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Disclaimer:The article is authored by Mr. <keyword id="17130" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="santhosh" source="Orion">Santhosh</keyword> Viswanathan, Managing Director - <keyword id="28115" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="intel" source="Orion">Intel</keyword> <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> and he is an expert in the tech industry. The video game industry has been around for several decades. What began as a purely entertainment focused endeavor, has turned into a multi-billion-dollar industry that touches upon countless aspects of our modern existence. Today, gaming has relevance not just in the “entertainment dens” of geeks, but in academia, professional training for highly specialized skills (think pilots), research and even as a viable career. As the global outlook towards gaming started to shift, India too has embraced this new avatar with open arms. Not only is the number of gamers in the country on a steady rise, but so are related <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/is-indias-gaming-industry-set-to-take-off-and-create-jobs-for-gen-z/articleshow/89644615.cms">employment opportunities</a>. E-Sports tournaments continue to take place within the country, with considerable prize pools to boot. As the arena of gaming continues to spread and grow, so does the revenue, which is expected to grow up to $3.9 billion by 2025 in a study initiated by <keyword id="149966" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="iamai" source="Orion">IAMAI</keyword> (Internet and Mobile Association of India). The gaming industry has seen a meteoric rise in popularity and revenue growth, with no signs of slowing down. While it may not be possible to attribute any one factor to this evolutionary change, there have been several milestones that played a key role in taking Indian gaming to all new, respectable heights. <h2>Remember Pong?</h2> It all started when <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/gaming-games-consels-xbox-play-station-fun/">Atari</a> released Pong in the ‘70s.What followed was a wave of releases by major companies through the ‘80s and ‘90s giving birth to the arcade format. The arcade style of gaming was eventually surpassed by the need to game in the comfort of one’s home, bringing about the age of consoles and personal computers. While consoles were mostly still dabbling in 2D games, the PC had opened new frontiers with games that took the visual experience of the time to a whole new level. As games became more immersive thanks to realistic graphics and incredible physics engines, the hardware and software industry as a whole was compelled to deliver better and better experiences. As the 2000s rolled around, games evolved further, becoming more story-driven at their core. Gamers wanted to feel connected, more invested in the experience. Game development studios were now hiring storytellers to make their games more narrative focused rather than “run-and-gun” model of the era past. The coming of the Internet and <keyword id="28168" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="smartphone" source="Orion">Smartphone</keyword> era The best games and gaming experiences continued to be limited to a specific audience for a majority of the early 2000s. However, by 2010, India high-speed internet had found its way to many homes and in another five years, the country would witness its biggest technological boom; the smartphone. The smartphone quickly rose to “essential commodity” status, propelled in part by plummeting costs of 4G connectivity and in part by OEMs driving down cost of ownership for end-consumers. What began as an obsession with Snake back in the 90s, over the years spawned an industry that would bring AAA titles from the PC to the smartphone. Cheap internet and an unphased spirit of healthy competition propelled competitive mobile gaming into the limelight, with more and more gamers taking up multiplayer gaming than ever before. Currently, India is home to roughly <a href="https://www.ibef.org/blogs/india-s-nascent-gaming-industry-on-the-rise#:~:text=The%20Indian%20gaming%20industry%20recently,of%20mobile%20games%20in%202021.">502 million</a> smartphone users of which almost 300 million users identify as gamers. A <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/in/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/tmt-predictions-2022.html">Deloitte</a> study posits that by 2026, India would be home to a billion smartphone users, while another <a href="https://web-assets.bcg.com/38/14/41fdfa494a9b84aaa32c47cc92b0/mobile-gaming-market-opportunity.pdf">study</a> claims