2nd IT World War
Fierce competition to dominate the market triggered by the Internet of Things (IoT), so called the second IT world war, accelerates market participants to form alliances. Each of them aims to obtain the “new market power” through creating an independent ecosystem in the fields of the IoT, in which standard communication criteria and operating systems (OSs) are not compatible with each other.
An industry official said, “Competition through alliances is becoming fiercer in various fields including the IoT. As power to dominate the standard criteria as well as technology is likely to bring victory, it has no meaning to differentiate allies and enemies.”
According to related industry sources on July 21, there are three major united forces -- Apple, Google, and the third power -- to achieve IoT technology standards, a key to victory. As Apple and Google are ambitiously trying to control the IoT market based on their specialties in the smartphone business, other companies started forming united forces as well to not lose market leadership.
In order to predominate the IoT technology standard, Samsung Electronics announced its participation in the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) formed mainly by Intel. The primary purpose is to create a common OS based on industry technology standards so that inter-device database building and wireless sharing will be possible, even when OSs and service providers are different.
This is a direct response to the “AllSeen Alliance” led by Qualcomm. 51 partners including LG Electronics, Panasonic, and Sharp joined this alliance, and so did Microsoft recently. Furthermore, Samsung Electronics, in order to minimize risks, is playing a dual strategy by deciding to join the “Thread Group,” another IoT standardization consortium, led by Google as well.
Alliances are also forming in the industrial software market. Apple and IBM, thirty-year-old enemies, have decided to cooperate with each other. Apple, with its exclusive contract with IBM, will develop iPhones and iPads equipped with enterprise business applications, and start selling them this fall. IBM will also develop cloud services optimized for Apple's mobile OS. Based on this alliance, both companies can officially target the industrial software market.
Against this, Samsung Electronics is prepared to hit the enterprise market even stronger based on its cooperation with Google. Google announced to integrate KNOX, a security solution developed by Samsung Electronics, with Google Android OS at Google Innovation in the Open (IO). It will be easier to attract enterprises and public organizations when Samsung Electronics, the most advanced Android hardware manufacturer, and Google are trying to enhance smartphone security together.
Another form of alliance is inter-industry cooperation. Apple has already formed a strong collaboration system with Nike, a sports equipment company, in the wearable device market. Samsung Electronics is also preparing cooperation with Under Armor, another sports equipment company. Google is attempting to enhance its health care businesses by developing smart lenses with Novartis. These lenses will be able to cure patients with vision control problems by operating like the auto-focus function of cameras and measuring blood sugar.