The personal website of Matt Henderson.
19 March 2014
Remember those funny videos of people like George Bush or Dan Quayle incoherently rambling on about something? You know, the ones that make you cry, “What the hell is he saying!?!” Well, I’m frequently reminded of those when I listen to the Cubed Podcast.
I listen to Cubed in order to hear Benedict Evans, a very clever analyst who focuses on technology. But he’s got this co-host on the show, whose name I can’t recall, with an amazing ability to speak at length—without actually saying anything at all.
Here’s a transcript of the co-host rambling on, without pause, for a full two minutes on Episode 19, beginning at the 52.12 mark:
So, you know, we have a few minutes left. Let’s spend a few minutes on, I guess, just Samsung, and to some degree Apple, and I say that because, what we’ve just talked about, I think, which is valid, and if you don’t remember, one of the things I talked about, I saw the same thing that you saw, Benedict, with the smartphones makers from China with TVs at CES. They had huge booths, um, crazy amounts of Chinese OEMs I’ve never heard before, with gigantic booths at CES showing off their TVs. And as an aside, I sorta wonder if these two strategies sorta go in parallel, sell displays into emerging markets, sell phones into emerging markets, because I know some of them are the same brands, TCL for example, is a huge smartphone maker in both China, from a brand standpoint, as well as TV. And one of the things I think might speak to kinda these other strategies, but that’s what we just talked about, sort of the possible chipping away of ecosystems, along with how good some of these competitors are getting. I mean, that’s really the competition that’s gonna, you know, keep Apple at bay in emerging markets. But what does that mean for developed markets? I mean you, I look at what’s the roadmap then, that Apple has to address, or even Samsung has to address, to continue competing in those markets if, again not that all those consumers are going to go low end, that’s certainly not going to happen, but I mean, the dynamics are changing. I mean, I’m a little less concerned about Apple than I am about Samsung, but again they’re not going to grow for some of these things we talked about unless they do something towards these other tiers, and I just don’t think that’s in Apple’s cards, for example, and Samsung seems, to me, to be almost saying, “We kinda have to give up a little on the low end because we just can’t make it there and we need to evolve and become more of a competitive player on the high end.” which means, software services, etc.
OMG. What on earth did he just say?! I think (unless I’m wrong) he just spent two full minutes to say, “Chinese companies are addressing the low end. And some are selling TVs and phones.”
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