that the Indian mobile gaming market expected to grow to $5Bn+ by 2025. Mobile gaming undoubtedly continues to be widely popular and greatly accessible, however, an <a href="https://in.mashable.com/tech/19136/pc-gaming-set-to-take-off-exponentially-in-india-in-2021-a-conversation-with-intels-akshay-kamath">Intel Kantar study</a> suggests that 90 percent of the mobile gamers in India are likely to shift to the PC as their preferred gaming device. <h2>The Pandemic changed the game</h2> As the COVID-19 pandemic put the world into complete social isolation, gaming quickly emerged as the go-to method for socializing, relieving stress and just passing time in general. As new gamers joined the fold, demand for gaming PCs and gaming monitors soared and continues to show an upwards trend. India continues to play a big role in this growth, with the country having <a href="https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP48895822">shipped</a> 14.8 million units in 2021, a 44.5% growth YoY. <h2>PC Gaming unleashes the champion </h2> One of the biggest contributors of legitimacy to gaming is the E-Sports boom. The global E-Sports industry was <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/06/06/2456862/0/en/The-Global-Esports-Market-is-expected-to-reach-a-value-of-USD-2-8-Billion-by-2028-at-a-CAGR-of-14-50-2022-2028-SkyQuest-Technology.html">valued</a> at $1.08Bn in 2021, and is expected to grow to $2.8Bn by 2028 at a CAGR of 14.50 percent, and India continues to play a notable role in its growth. The popularity of gaming titles combined with the superior experience of playing them on the PC has spawned an entirely new industry and allowed gaming to be seen as a much-respected vocation. E-Sports players today compete not only for eye-watering sums of prize pools awarded to the winners, but also the opportunity to walk away with other monetary prizes for other in-game achievements as well. Gamers who choose to pursue a career in E-Sports don’t just sit around and play all day, but just like any other sportsperson, spend a significant amount of time training their bodies and minds. Discipline, team-work, communication and endurance are just some of the key components that make a winner, just like any other sport. For those who still look upon gaming as “an activity for the delinquent,” the Asian Games 2022 officially included E-Sports as a competitive category, and India will send a <a href="https://olympics.com/en/news/asian-games-2022-indian-esports-team-athletes-qualified-full-list">contingent of 18 eSports athletes</a> who will be competing against the very best from around the world in five different gaming titles. Paving the Way Forward Gaming continues to gain mindshare amongst consumers, even those who wouldn’t call themselves hardcore gamers. What was once a standalone industry, existing in its own vacuum, now influences almost every popular aspect of pop-culture. Today, we have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/03/06/tired-marvel-cinematic-universe-wired-video-game-cinematic-universe/">TV shows and movies</a> based on games, feeding into the entertainment cycle. Game merchandise continues to hold significant value in bragging rights and not to mention, games continue to shape many of our cultural and inter-personal mannerisms as well. While gaming might be tethered to a singular device, its impact on our lives is grand and ubiquitous. While <a href="https://in.mashable.com/tech/19136/pc-gaming-set-to-take-off-exponentially-in-india-in-2021-a-conversation-with-intels-akshay-kamath">hardware</a> will continue to get more and more powerful, the future of gaming experiences will also be augmented by superior connectivity technologies such as WiFi6 and 5G thanks to their higher bandwidth and low latency nature. These new technologies will take the superior gaming experience, so far reserved for the PC, and bring it to a whole new class of devices thanks to the growing development and consumer interest in cloud gaming. While on one hand we’re seeing games break away from the staple devices, the <keyword id="11121339" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="metaverse" source="Orion">Metaverse</keyword> promises a whole new paradigm to the digital experience, including gaming. Imagine a scenario where you can attend an E-sports tournament, experience the exhilaration of being amongst thousands of other like-minded audiences, all from the comfort of your home. Amidst all this progression, what is clear is that gaming is no longer a casual activity, but a billion-dollar industry with something for everyone.

