Samsung is looking to support its wide range of wearables and peripherals through new and updated applications running on the iPhone. While this will increase the utility of the hardware, it does a disservice to the upcoming Galaxy flagship handsets, and could impact on Samsung's smartphone health for years to come.
Applications will be offered on iOS to support Samsung's Gear 2 smartwatch, the Gear Fit health and exercise tracker, and the comprehensive S Health suite (reports SamMobile):
In terms of home entertainment, Samsung is bringing iOS support for the Galaxy View. The company is developing the Remote Control and Family Square apps for the iOS, which can be used to remotely control the Galaxy View using an iPhone and allow different users to stream content to the movable display. There are plans to release the Level app for Samsung’s Level audio devices as well, which will enable iPhone users to use these devices and make use of various effects and an official way of control.
Al of this is admirable, and as the 'Internet of Things' continues to grow and consumer electronics become more connected, ensuring that Samsung's electronics can be accessed through any smartphone on the market. Given the bias of high-end users with disposable income to use an iOS device, releasing the applications for iOS makes sense for Samsung's consumer electronics division.
The problem is Samsung's mobile devices division. It's already struggling to maintain sales of the high-end high-margin Galaxy flagships, with the product mix starting to move towards mid-tier devices like the Galaxy A9. The Galaxy S7 needs to stabilise this trend and start to reverse it. That means ensuring existing Galaxy users upgrade to the S7 family of devices, and this is where the cross-platform peripheral support has an unintended consequence.
These new apps provide an escape route for Samsung peripheral owners to move not to another Android device (where they could easily be brought back to Samsung in terms of data and app compatibility), but to another platform altogether. Currently the smart devices create a lock-in to the Android platform because of the requirements for applications to drive the devices. As the time comes to upgrade a smartphone, one consideration will be if a new handset will work with existing devices.
If Samsung does release the existing batch of applications and clearly indicate that more are on the way, one of the biggest barriers for existing owners to switch away and move to an iOS-powered devices is removed. Add in Apple's own 'Move to iOS' application to help export data, and users have a well-defined path to the other side. The grass may or may not be greener, but the perception certainly is and Samsung has made it that little bit easier to find out.
In a year when the focus has to be to maintain flagship smartphone sales, Samsung's mobile division now has to face up to another division in the South Korean company hampering a strategy vital to the company's fortunes.
