“Microsoft’s announcement that it is writing off the Nokia devices acquisition represents commendable candor on the part of CEO Nadella,” Mark Hibben writes for Seeking Alpha. “It also represents only the second time that a major competitor to Apple has thrown in the towel on emulating the Apple business model, the first time being Google’s sale of Motorola. Vertical integration of hardware, software and services in mobile devices has fueled unparalleled profitability for Apple. Why has the formula not worked for Apple’s competitors?”
“The write off of Nokia and the spin-off of Motorola leave significant unanswered questions about the mobile device strategies of Microsoft and Google going forward,” Hibben writes. “The key takeaway for Apple investors is that Apple is endowed with a powerful advantage in smartphones that no other company has been able to duplicate. Apple’s chief competitors in mobile device operating systems are Microsoft and Google. If they’ve given up on emulating Apple, who is left? The obvious answer is Samsung and… I view Samsung as a diminishing threat. I don’t see any other company overcoming Apple’s advantage in the next five years.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Samsung is a joke. They’re only successes have been blatant knockoffs of Apple products – and even that dubious and rather illegal “strategy” is failing them now. Samsung doesn’t have a chance in Tizen.