Evolution of PC gaming – an exciting ride ahead

<ul><li>WPP stated that it is seeing good momentum in winning new businesses.</li><li>The advertising giant is holding a virtual event today to discuss its growth strategy. </li></ul>WPP is hosting a virtual presentation for investors and analysts which will provide an update on its strategy for growth, set out opportunities for efficiency and reinvestment, outline its plans for capital allocation and provide new medium-term financial targets. The advertising giant will be discussing its strategic goals, medium targets and 2020 and 2021 guidance, which are as follows: Strategic goals <ul><li>Return core Communications business to sustainable growth </li><li>Expand further into high-growth areas of Commerce, Experience and Technology - from 25% of our business today to 40% by 2025 </li><li>Fund growth and improve profitability through gross annual cost savings of £600 million by 2025, with approximately two-thirds reinvested in talent, incentives and technology to drive growth </li><li>Supplement growth through targeted, scalable M&amp;A of £200-400 million annually </li><li>Invest capital expenditure of £450-500 million per annum in 2021 and 2022 and £300-350 million per annum thereafter, in our campus programme, ERP systems and shared services to deliver gross cost savings and improved business insight and talent management </li></ul> Medium-term targets <ul><li>Recovery to 2019 revenue less pass-through costs levels by 2022 </li><li>3-4% annual growth in revenue less pass-through costs from 2023, including M&amp;A benefit of 0.5-1.0% annually </li><li>15.5-16.0% headline operating margin in 2023 </li><li>Double-digit headline EPS growth over next three years </li><li>New dividend policy: intention to grow annually with a pay-out ratio around 40% of headline EPS </li><li>Average net debt/EBITDA maintained in the range 1.5-1.75x</li></ul>2020 and 2021 guidance <ul><li>LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth of -6.7% in the two months to November </li><li>2020 LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth expected to be in line with year to date performance of -8.4% </li><li>2020 headline operating margin expected to be 12.5-13.0% </li><li>2020 year-end net debt expected to be around £1.6 billion </li><li>2020 dividend in line with new policy </li><li>2021 LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth of mid-single-digits %, with headline operating margin of 13.5-14.0% </li><li>Kantar share buyback programme to resume in 2021 </li></ul> Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said, “It has been two years since we set out our strategy to return WPP to growth. Since then, we have made significant progress, with stronger agency brands, new leadership, a simpler structure and a strong balance sheet. We can see the results in our industry-leading new business performance, with $5.6 billion won in the first nine months including Alibaba, HSBC, Intel, Uber and Unilever. “The events of 2020 have only accelerated the structural changes in our industry, from the expansion of digital channels to growing demand for e-commerce solutions. The actions that we have taken have positioned us well, and we are already working with 76 of our top 100 clients on e-commerce. There are significant new growth opportunities for WPP as clients demand simple, integrated solutions that combine creativity with technology and data expertise. Clients need trusted partners more than ever to help them transform and succeed. “In partnership with our agency brands we are deepening and accelerating the change already happening within WPP. We aim to return our Communications business to sustainable growth and invest further in the high-growth areas of Commerce, Experience and Technology. We are converting our size into scale, making us more effective and efficient as we share expertise across a simpler company of stronger agency brands. £400 million of the targeted £600 million savings will be used to fund investment in the capabilities and technology that will drive future growth for our people, our clients, our business and our shareholders.”

WPP won $5.6 billion business in the first nine months including Alibaba, HSBC, Intel, Uber and Unilever

When the government launched the Digital India mandate, its dual goals were to create a digitally empowered society, where citizens have access to information at their fingertips, and to transform India into a knowledge economy. With over a billion mobile phone subscribers leapfrogging brick-and-mortar access points to use the mobile as a gateway for basic e-governance related information, infotainment, online shopping, consumption devices have gone from luxury to utility. While this creates a concrete base for knowledge economy, by familiarizing citizens with <keyword id="6355118" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="technology">technology</keyword>, it cannot be the sole catalyst for transforming India to Digital India. 
 As an initial step to making local technology more competitive and relevant, the <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union Budget</keyword> 2017-18 announced capital investments in electronic manufacturing clusters, focused on mobile phones, to spur the competiveness and innovative quotients of indigenous manufacturing. However, in a country that aspires to become a knowledge economy, mobile devices will be but a gateway for access to technology. 
 
Till date, the government has done a commendable job of taking its services to citizens through the mobile, but is that enough to equip citizens with the relevant skills to contribute to India’s knowledge economy? The UN Millennium Development Goals Indicators state that industrialized economies enjoy 63 times more access to personal computers (PCs) than developing countries. For most developed nations, the growth story has been an ‘and’ story, wherein they’ve had high levels of penetration of both PCs and mobile phones. Digital India’s story too will have to be an ‘and’ story, where consumption devices serve as a gateway to technology and PCs, owing to their larger screen size, physical keyboards and productive capabilities, are leveraged as a cornerstone for productivity and development. 
 
