their revenues plummeted by 98% compared to last year. HTC claims this is due to the high competition from the market, especially Apple and Samsung. With the decline in revenues, it is only natural that their stock prices fell as well. HTC is struggling to keep up with Apple’s iphones and Samsung’s Galaxy models. HTC was supposed to release the HTC One smartphone in March, but they dropped the ball on that plan due to no revenues coming in and still having their fixed costs. In an attempt to hang on in the market, they recently announced a collaboration with Facebook for the feature of Facebook Home.

In class we had discussions that just because prices of stocks went down, does not necessarily mean that the quality of their product went down. The problem with the smartphone, and technology, in that matter, is that everything is fast-moving and changes are always taking place quickly. I have an HTC Thunderbolt smartphone, and there were extremely high hopes for it. It was a great phone until software started getting updated, such as different apps, but HTC Thunderbolt did not come out with a new update for the phone. Apple has a software update very often. Samsung has come out with the Galaxy and Galaxy 2 during the time that loyal HTC customers have been waiting for the update.

Part of the reason for HTC’s struggle is because they cannot keep up with the quick pace of change. That is one of the main complaints of customers.  This is why benchmarking is crucial. HTC does not need to come up with a new update every week, but they should try to improve their products so that they could keep up with app updates. I waited two years for my update. Before I received it, basic apps such as GMAIL, were not running properly on my phone because the app was no longer compatible with my phone’s software. My phone was essentially outdated. What did I decide to do? I am switching over to Apple and getting an iphone. Many customers have lost faith in HTC because they are taking their time with launching new products and updates.

A decline in revenues means that HTC’s products are not selling. In even a simpler way of putting it, customers are not interested. HTC is in big trouble if more customers start moving away from them and looking into Samsung or Apple products. HTC’s collaboration with Facebook is also up in the air because Facebook Home has not been fully tested out with customers. Currently, it will be an optional feature for your phone, but whether customers will want it is unknown. Before making this a permanent feature on the market, Facebook and HTC should run surveys to see if customers are even interested in something like this.

Do you think that HTC will survive in this constantly changing market? Is the collaboration with Facebook a good idea or a desperate measure to stay competitive in the market?

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/08/for-htc-its-still-a-tough-road/

 

Apple – Samsung = What Kind of Quality?

Posted on by f1223nlopez

After hearing this news about a month ago, I decided to post it and get others responses to it.

It seems although they are in a bitter legal battle with each company suing each other, Apple is still doing business with the Korean company Samsung, but for how long? The relationship started because the companies that previously provided the displays for the iPads, weren’t meeting with quality standards and were dropped. These companies included LG and Sharp Inc. Now it seems that because the legal battles that are happening, Samsung will also be dropped. It seems that the new company to step in and win over Apple’s iPad Mini, is Innolux. Innolux already provides Apple with the displays for the big iPad, and iPod Touch, so the change should be easy.

For those of us who have iPhone, we all noticed how the maps changed when Apple and Google parted ways. A lot of us found out that we were driving or walking into the middle of an ocean when we would look for destinations, or the maps wouldn’t fully load correctly, of course now its fixed after a couple of updates. So will another debacle like this happen when they part ways with Samsung? As consumers, we hate it when the quality of a good product continues to decline and there are a lot of Apple consumers who are very happy with the components that Samsung provides to these devices. Not only are they providing the display panels, but they also manufacture the chips for the Apple devices.

The major question that will be looming is will the quality of Apple products start to decline? It’s been said that Apple is dropping Samsung because of the costs that are now being demanded, so will looking for lower costs, lower the quality? I find it natural that Apple would want to drop Samsung because of their legal battles. Why would they want to help and contribute to their competitors? Samsung is stepping up in the technology industry and is becoming a big competitor to Apple and it’s in their best interest to part ways before the blueprints to their best selling devices are found out.

As news of “The Next Big Thing,” the Samsung Galaxy S4 has come out, will it make a splash big enough to make some new converts? I’ve heard some of the new features on the phone and I find them a little bit weird. The biggest one is the ability to wave your hand to switch screens. Just picture yourself waving your hand at your phone and think about how you will look. I’m not knocking it all, I just find it funny. Each phone is targeting different customers, but are always pinned each other for top spot.

Let me know what you guys think about the new move and if it will or will not effect the quality of Apple products. Feel free to chime in on the new S4 as well.

 

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/156712/apple-said-to-drop-samsung-turn-to-innolux-for-ipad-mini-displays

http://www.neowin.net/news/apple-may-abandon-samsung-for-retina-ipad-mini-displays

 

 

Samsung to Take a Bite Out of Apple Enterprise Market

Posted on by w13timothy

Last summer, Samsung Electronics agreed to customize a version of their popular Galaxy S II smartphone for a health care start-up company that needed a device that would transmit heart monitor information directly to doctors. Since then, it seems that Samsung has officially decided to “play” in the enterprise solutions market. In fact, a Samsung spokesperson noted that Samsung has “made the decision to be No. 1 in enterprise.”

It seems to be a fairly bold statement, seeing as Apple and RIMM have dominated the enterprise market in the recent years. In fact, Apple was said to have recently passed RIMM (Blackberry) as the leading provider of company-issued smartphones and could maintain that position through 2016. (BusinessWeek). The overwhelming majority of large companies are testing iPhones and iPads for employee use.

