Industry watchers are suggesting that Samsung Electronics might find itself stuck between the US and China in the home Internet of Things (IoT) business. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Industry watchers are suggesting that Samsung Electronics might find itself stuck between the US and China in the home Internet of Things (IoT) business.
A report issued by the KT economic research laboratory predicted that Apple and Google will dominate the platform, and Chinese companies will be a conspicuous entity in hardware manufacturing, just like the current situation in the smartphone business.
The report predicted that Apple, which just released a new platform called Home Kit, would not be able to be the No.1 business operator, but will gain the lion’s share of the profits. The report also predicts that Google will be able to provide unique services using their cloud and big data technology, after they recently took over Nest Labs, a manufacturer of thermostats.
In addition, Chinese manufacturers such as Alibaba, Xiaomi and Haier were predicted to lead the smart home business with their low priced products.
In contrast, the report paints a negative picture for Samsung Electronics, which recently took over an IoT platform development company, Smart Things. Since the smart home market could be dominated by the company that has the best platform, the report was doubtful that Samsung Electronics will succeed, considering their history. Samsung Electronics failed to launch its own operating system, Bada, and gave up on the content business.
“High quality software technologies are required in order to complete a platform. Apple and Google have an advantage in that area over Samsung Electronics.”
The report added that there seems to be little time for domestic companies to figure out how they will be able to show good results in between Apple, Google and Chinese businesses.
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
