Samsung software strategy (or lack of one)
I own couple of Samsung android phone, earlier generation Galaxy phones. They have seen no official software updates and they run on Android 1.6! I wondered how could Samsung continue to ignore their handsets. I believe there is a good reason why their software update cycle sucks. The answer is in their business model.
For example, Apple when it sells a iPhone doesn’t recognize the entire unit price (about ~$650) as revenues. It sets aside certain portion aside for supporting the phone after sales. On the contrary, Samsung recognizes the entire price as revenues and has no amortized revenue recognition for support. This would mean Samsung has no economic incentive to provide updates, unless it can charge for them. Here is where the recent news from somebody inside Samsung makes sense. Samsung wants to charge for those frigging android updates and telecos have no incentive to oblige.
All this boils down to strategy at Samsung, ‘don’t bother about software’. I hope Samsung follows the Sony way into the oblivion with its phones business.