On the surface it would appear that the barrier to entry in this market is very difficult, if not almost futile. How could Samsung possibly think there’s an opportunity here?  The answer is customization. Apple has a history of cutting edge products, but ultimately doesn’t customize ANY of them. What you see is what you get, and for most, this is quality product that needs no customization. However, Samsung sees an open door. So many companies are now looking for enterprise solutions that will best fit their structure, and Samsung feels it can meet these demands better than Apple or RIMM. By being open to customization as well as working with third party vendors to target specific industry’s needs, Samsung plans to fight to become #1 in enterprise solutions. The company is taking a good hard look at competitors like HTC and even Google, and notice that neither seems to be interested in the enterprise space. The business strategy seems to be to attack a market segment that has not yet been saturated.

Of course, to play in this segment, Samsung must be prepared for the new challenges it will bring. For example, an advantage of Android is that it’s highly customizable. However, it can be a disadvantage for the same reason, making it difficult to standardize security and management software to sell across multiple corporations due to so many different versions of Android currently available. To address this challenge, Samsung has already invested in designing its own software for this purpose which will make all Samsung devices operate consistently.

Samsung will have other challenges to consider as well. For example, the company will need to be sure to market to corporations accordingly to re-brand itself as an enterprise solution provider. Also, it will need to continue to offer a sustainable competitive advantage over time. Finally, resources will need to be reallocated or added to support corporations’ customer service requirements as well as to meet their customization needs.

How do you think Samsung will perform in the enterprise market? What would you say your biggest concern would be if you were the CEO of Samsung?

 

Samsung and Apple Duel in Enterprise Tech
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/samsung-and-apple-duel-in-enterprise-tech#p1

Samsung to set out the next big thing?!

Posted on by f1232ali

This month has been filled with announcements including the new iPad mini made earlier this Tuesday, followed by Samsung on Wednesday, and Window’s 8 unveiling with Surface RT tablets on Thursday. With the holiday season around the corner, Google is expected to launch the Samsung 10 tablet and the LG Nexus smartphone next week. With Samsung becoming the closest competitor next to Apple with their latest product in the market, the Galaxy S3 has become a great success in the smartphone market.

In the ongoing legal issue between Apple and Samsung, Apple is expected to switch from using the A-series SoCs to TMSC, Taiwanese-based semiconductor firm which are used a lot on Android products. Samsung had originally manufactured the chip but didn’t get the chance to implement it into any of their products. I guess that means in the near future, Apple apps are going to look like Android widgets, so we are expecting to see changes in the future with our iphones and ipads. As Apple might be going downhill soon, Samsung on the other hand continues to rise in innovation. With Korea being the leading world in technology, Samsung puts amazing designs to make their products appealing to consumers. Not to mention, their graphics are better than the iPad 3, and apps are faster and can multitask a lot faster on the current Galaxy tablet as shown on one of their ads, you would see a woman turning over to the Galaxy tablet from the iPad. With all these numerous technologies emerging today, do you think Samsung will someday become the leading company in technology following the success of the Galaxy line?

 

 

Forecasts vs. rumors

Posted on by Ali Almahdi

Corporations like Apple, Samsung and Motorola; we hear rumors about them all the time. Like Apple with the iPhone 5, and Samsung with the new S3 and Motorola with the new Atrix 3.

I still can’t forget when everyone I know didn’t buy their iPhone 4 waiting for iPhone 5 and they were disappointed with the iPhone 4s. And now, the same thing is happening, people who are about to upgrade their phones and didn’t buy the S2 saying they’ll wait for the new Galaxy S3 and or iPhone 5.

Since I am obsessed with technology, and I keep up to date by buying the latest gadgets in the market. And while doing this course, during class when we were talking about product cycles and inventory management, I began wondering. At that very moment, I remember when I was thinking in my own world, when my teacher asked me a question that I didn’t pay attention to, and I had to ask her to repeat the question again. It was about the product life cycle and how short it is with technology.

Then during class, we started looking at the forecasting time horizon, during this part of the discussion; I was wondering what is their forecast period? Short?

We move on to the forecast methods, and during that very specific part I was trying to see which method they could possibly use? I know as the Professor said, forecasts are seldom perfect. However, they need some kind of forecast to keep the inventory right.

Immediately two blog posts of my colleagues came to my mind. First, Car dealerships with zero cars to sell. Corporations like Apple and Samsung do not want to be like those dealerships.

Second, Why Guess When You Can Forecast?

I quote from my colleague post:

“The mistake our team made was to purchase the product inventory from manufacturing companies without accurately forecasting the demand for those products.

The result? We ended up with far more inventory than we could sell. Food products are perishable; their expiration deadlines are much shorter than for other consumer goods. As those expiry dates approached, a considerable percentage of the inventory we had bought was wasted in our own warehouse. Needless to say, the company suffered some heavy losses.”

I think those corporations deal with this situation very frequently, in fact, the news of the S3 affected the iPhone 4s sales in some regions specifically in Bahrain. I do not have data to back my theory but I have seen this happening.

I wonder how does corporations like Apple deal with those rumors? How can they forecast the demand on the existing products when there is a rumor about a new product? I believe those corporations are living on the edge with their products and forecasts. They probably calculate the risk and add it to the product price to cover the forecast loses? I don’t know. But I can tell you this, it must be really hard.