“Making smartphones that run Google’s Android mobile operating system is less profitable than it once was, so Samsung is increasingly looking to software and services for new sources of income,” Alistair Barr and Jonathan Cheng report for The Wall Street Journal. “The shift can put Samsung at odds with Google, its long-time Android partner. Nowhere is this tension clearer than in mobile payments, where both companies are working on their own services. ”
“Samsung acquired LoopPay this week, getting technology that enables contact-less payments from phones on most store checkout terminals in the U.S.,” Barr and Cheng report. David Eun, head of Samsung’s Global Innovation Center, and former Google employee, “downplayed talk of tension between Samsung and Google, describing the Internet giant as ‘a super-important strategic partner.’ But he said Samsung must stay committed to its own users, and “committed to creating the different experiences and devices that they want.”
“Dual payments efforts by Google and Samsung raise the prospect that new Samsung smartphones could have two payment services, which could be confusing for some users, said Tim Sloane, a payments analyst at Mercator Advisory Group,” Barr and Cheng report. “That’s especially true in comparison to Apple’s latest iPhones with its Apple Pay service, he said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Android. Too many crooks in the kitchen.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analyst: Samsung’s LoopPay acquisition is ‘totally useless’ – February 20, 2015
Apple Pay proves Apple continues to out-innovate would-be competitors – February 20, 2015
19 more banks sign on to Apple Pay, bringing current total to 90 – February 18, 2015
Apple Pay wins consumers’ hearts with focus on security – February 17, 2015
Apple Pay takes off, leaving moribund competitors in the dust – January 27, 2015
No Honor among the Apple thieves.
Android. Too many crooks in the kitchen.™
Priceless.
Cute. :-).
I love this quote, “committed to creating the different experiences and devices that they want.”
Substitute “will settle for” for “want.”
Google is a thief and Samsung is a parasite and a thief. They deserve each other.
Stealing is bad Karma and Karma is one vindictive bitch.
Loopy behind the times idea from what I’ve read and not up with security needs.
No indeed. I went into lecture mode about it last PoopPay article.
Maybe you should read some more about loopy at http://www.looppay.com I started using this before iPhone 6 was released. It works great, there are no security issues that I read about. I’m sorry to see such a dedicated company gets sold to a loser like Samsung. But for the two co owners this is what they do. For one of them this is his 3 pos payment company he sold. Looppay was a descent company.
“Looppay was a descent [sic] company.” Now that is both funny and accurate! It may have been “decent,” but no more.
Yep. Almost anti-security from what I’ve checked out.
… So let’s FIGHT IT OUT! Which payment system, Google’s or Samsung’s, sucks MORE?!
‘I suck worst!’
‘No I SUCK WORST!’
:-Q*****
Android is all about options.. As long as the end user can select which one is ‘default’ I don’t see any real conflict or confusion for the user. Big click-bait article.. 😛
Google created its own monster with Android & Samsung and now that creation is biting back. Gee who coulda seen THAT coming?
All shows to go yah Apples model of owning both software and hardware is the safest, most trustworthy and most dependable one. Not to mention profitable.
Adding to what Peter said:
It is in Samsung’s better interest to get away from Google (tho we all know the entanglements).
Its hard to say who is the more lousy half of the Android system: Google or the phone makers.
Android “less profitable than it once was”???
Two cents less profitable? Android was never profitable to any one, it was a desperate move to try to fool people into thinking they could have apple like products for less.
Microsoft made money from Android.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-most-profitable-mobile-operating-system-android/
FTR, while the model is under siege, it has been profitable in some ways for Google.
1. They give away the AOSP part of the OS, but charge the makers a fairly hefty amount for all of the Google Services without which Android phones are pretty useless without an entire alternate service system and store.
2. The Play store.
3. All of the monetizeable info collected and all of the ads delievered.
Whether it’s profitable or not leans heavily on whether or not the costs involved (including opportunity costs) are worth more than the revenue coming in. Do not discount how much it cost Google in terms of goodwill between Google and Apple for Google ripping off Apple via Android. The full effects of that may not even be known at this time, but you can well bet that Apple’s future plans are to cut Google out of as much as possible in the iPhone and future markets that Apple creates.
Then you have to consider all the development costs and other management costs to determine how profitable Android is. I suspect it makes them money but I’m not sure it was a better play than to partner with Apple, and Blackberry, etc.