Apple has built a robust ecosystem that is the envy of its rivals. The company offers customers a variety of mobile, computing, wearable and smart home products in addition to software services like Apple Music and Arcade. By doing this, the company makes it very difficult for users to switch to Android.
Samsung has gradually been building up its own ecosystem as well. Despite the many advancements it has made, the company feels there's still a lot more that it needs to do. That's why Samsung's top bosses are meeting biweekly to further improve the ecosystem.
Samsung wants to develop a more powerful ecosystem
Keeping users in the ecosystem is a bit more challenging for its mobile division since Samsung isn't the only company making Android devices. Even someone who owns the best Samsung phone can shift to another Android phone and not have much to lose.
Compare that to an iPhone user and the challenge for Samsung's mobile division becomes clear. A simple example is the impossibility of transferring a WhatsApp backup from iOS to Android. Regardless of whether they use WhatsApp Web or not, users simply don't have an official way to transfer their backups from iOS to Android.
So Samsung needs its key business divisions to work together in other to provide more value to customers through its products. That's why the head of Samsung's display unit Han Jong-hee, consumer electronics head Lee Jae-seung and mobile division boss Roh Tae-moon are meeting up biweekly. These meetings began at the end of last year.
The main agenda of these meetings is to come up with new ways to improve the multi-device experience within the Samsung ecosystem. The idea is to enable users to spend more time within the Samsung product ecosystem so that they're further incentivized to purchase new Samsung products.
That's one of the reasons why we have seen SmartThings come more in focus over the past year. Samsung's Internet of Things platform plays a central role in powering the multi-device experience for Samsung customers. SmartThings is now more deeply integrated into Samsung devices, offers Android Auto support and can even help you reduce your electricity bills.
More senior executives like President and Co-CEO Kim Hyun-suk and President and CFO Choi Yoon-ho have reportedly been providing extra support to these meetings. They're said to be monitoring and reviewing the overall strategic direction of these meetings and providing a way forward with regards to the financial support for the action plans.