An analysis done by Kantar IMRB and the Indian School of Business shows that 54% citizens in non-urban India prefer a PC over a smartphone for education, while increased job opportunities remains one of the key reasons for non-owners of PCs to consider purchasing one. 
 
Additionally, owners of both smartphones and PCs are 7% more likely to use the latter to access healthcare, education, and career-related information. As current technology penetration in the country stagnates at a meagre 20% , the government must accelerate the process of making productive technology relevant here. The most critical step to foster a knowledge based economy is platform agnosticism, which entails the use of complementary devices, including mobiles and PCs, to plug gaps in development of skill, digital literacy, and content creation. 
 
Besides the device itself, several factors will play a crucial role in making this happen. The thrust to digitization with the extension of the Optical Fibre Communication (OFC) network, and improved access to development e-services under the BharatNet and Digigaon initiatives outlined in the Budget, will give a fillip to the Digital Villages that we have long envisioned. Offering free WiFi access and high-speed broadband connectivity will lay the foundations for the adoption of productive devices. 
 
Although local brands such as iBall are making computing affordable for consumers, price continues to remain a key deterrent to adoption. 
 To address this constraint, policy intervention is crucial to subsidize the costs of domestic PC manufacturing by extending customs duty benefits and capital investments to a build a holistic, robust electronic manufacturing and design sector. This will have a positive effect in the long term: it will not only trigger innovations in design customized to local needs, but it will sharpen the prongs of the government’s development trident: Make in India, <keyword id="6569577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Skill-India">Skill India</keyword>, and Digital India. 
 
Classic gestalt theory follows that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; this could not be truer for Digital India today. Projected to be the most populated country in the world by 2022 , and already possessing the largest demographic dividend, India presents great opportunities in terms of economic development. 
 
However, to become a leader of R&amp;D and IP demands the skills and knowledge to be differentiated in the global market. We must aim to become a nation with knowledge as a backbone, for which the government must adopt and implement technology policies that enable citizens with the tools to move beyond content consumption, and toward content creation. And while the government will play the key role in setting policies, industry must collaborate to execute that vision, and local technology evangelists will help address citizens’ initial inhibitions and fears associated with the use of what are perceived as being complex devices. 
 
 (This article is authored by Debjani Ghosh, Managing Director, and Vice President, Sales &amp; Marketing Group, <keyword id="28115" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Intel">Intel</keyword> South Asia)

Why India’s budget must continue to drive the technology adoption agenda

<ul><li>As per WPP’s global press statement, VMLY&amp;R and Wunderman Thompson were the two best-performing integrated agencies. </li><li>Q2 LFL revenue less pass-through costs -15.1%: US -9.6%, UK -23.3%, Germany -11.6%, Greater China -3.1%, India -25.1%. </li></ul>WPP has released its interim financial results for 2020. Its global revenue stands at £5.6 billion, down by 12.3% from 2019. In India, WPP registered a 25.1% fall in LFL revenue less pass-through costs in Q2. <div type="image" title="wpp q2 performance" msid="77782774" hostid="261"></div> Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer, WPP said, “After two months in which our strategic progress could be measured by growth outside Greater China, the second quarter saw an inevitable downturn, with like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs declining by 15%, albeit better than our expectations. Assuming there is no second wave nor major lockdowns, the second quarter is expected to be the toughest period of the year, although we remain cautious on the speed of recovery. Our strategic transformation remains on track but as COVID-19 accelerates the change in our sector, we are accelerating our plans. We continue to attract new talent, invest in technology and ecommerce, and train our people in the skills they need for the future, with more than 20,000 receiving accreditations from Adobe, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Salesforce this year. “We are working with our clients to help them get back to business, adapt their marketing strategies at speed and reshape their operations for a new world. Brands are seeing increases in online sales of 100% and more, and we are supporting eight of our top ten clients on ecommerce strategies. Our new business record is industry-leading, at $4 billion in the first half, including wins from Intel, HSBC and Unilever, and our pipeline remains strong. “With £4.7 billion of liquidity thanks to the Kantar transaction, and as we deliver against our cost savings targets, our financial position remains strong. As a result, we are able to return to paying our dividend, with an interim dividend of 10p for 2020. “I would like to thank our people around the world, the vast majority of whom have been working from home and have shown great creativity, agility and collective spirit to support our clients in challenging times.” Strategic progress, shareholder returns and outlook at WPP: <ul><li>Transformation delivering results: VMLY&amp;R and Wunderman Thompson our two best-performing integrated agencies </li><li>Strong new business performance, reflecting enhanced offer and improved collaboration </li><li>Continued recognition of creativity and effectiveness: Effies winner for ninth successive year; Cannes Lions Agency Holding Company of the Decade </li><li>2019 final dividend cancelled to support lower leverage; share buyback still under review but intention to restart when environment stabilises; 10p 2020 interim dividend declared </li><li>Current trading showing sequential improvement on Q2 but market remains volatile: July LFL revenue less pass-through costs -9.2%. US -6.1%, UK -10.5%, Germany -7.2%, Greater China -18.6%, India -15.5% </li><li>Full year 2020 LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth and headline operating margin expected to be within the range of analysts’ expectations</li><li>Capital markets event to update on strategic progress, long-term efficiency savings and capital allocation planned before 2020 year end</li></ul>

