The Simple Reason Why Samsung's Next Smartphone Will be Successful... (AAPL)
Earlier, Apple executive Phil Schiller ripped on Samsung and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), saying that the S4 will run on an operating system (Android) that a year old and that the Android system itself is fragmented with users running multiple versions of the OS.
More criticism has come about that the S4 simply looks like a Galaxy S III (S3) meshed with a Galaxy Note 2 phablet, but in smaller form. Who would buy such a boring, overused design?
Let's turn back to Apple and its iPhone. Apple came out with the revolutionary device some five or six years ago now (!) and has really only tweaked the basic design. It's a rectangle with rounded corners and a Home button in the lower center. There have been some slight modifications to size and antenna placement (antenna-gate, anyone?), but Apple largely found a winning design and stuck with it.
Given that Samsung sold millions upon millions of smartphones in 2012, giving it global market share of 30.3 percent from 19 percent the prior year, it might be the smartest move for Samsung to stick with its basic design and only add in slight tweaks. After all, it's really the user experience that will drive sales, something Apple has done with iOS and its components. With Android users already comfortable with the OS, Samsung can really only boost its appeal with some modification to the Android OS as well as addition of key features like "eye scrolling" and "gesture control."
In any case, Apple investors should be paying as much attention to Samsung's announcement Thursday as much as Google investors will be. Shares of Apple are up about one percent Thursday.