James Allworth, posting to Asymco:

While there’s no doubt that Google has played a key role in Samsung’s success by handing out a free mobile operating system to pretty much anyone who wants to build one — it is actually Apple, more than any other company, that is responsible for Samsung’s present success.

How? By outsourcing as much work to Samsung as they have. And it’s impossible not to wonder whether Tim Cook’s announcement yesterday on bringing back Apple’s manufacturing to the USA is the beginnings of an attempt to rectify the problem.

Allworth provides a very thought-provoking argument to explain why Apple may have inadvertently helped to create its single biggest competitor in the phone market right now. Though the analogy isn’t perfect (and Allworth is quick to point out where it fails), he compares the situation to that which Dell created by outsourcing work to Asus, which later challenged Dell’s market position by releasing its own computers instead of just doing manufacturing for Dell.

Certainly worth a read.