Skip to main content
https://www.highperformancecpmgate.com/rgeesizw1?key=a9d7b2ab045c91688419e8e18a006621

Samsung reportedly considering a Google deal that would deprioritize Bixby

For some time now, Bixby hasn’t been much of a talking point for Samsung. It seems that the smart assistant has lost its luster even for the company that once touted it as the centerpiece of its massive hardware ecosystem. And now, according to a new report, Samsung is consider dropping the smart assistant from its mobile devices altogether.

Word comes from Reuters this week, citing a “correspondence.” Details are vague, and Samsung is unsurprisingly pushing back on the suggestion that it’s dramatically scaling back its commitment to Bixby. The hardware powerhouse denies the suggestion that it’s going to be dropping the software and/or its Galaxy Store store from its own devices.

A spokesperson tells TechCrunch, “Samsung remains committed to our own ecosystem and services. At the same time, Samsung closely works with Google and other partners to offer the best mobile experiences for our users.” They add, more specifically, “Samsung will continue to offer Bixby and Galaxy Store on its devices. Both services are an important part of the Galaxy ecosystem.”

Per the report, the company is considering a rev-share deal that would put Google’s Assistant, search and Play Store in more prominent positions on its devices. It’s a deal that Google has been long been pushing for. And understandably so. Samsung currently controls the largest Android market share — and for that matter, the largest market share period, with 21.2% of total global shipments, per figures from IDC.

Huawei is at a closeish number two with 17.8%, but we all know how that situation is going for Google at the moment. Between Samsung and Huawei, we’re talking well over a third of the total global smartphone market.

As for what’s in it for Samsung, well, it’s probably more about what’s not in it for Bixby. Thus far the assistant’s main selling point is its relative versatility, is it also appears on things like washing machines. Of course, thus far, it remains almost exclusively the domain of Samsung’s own devices.

The publicl indifference toward Bixby is not for lack of trying. Samsung has long included a devoted Bixby button on its Galaxy devices — though the company began to allow users to disable that functionality back in 2017. It’s also not for lack of spending. Samsung has shelled out a lot to enhance the assistant with the acquisition, and the Bixby roadmap has offered plenty of promise.

Next week’s Unpacked event should offer some key insight into where the company’s head is, with regards to Bixby these days.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uber co-founder Garrett Camp steps back from board director role

Uber co-founder Garrett Camp is relinquishing his role as a board director and switching to board observer — where he says he’ll focus on product strategy for the ride hailing giant. Camp made the announcement in a short Medium post in which he writes of his decade at Uber: “I’ve learned a lot, and realized that I’m most helpful when focused on product strategy & design, and this is where I’d like to focus going forward.” “I will continue to work with Dara [Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO] and the product and technology leadership teams to brainstorm new ideas, iterate on plans and designs, and continue to innovate at scale,” he adds. “We have a strong and diverse team in place, and I’m confident everyone will navigate well during these turbulent times.” The Canadian billionaire entrepreneur signs off by saying he’s looking forward to helping Uber “brainstorm the next big idea”. Camp hasn’t been short of ideas over his career in tech. He’s the co-founder of the web 2.0 recommendatio
Post a Comment
Read more

Drone crash near kids leads Swiss Post and Matternet to suspend autonomous deliveries

A serious crash by a delivery drone in Switzerland have grounded the fleet and put a partnership on ice. Within a stone’s throw of a school, the incident raised grim possibilities for the possibilities of catastrophic failure of payload-bearing autonomous aerial vehicles. The drones were operated by Matternet as part of a partnership with the Swiss Post (i.e. the postal service), which was using the craft to dispatch lab samples from one medical center for priority cases. As far as potential applications of drone delivery, it’s a home run — but twice now the craft have crashed, first with a soft landing and the second time a very hard one. The first incident, in January, was the result of a GPS hardware error; the drone entered a planned failback state and deployed its emergency parachute, falling slowly to the ground. Measures were taken to improve the GPS systems. The second failure in May, however, led to the drone attempting to deploy its parachute again, only to sever the line
Post a Comment
Read more

ProtonMail logged IP address of French activist after order by Swiss authorities

ProtonMail , a hosted email service with a focus on end-to-end encrypted communications, has been facing criticism after a police report showed that French authorities managed to obtain the IP address of a French activist who was using the online service. The company has communicated widely about the incident, stating that it doesn’t log IP addresses by default and it only complies with local regulation — in that case Swiss law. While ProtonMail didn’t cooperate with French authorities, French police sent a request to Swiss police via Europol to force the company to obtain the IP address of one of its users. For the past year, a group of people have taken over a handful of commercial premises and apartments near Place Sainte Marthe in Paris. They want to fight against gentrification, real estate speculation, Airbnb and high-end restaurants. While it started as a local conflict, it quickly became a symbolic campaign. They attracted newspaper headlines when they started occupying prem
Post a Comment
Read more