How is Samsung able to get the best technologies for their phone?

[badb0y]

I'm trying to apply some tweakboy logic to your statement and it still leaves me puzzled

Haha I meant to say:

"Cause they make most of it"

 

[Looney]

Because Koreans are like the Japanese except with creativity.

You mean WITHOUT creativity? Because that's the problem with the Korean industry right now, they're just seen as copying others. The Japanese brought the world stuff like Walkman, robotics, gaming consoles, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the Korean industry is fantastic. But they have an image of just making the best copycats. They're making the best economy cars, best TVs, best phones, best memory, best batteries, etc. But none of that is their own innovation.

This is a good article on why the Korean work culture is stifling innovation:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2988943c-0c31-11df-8b81-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1eHiv6AkZ

As for why Samsung and other Korean companies are doing so well, it's because of government investment.

 

[s44]

They actually were limited on production back then, every screen they could make was going strait into a Galaxy S phone so third parties like HTC couldn''t get enough for their phones.

Uh, except Samsung never made a < 4" SAMOLED.

 

[Oyeve]

Because Koreans are like the Japanese except with creativity.

And better food.

 

[Oyeve]

Uh, except Samsung never made a < 4" SAMOLED.

Behold 2?

 

[Dari]

Because Koreans are like the Japanese except with creativity.

Koreans are not creative or else Apple would not be suing samsung. Japanese are very creative and I haven't seen them sued by Apple for design infringement. Also, Korea is a small market so the companies have to sell abroad, hence 50&#37; of their GDP is export. Japan, on the other hand, is a very large market. It is also insular and the phone companies there rarely sell outside of Japan but they are the source of a lot of components. IMHO, some of the best phones are in Japan. The coolest and thinnest as well.

Samsung makes a lot of their own components, aside from memory or even display, my guess is that they are losing money on a lot of the stuff they make because they rarely, if ever, source them to other companies (except for memory). Hence, my guess is that their processor fabs are low, very low (therefore inefficient), or else they wouldn't be sourcing from TI or Qualcomm, the industry leader. Their cash cow of display is in the dumps and you can see it in their stock movement this year (up a measly 1% lol). They have an excellent distribution system and bring out a new phone everyday but I get the feeling that they are just flooding the market with phones in order to make their components divisions look good.

 

[Dari]

You mean WITHOUT creativity? Because that's the problem with the Korean industry right now, they're just seen as copying others. The Japanese brought the world stuff like Walkman, robotics, gaming consoles, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the Korean industry is fantastic. But they have an image of just making the best copycats. They're making the best economy cars, best TVs, best phones, best memory, best batteries, etc. But none of that is their own innovation.

This is a good article on why the Korean work culture is stifling innovation:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2988943c-0c31-11df-8b81-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1eHiv6AkZ

As for why Samsung and other Korean companies are doing so well, it's because of government investment.

Samsung and S. Korea in general have huge problems. The country is (increasingly) dominated by large companies and the smaller ones are stifled. The government is incredibly corrupt and a slave to the larger companies. In order to fit in, everybody either has a black or white car. The country is not known for its creativity. The economy is heavily export-dependent, making it extremely sensitive to global growth. The country, unlike Japan, is a debtor nation. The people owe a lot of money to their creditors and the housing bubble is set to burst. The country, as per the article, does not attract foreigners and its birthrate is the lowest on earth. Should N. Korea implode, S. Korea will be left to integrate a country that is 50 years behind and it may cost trillions of dollars to do so, far more than what Germany did with East Germany.

With the government telling the banks who to lend money to, it isn't surprising that their mercantile economy is doing well. But, like Japan, it will eventually hit a brick wall. Hopefully, they are preparing for that.

 

[runawayprisoner]

I mean the Samsung Galaxy SII seems to be the best android phone right now currently.

How does Samsung get their hand on the technology??

