“The man who led Samsung Electronics Co. to the top of the TV and cellphone industries, Choi Gee-sung, stepped down as chief executive officer Thursday and will be succeeded by the head of the company’s component businesses,” Evan Ramstad and Jung-Ah Lee report for The Wall Street Journal,” Evan Ramstad and Jung-Ah Lee report for The Wall Street Journal.
MacDailyNews Take: He led Samsung to the top of unit share of the cellphone industry. By slavishly copying Apple, which tops the cellphone industry in profit share by a large margin.
“The CEO’s power, however, is being diminished as Samsung tries to create more separation—or at least the image of it—between its consumer and component businesses,” Ramstad and Lee report. “Samsung said the leaders of the consumer-product divisions, including TVs and phones, will not report to the new CEO, Kwon Oh-hyun, who has led Samsung’s chip business since 2008 and took control of its display-components business last year. Chairman Lee Kun-hee will play the decisive role when the component and consumer product sides of Samsung conflict. Amid a parade of CEOs, Mr. Lee has long been Samsung’s most important executive, wielding considerable influence even when taking a less active role in the company’s day-to-day work.”
“Samsung’s competing interests are frequently discussed in the company and industry circles. Its ability to balance them flared into the public eye last year when Apple Inc., the largest buyer of Samsung’s chips and displays, sued it for allegedly copying the designs of the iPhone and iPad,” Ramstad and Lee report. “In public documents and testimony, Apple has not tied Samsung’s structure to the alleged patent infringement of its products. Since the suit, Samsung executives have become increasingly vocal about the lines of division between its businesses and taken several steps to make those lines more visible. In December, the company appointed Mr. Kwon as co-vice chairman with Mr. Choi and reshaped its financial reporting into two segments, called Device Solutions for components and Digital Media & Communications for consumer products.”
MacDailyNews Take: If you get repeatedly mugged for at least half a decade by the exact same mugger, do you continually buy the leather for your new wallets from your mugger while attempting to press charges in order to finally get him to stop mugging you? If you’re Tim Cook, you do.
Ramstad and Lee report, “As CEO, Mr. Kwon will handle ‘corporate-wide affairs,’ Samsung said. He will likely play a greater role in matters such as the Apple litigation. Last month, Mr. Choi led Samsung in court-ordered settlement talks in one of the Apple cases in the U.S… Mr. Lee, the son of Samsung’s founder and South Korea’s richest man, has controlled the firm since his father’s death in 1987 with emperor-like power. His day-to-day activity has varied, but he has been increasingly visible since returning to the chairmanship in 2010 after a two-year absence prompted by a fraud investigation.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Headroom: Apple takes 75% of mobile phone profits with just 9% of units sold – March 22, 2012
Now Samsung slavishly copies Apple’s Mac mini – June 1, 2012
Samsung unveils Apple iTunes knock-off – May 29, 2012
Samsung’s S Voice, an Apple Siri clone, leaks; Samsung blocks rival iPhone clones from using – May 21, 2012
Samsung’s Tizen prototype has a familiar home button: Apple’s – May 8, 2012
Slavish copier Samsung shamelessly steals Apple’s iPhone 3G design – again – January 3, 2012
Now Samsung’s slavishly copying Apple’s iPad television ads (with videos) – December 30, 2011
Samsung debuts Apple iPod touch knockoff – November 6, 2011
Samsung is so not copying Apple, here’s proof – September 28, 2011
Oh Samsung, you are making this too easy – September 24, 2011
Why are Apple’s icons on the wall of Samsung’s store? – September 24, 2011
Samsung’s ‘Instinct’ is obviously to make Apple iPhone knockoffs – April 1, 2008
New CEO’s name:
Rim Rook.
We don’t copy!
First Apple replaces its CEO in Aug 2011, and 10 months later, Samsung slavishly copies them and replaces their CEO!!
+++++
That’s awesome!
Puh what a relief, I thought they headhunted Steve Ballmer when I read the headline!
Thank god MIcrosoft is still in the safe hands of Ballmer.
speaking of Ballmer…………..oh where oh where is the sweaty fat bastard? WinBlows * is coming and I have seen hide nor hair (pun intended) of his girthship.
Best to keep Monkey Boy locked up in the Room Of Chairs for his throwing enjoyment. A public Ballmer is a very public embarassment to himself and his company. I would be surprised if Gates himself hadn’t told him to cool it and knock the Bozo act off.
But seriously, I wonder how much of this was pressure from Cook? They’re slavish copiers, but they’re extremely intelligent copiers… I’m sure they can see when the writing’s on the wall and need to protect themselves from one side or the other imploding. Whether we like it or not, this is a fantastic way for them to gain market share while they build or acquire a new, non-copied OS.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Samsung family. I would like to introduce our new CEO,
Xerox Chang! He makes fantastic copies at twice the speed and half the cost!”
i am pretty sure apple is suing them for copying not for allegedly copying. apple might allege that they are copying, but the suit has to be for the actual activity. sometimes writers just throw alleged into sentences without thinking about what they are writing.
Hostel takeover! Tim, take some of the cash that has fallen of the wheel barrel on the way to the bank and buy out Samsung Electronics please. Keep what Apple wants and sell or CRUSH the rest of it. Let it be an example to the other venders that may think about screwing with Apple! That is how you really “go thermal nuclear”!
I don’t want Apple to waste money crushing a viable company. I just want justice and my stock to keep its value. If they want a war, they both lose. If they want justice, let them bring it to a court and seek a fair resolution there.
We’re taking over an inexpensive boarding house??
LOL!!
Spoken like a true bleeding heart, namby-pamby liberal. Apple should kick them in the ass, punch them in the face and when they are on the ground stomp them into little pieces 🙂
Like the way Ryan Gosling pummeled the guy in the elevator in the movie, Drive?
yeah… ’cause war is free and we always win.
btw, nice purse dog.
The hired the Best Copier to be the new CEO.
He who copies best shall one day become King of the copyCats!