It’s almost impossible to miss the stories that come across the newswire about one tech giant suing another tech giant over a patent, trademark, supply chain or some other reason. However, while it may appear that the tech industry is constantly at each other’s throats, there’s actually a lot of evidence that the exact opposite is true.
Channelplace, a network for tech companies to find partners, created an infographic that shows the relationships between some of the biggest names in the tech industry. You can find the infographic here.
Google and Samsung
The first partnership it discusses is the one between Google and Samsung. This partnership has helped Samsung achieve a strong share of the mobile device market, but it appears to have been even more beneficial for Google. While Samsung devices make up 31 percent of the mobile industry, Google’s operating system, Android, can be found on a whopping 80 percent of smart-phones. Both parties have benefited by the strength of their partner in this situation.
Microsoft and AT&T
Microsoft’s partnership with AT&T gives us insight into the B2B enterprise space. Through their partnership, AT&T was able to offer Microsoft’s enterprise solutions to their 3.5 million customers. This allowed for a strong product offering but also gave Microsoft a stranglehold on the enterprise software space. Currently 50 percent of the Fortune 500 companies utilize Microsoft enterprise solutions for their software needs.
Samsung and Apple
The most interesting partnership that is examined in the infographic is the one between Samsung and Apple. These two bitter rivals are often at each other’s throats in courts all around the world. They’ve won decisions against each other with settlements ranging from a few million dollars to some over a billion dollars. You’d think that these two behemoths would want nothing to do with each other. However, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Both Apple and Samsung rely on each other for parts and technologies to build their industry-leading smartphones. Samsung provides Apple with components for their iPhones and iPads, while licensing patents from Apple to build their Galaxy line of smartphones.
In fact, last year alone, Samsung received over 10 billion dollars from Apple for various components for their mobile product line. That amounted to 17 percent of Samsung’s total sales.
So, while the industry might be a hotbed of litigation, the truth is that most tech companies require partnerships in order to expedite their path to market and solidify the technology of their product offerings.
Volker Wiora is founder and chairman of channelXperts, a group of business professionals that help vendors grow their international, indirect sales channels. He is also the driving force behind collaborative solutions that help accelerate channel success: Channelplace.net, Channeldrive.net and Channelvoice.net. He held various board level and executive advisory positions with leading IT vendors. Prior to wiora Ventures, he was VP, EMEA and CIO of Altiris, a disruptive systems management vendor acquired by Symantec in 2007.