If you mean the internals, I think the fact that they manufacture NAND flash, SoC (chip and memory), and display for Apple factor in somewhat...

Display not so much, but definitely quite a lot of influence for SoC, which is one of the major determining factors of Android's performance on a phone.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I think we're going to see major changes in the future from Asian countries as their creativity gets turned into marketable ideas. Right now, it's a cultural issue... and generations of behavior will change as time progresses.

 

[swanysto]

Samsung and S. Korea in general have huge problems. The country is (increasingly) dominated by large companies and the smaller ones are stifled. The government is incredibly corrupt and a slave to the larger companies. In order to fit in, everybody either has a black or white car. The country is not known for its creativity. The economy is heavily export-dependent, making it extremely sensitive to global growth. The country, unlike Japan, is a debtor nation. The people owe a lot of money to their creditors and the housing bubble is set to burst. The country, as per the article, does not attract foreigners and its birthrate is the lowest on earth. Should N. Korea implode, S. Korea will be left to integrate a country that is 50 years behind and it may cost trillions of dollars to do so, far more than what Germany did with East Germany.

With the government telling the banks who to lend money to, it isn't surprising that their mercantile economy is doing well. But, like Japan, it will eventually hit a brick wall. Hopefully, they are preparing for that.

That sounds a lot like the US, except we allow different color cars, welcome any foreigners and give them free healthcare, and give free money to people who have many babies with no job.

 

[s44]

Mods, please close this thread as it's no longer about Samsung but bizarre national/ethnic stereotyping.

 

[Dari]

Mods, please close this thread as it's no longer about Samsung but bizarre national/ethnic stereotyping.

The mods can take care of the stereotyping, which was started by a Korean (JS80) no less, without closing the thread. The fact is Samsung is the largest conglomerate in S. Korea. The chairman/president of Samsung has more influence over the country than even the president, IMHO. Therefore, expanding beyond Samsung to S. Korea in general is a good thing. But stereotyping is not good in the general sense.

 

[Dari]

That sounds a lot like the US, except we allow different color cars, welcome any foreigners and give them free healthcare, and give free money to people who have many babies with no job.

Not true. Small businesses make up a larger percentage of this country than the big boys. Furthermore, America is known for its creativity.

 

[akugami]

Samsung and S. Korea in general have huge problems. The country is (increasingly) dominated by large companies and the smaller ones are stifled.

I believe this more than anything is why developed nations have a lower level of creativity. Which was what my point was originally. In developed nations with large set corporations, these corporations are more interested in maintaining the status quo...even if it means stifling creativity. Whereas in a developing nation, they must make creativity leaps in order to catch up to other nations. It's not about nation or race. It's about catching up to the competition.

 

[Dari]

I believe this more than anything is why developed nations have a lower level of creativity. Which was what my point was originally. In developed nations with large set corporations, these corporations are more interested in maintaining the status quo...even if it means stifling creativity. Whereas in a developing nation, they must make creativity leaps in order to catch up to other nations. It's not about nation or race. It's about catching up to the competition.

The problem is that developing nations are increasingly turning to "national champions" in order to accelerate their own development. These are usually conglomerates or other mega-corporations that are protected from outside competition and given special breaks and preferences by the government at the expense of smaller companies. You see this often all over Asia. The countries that have abused this most are S. Korea and China. In China's case, you have state-owned enterprises (SOEs) dominating the entire economy with 39 of the 42 largest companies being SOEs. Bizarrely, you have SOEs going into joint-ventures with foreign companies. This has the effect of crushing the smaller guys. Thus, perversely, the Chinese government is helping foreign firms profit at the expense of private Chinese firms. In S. Korea, the conglomerates completely dominate all manners of the political-economy. Samsung has its hands in all manner of business in S. Korea, from cars to electronics to toilets to insurance to shipbuilding to advertising to construction. They dominate. That cannot be healthy no matter how you look at it. The one country that I admire is Taiwan. There, the government lets companies rise and fall on their own. They get little, if any, help. That is why small businesses dominate in Taiwan, making it far more resilient to the global economy. Also, the more competition there is means that, although profit is lower per-firm, there are more people working.