WPP registers a 25.1% fall in LFL revenue less pass-through costs in Q2 in India

<ul><li><keyword id="168456" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WPP">WPP</keyword> said that revenue less pass-through costs was £2.4 billion, -4.3% on a reported basis, -4.0% in constant currency and -3.3% LFL. </li><li>In March, LFL revenue less pass-through costs was -7.9% as the impact of COVID-19 began to be felt more widely across its business.</li></ul>WPP has reported that in wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, its net sales have slumped by 3.3% in the first quarter, with its revenues dropping down by 7.9% in March alone. The world's biggest advertising company also said that further measures on costs are now being implemented which include voluntary salary sacrifice from over 3,000 senior roles, part-time working and some permanent headcount reductions. WPP also revealed that substantial actions are already being taken to manage cash flow and profitability including suspension of the 2019 final dividend and share buyback programme, reductions in costs and capital expenditure, and tight controls on working capital. The statement released by the company stated that plans are in place to flex costs against a range of economic scenarios to ensure cash flow and profit are managed and the business can respond quickly when markets recover. Speaking about WPPs performance, <keyword id="570483" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mark-Read">Mark Read</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said: “After a good start to the year, with growth outside of China in January and February, our business started to be materially impacted by COVID-19 in March. Our response has focused on four areas: the health of our people, serving our clients, helping to mitigate the impact of the virus on our communities and ensuring WPP is financially strong. “Close to 95% of our 107,000 people are working from home, providing uninterrupted service to clients, helping them to communicate their own actions, sustain their brands and develop new ways to market their products. We have also won $1 billion of new business in the first quarter, including the global integrated Intel account, creative duties for Discover and the media accounts for Hasbro and Novo Nordisk. “We have witnessed a decade’s innovation in a few short weeks, with the way people meet, shop, work and learn increasingly reliant on technology. We are seeing clients rapidly shift emphasis and budget into digital media and direct-to-consumer channels and continue marketing technology investments. And, while many clients are significantly impacted by a reduction in consumer demand, other sectors such as packaged goods, technology and food retail brands have been more resilient. As in previous downturns, those who are most prepared and most far-sighted will be at an advantage when we come through the current situation. “At a time of great uncertainty, I am very proud of how our people and clients have responded. Despite the economic challenges that will, no doubt, be with us for some time, the way we have come together gives us real confidence in our future.” Here are the business updates from WPP: People The health of our people remains our first priority. In the middle of March we asked our people to work remotely and we now have almost 95% of our 107,000 employees working from home, with the exception of our teams in China who have largely returned to the office. Leadership across WPP and our agencies is communicating frequently with our teams, mainly by videoconference. We are supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of our people through regular sessions to help them manage the challenges of remote working. Clients Our clients have been able to depend on us for uninterrupted service from the outset. We believe that our broad geographic reach, our industry sector mix and the breadth of our offer provide defensive qualities in an economic downturn. While sectors such as Automotive, Travel &amp; Leisure and Luxury &amp; Premium, which together account for 24% of our top 200 clients’ spend, have seen the most significant cuts, spend is holding up relatively well in sectors such as Consumer Packaged Goods, Technology and Healthcare &amp; Pharma, which together represent 54%. We are seeing continued and, in some cases, greater demand for our public relations, ecommerce, marketing technology and production capabilities. Clients continue with new business reviews and we have registered a number of important wins including Discover, Hasbro, Intel, and Novo Nordisk, as well as retentions including BBVA. The pipeline remains encouraging and while we estimate some 20% of pitches have been put on hold, those that had started are continuing (though clients are understandably reluctant to begin new reviews). So far this year we have not lost a significant account from any client. Communities We are working with clients, governments, national health organisations and NGOs to help limit the impact of COVID-19 on society. A team of WPP agencies, for example, is supporting the World Health Organization on a pro bono basis by delivering global and regional public awareness campaigns to encourage people to stay at home and adopt safe behaviours. The partnership involves WPP agencies including Grey, <keyword id="177241" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="GroupM">GroupM</keyword>, Hill+Knowlton, Hogarth, Inca, Motion Content Group, Ogilvy, <keyword id="3313068" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wavemaker">Wavemaker</keyword> and WPP Scangroup, as well as Kantar. Global media partners (sourced by Wavemaker and GroupM) are making significant donations in media to support this effort. Financial resilience On 31 March we outlined a number of measures designed to strengthen the Company’s financial position, including steps to reduce costs and conserve cash, ensuring adequate liquidity and a significant cushion to our covenants, and we provide an update on page 4 of this release. The current situation is unprecedented and the immediate future highly uncertain. There are some positive signs. In the past week, we have started to prepare for the reopening of our offices as and when governments begin to lift lockdowns – at substantially lower capacity and with enhanced safety measures in line with official guidance. Clients are also looking ahead. Visibility of a return to normal remains low, but a number of clients are seeking our advice and support on how they should market their brands in the recovery phase. First Quarter Group performance Revenue from continuing operations in the first quarter of 2020 was £2.8 billion, -4.9% compared with the same period last year on a reported basis and -4.6% on a constant currency basis. LFL revenue was -3.8% compared with last year. Revenue less pass-through costs was £2.4 billion, -4.3% on a reported basis, -4.0% in constant currency and -3.3% LFL. In March, LFL revenue less pass-through costs was -7.9% as the impact of COVID-19 began to be felt more widely across our business.

