三星如何保住手机霸主地位

    2012年是三星电子（Samsung Electronics）大获丰收的一年。上周晚些时候，这家韩国电子巨头宣布，由于盖世（Galaxy）系列智能手机的热卖，公司2012年第四季度净利润相比去年同期暴涨76%。据调研机构策略分析公司（Strategy Analytics）最新发布的报告预计，三星2012年智能手机的总出货量达到2.13亿部，创下单个手机厂商年出货量的历史记录。三星目前在全球智能手机市场的份额为30%，而其主要竞争对手苹果（Apple）仅为19%。

    虽然三星已经毫无疑问地登上了智能手机冠军宝座，但其必须奋发图强，保住来之不易的胜利果实。它意味着三星要在硬件上大量创新，同时向客户提供更多的软件服务。唯有如此，才能继续保持其手机的吸引力。

    在北美等发达市场，智能手机销量增速已逐渐放缓。策略分析公司高级分析师尼尔•沙在最近的公司报告中写道：“随着智能手机在北美和西欧等发达地区大量普及，它的全球出货量增速已从2011年的64%下滑至2012年的43%。”而在其它市场，不断涌现的廉价智能手机——大部分也是搭载谷歌（Google）Android操作系统——可能对三星造成威胁。上周，三星在发布财报时曾明确警告智能手机需求或将放缓。三星在新闻稿中称：“去年全球智能手机市场经历了爆炸式增长，但随着新产品不断上市和价格竞争加剧，今年智能手机增速将会放缓。”

    因为大部分新产品也搭载了Android系统，所以三星需要尽可能使自己的手机与众不同。三星是毋庸置疑的硬件专家，不断创新并大批量生产硬件，规模之大，可谓史无前例——三星自行制造绝大部分智能手机硬件，从高端屏幕到四核处理器，悉数囊括。三星还耗资千万美元，在苹果的自留地美国进行了一场空前成功的广告营销。不过，三星能否称雄软件生态系统领域仍然是个未知数。苹果和谷歌的内容服务、应用程序商店和操作系统在此早已根深蒂固。归根到底：如果在消费者眼中，三星是与音乐或地图等关键服务联系在一起，那么他们更有可能认为三星手机比其它较便宜的手机更有价值。

    如果三星真的想在软件大战中有所作为——无论是继续依托于Android开发，还是另起炉灶，推出自家操作系统——它都应该增加在硅谷的投资，扩大在硅谷的实力。毕竟，硅谷聚集了大量移动软件人才。而三星似乎正在这样做。去年12月，三星宣布将在圣何塞兴建面积达110万平方英尺的研发中心。三星还计划在帕洛阿尔托建立一家新创企业孵化公司，并将在下月披露更多有关“旨在推动硅谷创新理念和促进新创企业发展”的信息。

    It's been a very good year for Samsung Electronics. Late last week the Korean hardware giant announced that its fourth-quarter profit rose a whopping 76% from the year before, mainly due to strong sales of its popular Galaxy line of smartphones. Overall, the company shipped an estimated 213 million smartphones in 2012, the largest amount ever shipped by a single vendor in one year, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics. Samsung now owns 30% of the global smartphone market, ahead of archrival Apple's 19% share.

    But while Samsung has clearly achieved world domination, it will have to move fast to hold on to that title. That means churning out even more hardware innovations and delivering software services that will make its devices stickier with consumers.

    In developed markets like North America, growth in smartphone sales is already waning. "Global shipment growth slowed from 64% in 2011 to 43% in 2012 as penetration of smartphones began to mature in developed regions such as North America and Western Europe," Neil Shah, a senior analyst with Strategy Analytics, wrote in the company's recent report. In other markets, an influx of cheaper devices—many of them also built on Google's (GOOG) Android operating system—could threaten Samsung. The company issued its own not-so-subtle warning of slowing demand when it announced earnings last week. In a press release, Samsung said the "furious growth spurt seen in the global smartphone market last year is expected to be pacified by intensifying price competition compounded by a slew of new products."

    Because many of these new products also run on Android, Samsung will need to do more to differentiate itself from the pack. It's already proven that it can innovate and mass-produce hardware on an unprecedented scale—the company makes many of its smartphones' building blocks, from high-end screens to quad-core processors. It's also poured millions of dollars into a remarkably successful ad campaign that knocks Apple (AAPL) in its own backyard (the U.S. market). But what it hasn't done is prove that it can compete on the software ecosystem front, where Apple and Google's content services, app stores and operating systems rule. It comes down to this: If consumers associate Samsung with crucial services like music or mapping, they're more likely to see their shiny piece of hardware as more valuable than another, possibly cheaper shiny piece of hardware.

    If the company was serious about competing in the software battle—whether it chooses to build on top of Android or promote its own operating system—then it would probably need to increase its presence and investment in the Silicon Valley, where a large pool of mobile software talent now resides. It appears to be doing just that—finally. In December Samsung announced it is building out a 1.1-million-square-foot R&D center in San Jose. It also plans to open a new startups incubator in Palo Alto, and is expected to unveil more details about its "vision for accelerating innovative ideas and start-ups in Silicon Valley" next month.