 

[corkyg]

Samsung has been around for decades - Korea's premier electronics firm. Before I retired, my employer was a big user of Samsung CRT monitors back in the mid-80s. Their big advantage over Japanese competitors in recent years is largely due to the overall economic engine of Japan being stuck in a fiscal hog wallow. Japan is beginning to work its way out of that morass. Trying to attach creativity to nationality is somewhat silly - look st who developed msth snd sciences thousands of years ago - leaders of the world seated in what we refer to as the Middle East.

 

[Dari]

Samsung has been around for decades - Korea's premier electronics firm. Before I retired, my employer was a big user of Samsung CRT monitors back in the mid-80s. Their big advantage over Japanese competitors in recent years is largely due to the overall economic engine of Japan being stuck in a fiscal hog wallow. Japan is beginning to work its way out of that morass. Trying to attach creativity to nationality is somewhat silly - look st who developed msth snd sciences thousands of years ago - leaders of the world seated in what we refer to as the Middle East.

Actually, that's not true. The "Arabic" number system is not Arabic at all. It is Indian and India was the country that developed math more than any other outside of Europe. The Arabs started their influence around 1000 years ago.

As for Japan, their problem is that their labor market is highly rigid and promotion is based on loyalty and hiearchy rather than meritocracy. Luckly for the Japanese, the loyalty and hiearchy system only came about after World War II, when the country needed a workforce that was more loyal than creative. Before that, people used to switch jobs anytime and anywhere and they got paid depending upon how well they did rather than their seniority. Therefore, Japan has a history of meritocracy and, hopefully, they can go back to that. This is important because it is Japan that all these other nations got their mercantile ambitions from and, hopefully, Japan will show leadership once again by changing habit to fit the new reality. This is a silly analogy but the Japanese also used to observe daylight saving time. But they started that when America began its occupation. After McArthur left (when AMerica stopped the occupation and turn their relationship into a partnership) the Japanese promptly got rid of daylight saving time.

 

[JS80]

I can point to plenty of innovations and creativity by people in China or people of Chinese descent. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it isn't there. Your comment shows you don't have the slightest clue about the Chinese people.

For the record, and in the interest of disclosure, I am an American of Chinese descent. I actually pay attention to news about China and the Chinese people all around the globe because it is part of my heritage.

Factoring in population ratio, China doesn't even come close.

 

[JS80]

You mean WITHOUT creativity? Because that's the problem with the Korean industry right now, they're just seen as copying others. The Japanese brought the world stuff like Walkman, robotics, gaming consoles, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the Korean industry is fantastic. But they have an image of just making the best copycats. They're making the best economy cars, best TVs, best phones, best memory, best batteries, etc. But none of that is their own innovation.

This is a good article on why the Korean work culture is stifling innovation:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2988943c-0c31-11df-8b81-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1eHiv6AkZ

As for why Samsung and other Korean companies are doing so well, it's because of government investment.

That's a pretty good article in summing up Korea's business culture. It's their biggest advantage but I predict it will be the reason for their downfall (if they do not change/reform). I do find it funny though that in that article (2010) Samsung only had 5% of the smartphone market

In the growing market for smartphones, Samsung is way behind its rivals, with a market share of less than 5 per cent, compared with 35 per cent for Nokia and 17 per cent for Apple.

This month I believe they surpassed Nokia and has 21%. What growth in two years.

What Japan was in innovation 10-20 years ago, I believe is what Korea is today. They are the leading exporters in Asian entertainment and I don't believe it's a coincidence it's crossed over to their innovation in technology (of course with the help of government - I believe it just helped magnify and accelerated the growth, i.e. gov't was not the reason for the success).