WPP feels strong impact of COVID-19 in March as revenues fall by 7.9%

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=k&amp;kw=steve%20jobs&amp;showact=results&amp;sort=relevance&amp;intv=None&amp;sh=10&amp;kwstyle=and&amp;adte=1317899518&amp;pagez=60&amp;cfasstyle=AND&amp;rids=7f7ba8e9b63347a4893106ec9b98d57e&amp;dbm=PY2008&amp;page=1&amp;xslt=1&amp;mediatype=Photo">AP images</a></td></tr></table>SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - It was the late Steve Jobs' worst nightmare.
A powerful Asian manufacturer, <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> Electronics Co Ltd, uses Google Inc's Android software to create smartphones and tablets that closely resemble the iPhone and the iPad. Samsung starts gaining market share, hurting <keyword id="6354427" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Apple">Apple</keyword> Inc's margins and stock price and threatening its reign as the king of cool in consumer electronics.
Jobs, of course, had an answer to all this: a "thermo-nuclear" legal war that would keep clones off the market. Yet nearly two years after Apple first filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung, and six months after it won a huge legal victory over its South Korean rival, Apple's chances of blocking the sale of Samsung products are growing dimmer by the day.
Indeed, a series of recent court rulings suggests that the smartphone patent wars are now grinding toward a stalemate, with Apple unable to show that its sales have been seriously damaged when rivals, notably Samsung, imitated its products.
That, in turn, may usher in a new phase in the complex relationship between the two dominant companies in the growing mobile computing business.
Tim Cook, Jobs' successor as Apple chief executive, was opposed to suing Samsung in the first place, according to people with knowledge of the matter, largely because of that company's critical role as a supplier of components for the iPhone and the iPad. Apple bought some $8 billion worth of parts from Samsung last year, analysts estimate.
Samsung, meanwhile, has benefited immensely from the market insight it gained from the Apple relationship, and from producing smartphones and tablets that closely resemble Apple's.
While the two companies compete fiercely in the high-end smartphone business - where together they control half the sales and virtually all of the profits - their strengths and weaknesses are in many ways complementary. Apple's operations chief, Jeff Williams, told Reuters last month that Samsung was an important partner and they had a strong relationship on the supply side, but declined to elaborate.
As their legal war winds down, it is increasingly clear that Apple and Samsung have plenty of common interests as they work to beat back other potential challengers, such as BlackBerry or Microsoft.
The contrast with other historic tech industry rivalries is stark. When Apple accused Microsoft in the 1980s of ripping off the Macintosh to create the Windows operating system, Apple's very existence was at stake. Apple lost, the Mac became a niche product, and the company came close to extinction before Jobs returned to Apple in late 1996 and saved it with the iPod and the iPhone. Jobs died in October 2011.
Similarly, the Internet browser wars of the late 1990s that pitted Microsoft against Netscape ended with Netscape being sold for scrap and its flagship product abandoned.
Apple and Samsung, on the other hand, are not engaged in a corporate death match so much as a multi-layered rivalry that is by turns both friendly and hard-edged. For competitors like Nokia, BlackBerry, Sony, HTC and even Google - whose Motorola unit is expected to launch new smartphones later this year - they are a formidable duo.
THE WAY THEY WERE
The partnership piece of the Apple-Samsung relationship dates to 2005, when the Cupertino, California-based giant was looking for a stable supplier of flash memory. Apple had decided to jettison the hard disc drive in creating the iPod shuffle, iPod nano and then-upcoming iPhone, and it needed huge volumes of flash memory chips to provide storage for the devices.
