That there is an ongoing struggle for domination between Asian and American (as well as European) IT and electronics companies is no secret. It undeniably manifests everywhere, everyday. The consumer electronics market is no longer ruled by a few major American and European companies. As economic titans in the West lose their stronghold and previously unchallenged dominance in many business and technology sectors, Asian companies are making it clear that they are formidable competitors capable of eventually taking the top spot.
Sampling the rivalry…
The ongoing East vs. West rivalry can be demonstrated by a number of instances. Most of these involve mobile hardware and patents.
Apple vs. Samsung
Probably the most well-known among these is the heated rivalry between Apple and Samsung. After years of numerous lawsuits, the two leading companies in the mobile electronics market are still locking horns over a number of allegations. Apple's landmark victory at an American court against Samsung is widely viewed by consumers as a "hometown decision" alleged to be heavily influenced by pro-American sentiment.
When it comes to courts, Apple, which is on the offensive for the most part, seems to have the upper hand. South Korean owned Samsung appears to be the one always trying to defend itself from lawsuits. It is even getting snide comments and an indirect legal attack from Finnish-owned Nokia.
Nokia vs. HTC
Then we have Nokia vs. HTC skirmish. Many were expecting that Nokia would get agitated and use its legal cards when HTC launched its flagship Windows Mobile smartphone, the HTC 8X, a device that was almost a Lumia dead ringer. No lawsuit materialized, fortunately. However, with the release of the well-received HTC One, Nokia decided it was time to use the courts. Nokia filed a case to ban HTC One sales in the US because it allegedly infringes on a number of the company's patents as well as on Nokia's supposedly exclusive use of an HDR voice recording technology provided by STMicroelectronics.
Chinese Companies vs. The Government?
In the midst of all these rivalries, it's somewhat unusual how Western companies are not lifting a finger over Chinese competitors. Based on Apple's allegations against Samsung, it should be more logical to launch a multitude of lawsuits against Chinese imitation products that blatantly copy the company's designs and even its logo. Even Apple stores are being copied. It's not surprising why a New York Times article is making a quite harsh accusation about one Chinese company (Xiaomi) trying to build an empire by copying Apple.
The notorious "piracy and imitation industry" of China ought to be the target of companies that value intellectual property. However, lawsuits from Western electronics companies seem remotely possible. Apple, Nokia and other companies whose products are the ones most commonly copied in China don't seem to care. Could this be the reason why Western governments are trying to get involved? The calls from government officials to shun knockoffs appear to be getting louder after the US Government announced that it is probing Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese telecom equipment vendors over spying concerns. Recently, the British have also raised espionage fears over the use of Chinese telecom equipment.
Sure, these government-initiated attacks are limited to only a few Chinese companies. However, upon closer inspection, it's not difficult to speculate on the intentions behind such active government attacks over emerging Chinese companies in the electronics sector. An accusation from a government agency—supposedly a reliable and impartial body—sends a strong message to consumers. This message is by no means favorable to the accused even with the fact that the US is also embroiled in an allegation on hacking into China.
Would you buy a product that is being associated with espionage? Would you spend your money on a device made by and in a country insinuated by your government as an enemy? If you were a patriotic American, you would prefer not to.
The Android Context
If you look for a common denominator among these rivalries, you'll find the Android operating system. While everyone is busy fighting or competing against each other, Android silently keeps growing. Not even the Chinese could escape the clutches of Android, an American technology. So how does one party in a rivalry properly compete if it's riding on the other's platform? Can you say the West is winning over the East because it has laid out the platform on which everyone is competing?
It's tricky analyzing Android's role in all these rivalries. It appears to be an ally to all sides but it seems to pose threats that make everyone wary. Take Samsung's venture with Tizen for example. It is believed that the leading Android device maker is eager to adopt a new operating system because it wants to reduce its reliance on Android and to use the new operating system as leverage against Google's ambiguous role and intentions. After getting in trouble with Apple, despite having long years of a mutually beneficial business relationship, Samsung seems leery and would want to avoid instances when it finds itself at a disadvantage.
