Samsung, Apple relations to enter new chapter

Market watchers say Samsung has chance to come out top


The tumultuous relationship between Samsung and Apple may be headed for a new chapter following the recent death of co-founder Steve Jobs, who had waged a fierce patent war with the South Korean electronics bellwether.

While Samsung declined to comment on the business implications of Jobs’ death out of respect for the deceased, industry watchers were quick to note that Samsung has been granted an extraordinary opportunity to fill the void Jobs has left.

“If Samsung can come up with a mind-blowing product with the right leadership, this is the time to do it,” said Martin Lindstrom, one of the world’s leading brand consultants.

He also advised Samsung to immediately move away from “copycat” designs and start producing more innovative gadgets.

“Samsung will take more and more market share from Apple only if it throws away Galaxy Tab which I really think is a copy of Apple’s iPad,” Lindstrom said.

Other market experts also have noted Apple may have to switch gears to a more accommodating stance now as Samsung makes more headway in both software development and smart devices to transform into tougher competition.

Relations between the world’s leading IT companies -- despite being heavily interdependent for parts and related infrastructure -- started to sour in recent years over a protracted patent lawsuit -- a suit prompted by the California-based company that accused Samsung of ripping off its designs.

As early as August, some industry watchers had suggested Apple, under the helm of the new CEO Tim Cook, may assume a softer approach toward Samsung, including regarding the patent suit.

However, it is still early to predict a significant change in Apple’s policies, especially those that were personally molded by Jobs.

Samsung sources also had shown caution in predicting a sanguine future, saying they did not believe it would see any significant changes from Apple under the new leadership.

For now, the South Korean company is avidly taking measures of its own to try and get ahead of Apple in the software race; the electronics maker recently forged several alliances with companies such as Intel and Microsoft involving cross-licensing deals and an agreement to jointly develop an open-platform operating system.

The move was widely interpreted to reduce Samsung’s reliance on external software-makers and cut down unnecessary legal costs.

By Kim Ji-hyun and Cynthia J. Kim

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com) (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)