Apple’s iPhones get the oohs and ahs, but it’s Samsung’s name on 3 out of 10 smartphones around the world — and that share continues to grow. Samsung has a smartwatch that already has banking apps (and PayPal) running on it, and the company will bring its Galaxy Smart Glasses to market by yearend, perhaps before Google Glass. Samsung also has a fingerprint scanner on upcoming phones, and can be expected to be more generous than Apple in allowing apps to use it for authentication. Samsung and Apple are portrayed as bitter rivals, with endless lawsuits flying back and forth, but the truth is more complex. For instance, Apple relies on Samsung to produce its Retina displays for its iPads. Samsung also shares production of iPhone and MacBook screens with LG. And Samsung is tight with Google: the companies recently signed a 10-year cross-licensing patent agreement allowing each company access to the entire intellectual property portfolio of the other company. Apple and iOS can have the high end — put simply, Android is the future, and Samsung dominates Android phones. When wearables begin to cannibalize smartphone sales, Samsung will be comfortably placed with established offerings. Start ooh-ing and ah-ing. Previous [...]
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