The memory market in 2005 was extremely unstable, and Apple wanted to lock in a supplier that was rock-solid financially, people familiar with the relationship said. Samsung held about 50 percent of the NAND flash memory market at that time.
"Whoever controls flash is going to control this space in consumer electronics," Jobs said at the time, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
The success of that deal led to Samsung supplying the crucial application processors for the iPhone and iPad. Initially, the two companies jointly developed the processors based on a design from ARM Holdings Plc, but Apple gradually took full control over development of the chip. Now Samsung merely builds the components at a Texas factory.
The companies built a close relationship that extended to the very top: in 2005, Jay Y. Lee, whose grandfather founded the Samsung Group, visited Jobs' home in Palo Alto, California, after the two signed the flash memory deal.
The partnership gave Apple and Samsung insight into each other's strategies and operations. In particular, Samsung's position as the sole supplier of iPhone processors gave it valuable data on just how big Apple thought the smartphone market was going to be.
"Having a relationship with Apple as a supplier, I am sure, helped the whole group see where the puck was going," said Horace Dediu, a former analyst at Nokia who now works as a consultant and runs an influential blog. "It's a very important advantage in this business if you know where to commit capital."
Samsung declined to comment on its relationship with a specific customer.
As for Apple, it reaped the benefit of Samsung's heavy investments in research and development, tooling equipment and production facilities. Samsung spent $21 billion (23 trillion won) on capital expenditures in 2012 alone, and plans to spend a similar amount this year.
By comparison, Intel Corp spent around $11 billion in 2012, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) expects to spend $9 billion in 2013.
But component expertise, cash and good market intelligence did not assure success when Samsung launched its own foray into the smartphone market. The Omnia, a Windows-based product introduced in 2009, was so reviled that some customers hammered it to bits in public displays of dissatisfaction.
Meanwhile, Samsung publicly dismissed the iPhone's success.
"The popularity of iPhone is a mere result of excitement caused by some (Apple) fanatics," Samsung's then-president, G.S. Choi, told reporters in January 2010.
Privately, though, Samsung had other plans.
"The iPhone's emergence means the time we have to change our methods has arrived," Samsung mobile business head J.K. Shin told his staff in early 2010, according to an internal email filed in U.S. court.
Later that year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S, which sported the Android operating system and a look and feel very similar to the iPhone.
STANDOFF
Jobs and Cook complained to top Samsung executives when they were visiting Cupertino. Apple expected, incorrectly, that Samsung would modify its design in response to the concerns, people familiar with the situation said.
Apple's worst fears were confirmed with the early 2011 release of the Galaxy Tab, which Jobs and others regarded as a clear rip-off of the iPad.
Cook, worried about the critical supplier relationship, was opposed to suing Samsung. But Jobs had run out of patience, suspecting that Samsung was counting on the supplier relationship to shield it from retribution.
Apple filed suit in April 2011, and the conflagration soon spread to courts in Europe, Asia and Australia. When Apple won its blockbuster billion-dollar jury verdict against Samsung last August, it appeared that it might be able to achieve an outright ban on the offending products - which would have dramatically altered the smartphone competition.
But Apple has failed to convince U.S. judges to uphold those crucial sales bans - in large part because the extraordinary profitability and market power of the iPhone made it all but impossible for Apple to show it was suffering irreparable harm.