However it is worrisome that the trend will continue and it will all get brought down...and when it does will hurt the entire country. There should be a map of SK in the dictionary next to the word Plutocracy. The current system works, until it doesn't...

 

[akugami]

Factoring in population ratio, China doesn't even come close.

Dude...seriously?!?!?

While there are highly developed sections in China, most of it can be classified as a developing country. There are a lot of economical issues involved and your assertions that China has no creativity is completely out of line.

China has issues. I don't this is a question. China's leadership itself can be said to stifle creativity. But the times are changing. There is more economical freedom today in China than in the last few decades. And there is pressure to give more freedom to the people. There is definitely creativity that is untapped. Nothing you said invalidates what I have said. You can keep claiming China (or it's people) are not creative but you'll be speaking from ignorance.

 

[Dari]

That's a pretty good article in summing up Korea's business culture. It's their biggest advantage but I predict it will be the reason for their downfall (if they do not change/reform). I do find it funny though that in that article (2010) Samsung only had 5% of the smartphone market

This month I believe they surpassed Nokia and has 21%. What growth in two years.

What Japan was in innovation 10-20 years ago, I believe is what Korea is today. They are the leading exporters in Asian entertainment and I don't believe it's a coincidence it's crossed over to their innovation in technology (of course with the help of government - I believe it just helped magnify and accelerated the growth, i.e. gov't was not the reason for the success).

However it is worrisome that the trend will continue and it will all get brought down...and when it does will hurt the entire country. There should be a map of SK in the dictionary next to the word Plutocracy. The current system works, until it doesn't...

Japan was and is innovative. Samsung , not so much. When the Koreans start setting setting standards then I would consider them innovative. Right now, IMHO, they are fast manufacturers.

 

[MrX8503]

Because Koreans are like the Japanese except with creativity.

Kia, Hyundai, Samsung, they all aren't very creative. Japan is pretty creative and innovative though.

 

[Looney]

I believe this more than anything is why developed nations have a lower level of creativity. Which was what my point was originally. In developed nations with large set corporations, these corporations are more interested in maintaining the status quo...even if it means stifling creativity. Whereas in a developing nation, they must make creativity leaps in order to catch up to other nations. It's not about nation or race. It's about catching up to the competition.

Except this is the complete opposite of reality. Japan started off much like China is today, making low quality copy-cats. As developing nations, all they care about is manufacturing and selling, which is why they copy others. Once they have an established industry and can invest in R&D, then the 'creativity' and innovations come out of those corporations.

Tell me, what innovations have come out of developing nations?

 

[akugami]

Except this is the complete opposite of reality. Japan started off much like China is today, making low quality copy-cats. As developing nations, all they care about is manufacturing and selling, which is why they copy others. Once they have an established industry and can invest in R&D, then the 'creativity' and innovations come out of those corporations.

Tell me, what innovations have come out of developing nations?

Specifically, I can't give you many examples but Mad Design based out of Beijing would be one. The thing is, are you going to claim that during the "copying" process people become brain dead and there is no creativity? I think that claim would be silly because creativity may be stifled but you can't shut it out. The only way a nation in the "copying" stage advances, IMHO, is as they are in the industrial/copying stage they have leaps of creativity that allows them to jump to the forefront of the global market. There has to be some creativity and innovation that allows them to go from being just another developing nation to one that is considered a developed nation.

Basically I'm saying that there is more effort on creating new or innovative products to jump to the front of the pack when you're a developing nation and hungry. This is opposite of developed nations who have many corporations already at the front of the pack. Their philosophy is more about maintaining the status quo and not losing their position. In many cases this is about locking in consumers rather than generating new markets.

 

[quest55720]

The internals and screens of samsung phones are great. To bad they are years behind in the build quality department. I want a focus s but the horrible build quality just turns me off. I need to make up my mind on saturday on the focus s when ATT has 1 cent sale on W7 phones.