Although Samsung has been dominant in the smartphone space for the last few years, one Android insider says they're going to lose to the competition. Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster doesn't think Samsung can hang in there for too much longer. In fact, he told Business Insider that Samsung will get "slaughtered" by the competition in five years.
Cyanogen makes a very popular forked version of Android called CyanogenMod. The the old days (3 years ago), hackers and geeks used CyanogenMod to "mod" their Android phones, essentially installing a new version of Android on their phones. The new mod enabled new features that the phone manufacturer did not provide. The whole process was niche until the OnePlus One phone came pre-loaded with CyanogenMod. The OnePlus One proved to be very popular and CyanogenMod got a larger audience.
Cyanogen is now taking it to the next level by making a deal with QualComm. The deal will allow QualComm to sell its chips to phone manufacturers and provide Cyanogen's software too. That means many phone manufacturers can purchase the chip and software from one place and that will change the market. It will give CyanogenMod a much larger audience, and will eat into Samsung's marketshare.
When asked about his five year prediction for Samsung, McMaster did not back down.
What do you think? Is he right? Will Samsung be toast in 5 years? Let me know in the comments.
Cyanogen makes a very popular forked version of Android called CyanogenMod. The the old days (3 years ago), hackers and geeks used CyanogenMod to "mod" their Android phones, essentially installing a new version of Android on their phones. The new mod enabled new features that the phone manufacturer did not provide. The whole process was niche until the OnePlus One phone came pre-loaded with CyanogenMod. The OnePlus One proved to be very popular and CyanogenMod got a larger audience.
Cyanogen is now taking it to the next level by making a deal with QualComm. The deal will allow QualComm to sell its chips to phone manufacturers and provide Cyanogen's software too. That means many phone manufacturers can purchase the chip and software from one place and that will change the market. It will give CyanogenMod a much larger audience, and will eat into Samsung's marketshare.
When asked about his five year prediction for Samsung, McMaster did not back down.
It could get pretty bad pretty damn quick. This is often the case. Look what happened to Research In Motion (RIM). Look what happened to Nokia. Last summer Micromax surpassed Samsung as the dominant feature phone player in India. We're talking literally in eight months this occurred.
This is just one market. We see this happen all over the world. We see these local kings, [such as] Blu Products in Latin America [and] Cherry Mobile in the Philippines. All of these guys are arising. They understand local marketing and distribution better than any incumbent that attempts to move into the region. These guys are hustlers; they’re fast moving. They know what it takes to influence market dynamics.
This is just one market. We see this happen all over the world. We see these local kings, [such as] Blu Products in Latin America [and] Cherry Mobile in the Philippines. All of these guys are arising. They understand local marketing and distribution better than any incumbent that attempts to move into the region. These guys are hustlers; they’re fast moving. They know what it takes to influence market dynamics.
What do you think? Is he right? Will Samsung be toast in 5 years? Let me know in the comments.