By Kim Yoo-chul
Is Apple feeling threatened by Samsung Electronics' advances into the market of the latest "smart" devices?
Apple's sweeping patent lawsuit the Korean electronics behemoth comes at a time when Samsung is going toe to toe, head to head with Apple in the entire range of products.
Experts say that, from a circumstantial point of view at least, Apple sees now as a high time to give all it has and discourage Samsung’s advancement.
``That lawsuit is good evidence that shows Apple’s sense of urgency about Samsung,” said Prof. Lee Jong-su, a media critic at Hanyang University.
Samsung’s Galaxy S is the only smartphone that has exceeded 10 million in unit sales, besides iPhone.
Apple’s lawsuit came only a week before the scheduled unveiling of Galaxy S II.
At the same time, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet computer is often dubbed as the only alternative to iPad.
``Samsung is a fast learner. Its Tab 2 design shows it,’’ Lee said.
Samsung is apparently a key target of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs put Samsung into the league of copycats and also blamed Samsung phones of suffering a ``death-grip’’-related problems with its iPhone 4.
Industry watchers speculate that Apple is not seeking compensation as other patent troll firms such as Rambus.
``The lawsuit is a kind of statement aimed at the`Android community’ because Samsung is a leader,’’ said Kim Chang-seon, a senior technician who works for an information and technology (IT) company in Korea.
In court documents, Apple displays photos of Samsung’s thin, black, glossy, rectilinear-with-rounded-corner mobile devices displaying lots of colorful icons.
Apple claims in the suit that Samsung’s devices and interface designs were entirely different.
``Colorful icons and user-interface were not manufactured by Samsung. These are the products by Google. Also, Nexus S, which is one of the suit targets by Apple, is the pure Google phone. Samsung just manufactured it,’’ said Kim, adding Apple is feeing pinches amid faster market penetration of the Android community.
Google’s Android OS is amassing downloads fast. Current data indicate Android’s market impression and drastic growth, brining to the three billion downloads mark.
Compared with the 10-billion mark of Apple’s App Stores this year, three billion is not that big, according to officials.
However, Google is climbing up to one billion downloads within two months ― a download rate that is more than double the previous billion.
``Google’s rapid rise in the mobile platform industry is also threatening Apple. Apple is being pressurized to secure its bottom line in a changing mobile landscape,’’ said an executive from SK Telecom, the nation’s top telecom company.
But legal battle with Apple is not ``sentimentally good’’ for investors to Samsung stocks and Samsung Electronics itself as Samsung strongly needs Apple for its corporate sustainability.
Apple is ``double-edged sword’’ for Samsung because Samsung sells components to Apple, while it competes with the U.S. company for value-added consumer products.
Although Samsung is the top television maker, most of Samsung profits were still coming from memory chips and flat-screens where customer base is more than crucial.
Samsung grabs Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony and other leading technology companies as its key clients to sell chips and flat-screens, however, Apple is one of the biggest ones to bring sizable revenues to Samsung.
Samsung sold 6.18 trillion won to Apple for the full last year, slightly below than Sony’s 6.8 trillion won, data from the Korea Exchange (KRX) showed.
A4 and A5 application processors (APs) that power iPhone 4 and iPad 2 are also provided by Samsung.
Also the devices use Samsung’s flash memory chips. Recently, Apple has begun using solid-state drives (SSDs) by Samsung in its MacBook Air laptops, according to Samsung officials.
``Samsung still has a plan to secure our key clients,’’ said a senior Samsung spokesman.
``That’s why Samsung is aiming to end the legal battle fast. If the fights go south, then that will hurt both Samsung and Apple. Without qualified chips and flat-screens, Apple should not ship more of its products. Deteriorating corporate ties is not the thing that Samsung wants,’’ said another industry executive.
