Looks like today will be a somewhat of a prolific day for me J. I have gotten so annoyed by the dominance of the subject in every technology news site that I follow that I decided to offer a maybe somewhat of a different angle on the issue at hand.
As a “Microsoft guy” I am probably supposed to gloat about the Apple’s win much like something done in poor taste here, but regardless of where I personally stand on the verdict, I am actually very excited about at least some of the potential aftershocks.
Much like Chicago Cubs, Apple has managed to build a very loyal customer base that is willing to stand behind the brand without any rational expectation of performance. These consumers have a deep emotional connection with the brand and its products and no rational or logical argument for or against it has any chance of being considered by them. Apple is the design king of today, but there is nothing in what it offers, other than this emotional connection with its customers that by the way is very commendable, that makes it difficult for consumers to switch to another platform. Being a somewhat of an arrogant person myself, I have been a staunch supporter of at least one double standard – I hate arrogance in others, and today, it is hard to find a company more arrogant than Apple.
I believe that the verdict will spark an epic battle that will be fun to watch for the next several years. Samsung’s loss and Apple’s reaction to it is exactly the kind of slap in the face type thing that makes nations unite and go crazy and almost conquer the world, or in case of companies helps them gain focus and determination to become number one in the market place. What’s interesting here is that Apple owns the customer facing part of the supply chain, and Samsung is leading on the hardware and components end of the technology value chain and it’s not very clear to me what has a better chance to sustain long term success of a company.
The rise of AMD was the best thing that ever happened for Intel, who instead of winning the battle in courts, decided to win the battle with a better product. Samsung could have been that for Apple… I am prognosticating that Apple’s arrogance will ultimately be the deciding factor here. Apple’s innovation has reached its inflection point with iPhone as every product after that was evolutionary step forward at best and I am guessing that it’s not taking Samsung seriously enough to kick its innovation up a notch or two.
I am very excited to have a new topic to follow as I am wondering whether Samsung has what it takes and is now motivated enough to take the fight back to Apple (and among other things, let’s not also forget the big elephant in the room – Google – who has not made its move in this game yet)
business intelligist 