"Samsung may have cut into Apple's customer base somewhat, but there is no suggestion that Samsung will wipe out Apple's customer base, or force Apple out of the business of making smartphones," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh wrote. "The present case involves lost sales - not a lost ability to be a viable market participant."
Samsung, meanwhile, came under pressure from antitrust regulators and pulled back on its effort to shut down Apple sales in Europe over a related patent dispute.
A U.S. appeals court recently rejected Apple's bid to fast-track its case, meaning its hopes for a sales ban are now stuck in months-long appeals, during which time Samsung may very well release the next version of its hot-selling Galaxy phone.
THE WORLD IS OURS
The legal battles have been less poisonous to the relationship than some of the rhetoric suggests.
"People play this stuff up because it shows a kind of drama, but the business reality is that the temperature isn't that high," said one attorney who has observed executives from both companies.
Still, the hostilities appear to have put some dents in the partnership. Apple is likely to switch to TSMC for the building of application processors, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs, Sanford Bernstein and other firms. But analysts at Korea Investment &amp; Securities and HMC Securities point out that Apple will not be able to eliminate Samsung as a flash supplier because it remains the dominant producer of the crucial chips.
Apple declined to comment on the details of its relationships with any one supplier.
Meanwhile, both companies are deploying strategies out of the other's playbook as they seek to maintain and extend their lead over the pack.
Samsung has developed a cheeky, memorable TV ad that mocks Apple customers, and dramatically ramped up spending on marketing and advertising, a cornerstone of Apple's success. U.S. ad spending on the Galaxy alone leaped to nearly $202 million in the first nine months of 2012, from $66.6 million in 2011, according to Kantar Media.
For its part, Apple is investing in manufacturing by helping its suppliers procure the machinery needed to build large-scale plants devoted exclusively to the company.
Apple spent about $10 billion in fiscal 2012 on capital expenditures, and it expects to spend a further $10 billion this year. By contrast, the company spent only $4.6 billion in fiscal 2011 and $2.6 billion in fiscal 2010.
But Apple and Samsung retain very different strategies. Apple has just one smartphone and only four product lines in total, and tries to keep variations to a bare minimum while focusing on the high end of the market.
Samsung, by contrast, has 37 phone products that are tweaked for regional tastes and run the gamut from very cheap to very expensive, according to Mirae Asset Securities. The company also makes chips, TVs, appliances and a host of other products (and its brethren in the Samsung Group sell everything from ships to insurance policies).
Apple devices are hugely popular in the United States; Samsung enjoys supremacy in developing countries like India and China. Apple keeps its core staff lean - it has only 60,000 employees worldwide - and relies on partners for manufacturing and other functions. Samsung Electronics, part of a sprawling "chaebol," or conglomerate, that includes some 80 companies employing 369,000 people worldwide, is far more vertically integrated.
It is those differences, combined with the formidable strengths that both companies bring to the market, that may render quiet cooperation a better strategy than all-out war for some time to come.
Said Brad Silverberg, a former Microsoft executive who was involved in the Mac vs. Windows wars, "Apple had learnt a lot of lessons from those days."
(Reporting by Dan Levine and Poornima Gupta in San Francisco, and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Tiffany Wu and Peter Cooney)
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