Samsung's eye scrolling feature will test software chops
Summary: Samsung has a bevy of interesting software efforts for both consumer and business, but an eye scrolling feature on the Galaxy S IV will go a long way to determining if the company can become more than a hardware player.
Samsung will reportedly enable Galaxy S IV customers to scroll pages with eye movements. The feature will go a long way to making or breaking Samsung's image as a serious software player.
According to the New York Times:
The phone will track a user’s eyes to determine where to scroll, said a Samsung employee who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
The promise of eye scrolling sounds wonderful. The problem: I couldn't contain my skepticism. A few open questions:
- Will my eye movement have to be exaggerated to scroll?
- Can this eye scrolling thing work consistently?
- How buggy will this software be?
Those questions are largely there because Samsung is an unknown when it comes to software. Sure, Samsung's Android may be better than Google's. The Galaxy Note has some handy handwriting software. On the other side, there's buggy Smart TV software. For business use, Samsung has SAFE, which is designed to make Android more secure for corporate use, and Knox, software that firewalls corporate and consumer applications. But Samsung is a hardware company primarily. The company is about devices, screens and chips.
Also: Samsung Galaxy S4 and Knox: iPhone versus Android just got exciting again | MWC 2013: Samsung's Knox system takes BYOD fight to BlackBerry | Special Galaxy S III offers enterprises SAFE Android
Part of Samsung's potential software perception problem revolves around Android. Android carries the software day for Samsung, which adds its own features to be unique.
Should Samsung nail the eye scrolling, it will have a key software feature in its cap. If Samsung's new feature bombs, the downside is limited: Many people will simply view it as a hardware player. As Samsung's recent momentum and financial results show, being a dominant hardware player has its perks. However, software — and Samsung's proficiency with it — will determine whether the company can remain dominant.
Barclays analyst SC Bae notes that Samsung's eye scrolling application is just one part of a broader push into software.
One of the clear impressions we got during the MWC 2013 was that product differentiation through only hardware might not be as effective as it has been. Although we still found some gaps among manufacturers in terms of the finishings, we could not see many differences among the players. On the other hand, we got the impression that the first tier players are clearly migrating their focus to software/user experience and synergies with other devices. We believe product differentiation on software/user experience is more effective and sustainable because software is more difficult to be copied than hardware and it has economies of scale.
More:
- Samsung aims B2B to be quarter of biz by 2020
- Samsung bets on product, biz diversity
- Apple needs to counter Samsung momentum, says analyst
- Samsung Android: Better than Google's Android
- Samsung Galaxy Note 2: Big enough to be worth the trouble
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Talkback
Doesn't the S3 detect eyes on the screen
does it work well?
Yes.
In good light
I don't even really mention it to friends when they ask about the phone.
S3
Yes - this feature is on the S3 and Note II and it works
Great idea.
Great. A phone that's staring back at your eyes
Not as creepy as "smile detection"
Nope
Samsung and Google are real innovators
Repeating false statements often doesn't make them true
I agree
apple should stop litigating and start innovating.
No, the fact that they ARE an innovator makes it true.
And being that litigating and innovating are NOT mutually exclusive, WTF is your point?
You don't have one, as usual, other than trolling, not just Apple related posts, but ANY post that could even possibly be tangentially related, allowing you to post your GARBAGE. You add NOTHING of interest to ANY discussion I have ever seen you post in. No valuable information, no insight, no data, just non-stop, knee-jerk reactionary droning. You are actually worse than that sycophant brown-nosed ass-kisser Loverock (and no, LD, someone simply mentioning your name in a talkback does not make you cool; grow up).
You drag this site down with your constant undercurrent of blithering, mind-numbingly inane, eminently predictable negativity.
Seriously, get a life.
Shows what a fanboy knows
Right back atcha
Yes, R&D takes money. And when you have as much money as Apple, money is not an issue. Second, when you have as much money as Apple, you can spend a tiny fraction of your cash and STILL outspend all your competitors. Not to mention that your statement about their R&D spending simply isn't true.
As to your idiotic sleight about rounded corner, as that was NEVER the heart of ANY Apple suit, thank you for adding trade dress patents to your list of things you know nothing about. Hint: trade dress patents, like the one that involved the appearance of the iPad, are not about innovation, they are about protecting trademark appearance. So no, rounded corners are not innovation. So what?
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak worries Microsoft is now more innovative
http://tabtimes.com/news/ittech-os-windows/2012/11/16/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak-worries-microsoft-now-more
READ THIS
WERE
"Are" implies they are still innovating.
You are absolutely correct
ibid
So let me get this straight...
Next time you may want to stay on topic, if that is at all mentally possible for you.
I wrote what I meant to write