With Chinese mobile device manufacturers, Android seems to be the preferred operating system. However, it's apparent that the Chinese are also thinking along Samsung's idea of reducing dependence on Android. The Chinese are just more fortunate (compared to the South Koreans) that their web space is not yet dominated by Google and other American web companies. China has its own popular search engine (Baidu) and microblogging site (Weibo). If they wish to completely break away from Google's influence, they can turn to their principally Chinese web ecosystem—something that is already happening in few gradual steps.
E-commerce company Alibaba, for instance, is investing nearly $600 million in Weibo to develop a new smartphone operating system. Earlier, Chinese government officials have already called for the lessened dependence of the Chinese on Android, a technology developed and maintained by a rival country.
The Google Context
It is apparent that Asian companies are acknowledging that their reliance on Android will eventually be a disadvantage for them. Google is already ruling the Internet in most parts of the world. It controls web search. It has the world mapped and snapped with Google Earth and Google Maps. The company also has a popular free email service. Despite failing to put up a convincing competition against Facebook, its social media network stays afloat. All this dominance on the web is viewed as a threat not only by other companies in America. This dominance is also a threat to Asian companies that are unable to establish their own competing platforms because of Google's presence.
Samsung has become the leading smartphone seller in the world with the help of Google's Android operating system. While it has successfully dominated hardware sales, it couldn't claim complete victory as much of its success depends on Google's platform. As most users of the Internet already know, Google is not just a software company. Its acquisition of Motorola means that it can now compete against hardware sellers if it so desires. It's also worth mentioning that the acquisition of Motorola comes with an extensive portfolio of patents that Google can use to its advantage.
Formidable China
The establishment of the Great Firewall of China is doubtlessly advantageous in allowing Chinese companies to more firmly stand up against Western businesses—not necessary in terms of cyber warfare. The Chinese are the ones most likely to succeed in a competition against American and European web and electronics companies. Their somewhat isolated Internet, growing economy, status as a manufacturing country, explosive population, and expanding middle class are enviable.
However, because they need to export the products they manufacture, they are bound to meeting demands that already exist. Foreign markets prefer Android and some iOS, both non-Eastern platforms. China's domestic market is leaning towards Android while the rest of it is primarily claimed by iOS and Symbian (yes that platform thought to have officially died last week). The Chinese have yet to establish a mobile platform that can put up a decent competition.
Putting a stand against Android
Breaking away from Android or Google is going to take time. Long-term planning is needed and it also requires collaboration among major players. It will be a massive challenge to convince foreign markets to ditch Android or to use Baidu, Bing or Yahoo instead of Google. Similarly, it won't be easy offering an alternative platform that consumers would willingly try. The Firefox and Ubuntu operating systems have been announced but they don't seem to attract enough consumer attention despite being well-received by developers. The same is true with Jolla and Tizen. Nobody seemed to have bothered when Samsung announced that it will delay the release of its first Tizen handset to the fourth quarter.
Chinese companies have more marketing to do to finally graduate from being viewed as copycats. It took Samsung years and billions of marketing money to finally come head to head with Apple, eventually shrugging off the accusation of apery. The Chinese would also need more marketing efforts to convince consumers that they are capable of delivering quality products, to depart from the reputation of producing knockoffs. Additionally, they should probably need to consider rebranding. For instance, the company Huawei suffers ridicule from English-speaking consumers because of the apparent difficulty in pronouncing the company's name. How do they expect to be remembered if prospective customers could hardly pronounce their company's name?
Rivalries always happen in business. They get amplified when governments and die-hard brand fans are involved. The perceived East vs. West competition among web and mobile device companies resulted from the current socio-political dynamics. It is not necessarily driven by consumer sentiment and a sense of nationalism or regionalism. Hence, whatever happens, the results are likely to benefit consumers as companies try to outdo each other to offer better products and technologies to entice users.
*Image from NYTimes.com
*Image from NYTimes.com
