back to article Samsung spanks Apple in world's biggest mobile market

Apple’s efforts to dominate the largest mobile market in the world are being frustrated by old foe Samsung and its own stubborn refusal to bring out a 3G device compatible with market-leading network China Mobile. According to Gartner stats picked by Bloomberg, Apple still languishes in fifth place in the smartphone market in …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    That's all well and good

    But are there any Samsung branded Gas Stoves?

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/24/iphone_gas_stoves/

    Why! Yes there are!

    http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/home-appliances/cooker-hobs/gas

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Facepalm

      Re: That's all well and good

      Uh ho - Those hobs have rounded corners.

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Alert

        Re: That's all well and good

        Hang on, how long have Samsung been making hobs?

        Could that be..............prior art?

  2. Gordon 10
    Thumb Down

    Well Duh

    Dont you think Apple would have already done the Cost Benefit analysis on this and included exactly whether and when this was worth doing.

    So in effect this story is Apple refuses to discuss long term detailed business plans with press.

    Just like every other major manufacturer.

    1. thesykes

      Re: Well Duh

      Worlds largest population, largest provider in that country.. potentially millions of new customers... just how much extra cost would there be to develop the required gadgetry to get it working?

      At 30% markup on the things, I doubt any extra cost of the phones would really make much of a dent in those profits... do you?

    2. bazza Silver badge

      @Gordon 10, Re: Well Duh

      In The Beginning Apple chose to go with GSM then UMTS (rest of the world) ahead of CDMA2000 (USA). Clearly they'd decided to pursue the majority market first, for understandable reasons. But you'd have thought that the attraction of a few hundred million extra customers would be appealing, even for Apple.

      It does seem to call into question the depth of Apple's engineering outfit. If Samsung and everyone else can spare a few engineers to shoehorn in a TD-SCDMA baseband into their phones, why can't Apple? Are they lacking staff in their engineering department? Did they not consider the different basebands when they designed the kit? Are they now find themselves having to make big changes to the internals to accommodate the different chips (if that is in fact necessary...)?

      Having said that, it's hard to question anything about Apple's strategy when they've got $90billion in the bank.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Slow news day?

    If the title had been "Apple still hasn't made a TD-SCDMA 3G iPhone" you could have left out the content.

  4. Bob Vistakin
    FAIL

    Its AT&T all over again

    The person Android owes its dominance to the most is Steve Jobs. Had he not been so arrogant and greedy with the US Carriers at the iPhones launch, he would have cut deals with Verizon etc and Android would have been a minority player, jostling for relevance the way Symbian and WP7 is today. No, the master knew best and was incapable of swallowing his pride, to the extent that when it finally did arrive on those carriers, Android had such traction it was unstoppable.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Its AT&T all over again

      It did have something to do with net neutrality as well. Jobs wouldn't cave in but google did on mobile devices at Verizons insistence

      http://gizmodo.com/5605310/google-just-killed-net-neutrality

      and many other links if you care to search. Google have been evil a long time and people have short memories

    2. ThomH

      Re: Its AT&T all over again

      I think it's more that Android brings a decent interface to products across the market, from the budget end upward and in a variety of combinations. Although they've made concessions recently, such as continuing to offer the 3GS for free or almost free on a contract, Apple primarily target only the premium end of the market, with a single product.

      Sure, Verizon were first to give Android a big push as something larger than the individual manufacturers combined and in that sense Apple's strategy may have given Android some early momentum, but Apple was never going to overwhelm Samsung, Motorola, HTC and a bunch of others combined.

  5. sisk

    15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

    Why for the love of all that's holy would you pay for an iPhone and then put it on a 2G network??

    1) Buy an uber expensive phone.

    2) Neuter it.

    1. Pierre Castille
      Facepalm

      Re: 15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

      For the same reason that many people buy expensive watches (a Rolex?) and then don't set them to the correct time - a very common phenomenon over much of the world, particularly South East Asia, Carribean and Latin America. It is a status symbol, nothing more and nothing less.

      As evidence of this, I offer you fake Rolexes as well as fake iPhones.

    2. Naughtyhorse
      Trollface

      Re: 15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

      pay for an iPhone and then put it on a 2G....

      the little indicator on the phone prolly says 3g, if not 4g, and appletards are notorious tech duffers who would never know the difference.

      Infrastructure? who needs it, this one works on magic!

      1. MikeCorris
        Thumb Down

        Re: 15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

        Believe it or not - 3G isn't available everywhere in the UK either. Doesn't make buying an iPhone a waste of time.

        1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

          Re: 15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

          You're right, there's plenty of other things that make buying an iPhone a waste of time.

    3. blondie101
      Devil

      Re: 15m people using iPhones on a 2G network?

      Our use wifi? Like most people do with a smartphone whenever they can.

  6. Gil Grissum
    Pint

    Unless someone here is from China and waving a red flag, who really cares who is selling more phones in China? I'm more interested in who sells the most noodles in China. :-)

  7. Chimp

    I question...

    ... the 2G bit. Sure, they are probably provided for use on a2G network, but my own experience is that 3G in China is surprisingly good, even out in the boonies. Wonder if people might, you know, do the obvious.

    Or perhaps the knob end earlier on talking about how ' they' are all mental for shiny shiny is right.

  8. Jeff 11
    Thumb Down

    Just because is conceivably profitable doesn't mean it's worth pursuing if the opportunity cost is high. I can safely assume that only a smallish fraction of those 650m people would buy an iPhone if it worked on TD-SCDMA. Pushing through billions of dollars to prototype, build and maintain another series of iPhone (which would only work in China) for something that'll yield a marginal return - and generate a perpetual support burden - is money that could be better spent on other stuff, which is more likely to net a bigger payoff.

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Coat

      So true

      But is it.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like