Tech Genius/Have A Few Hundred Million - Could I Start Up An Apple/Samsung Analogue?

Say, hypothetically, I were a tech genius (i.e. have the technical expertise to build quality phones and computers - and also business acumen) and had a few hundred million dollars to spare - do you think I could start up my own phone manufacturing company?

How could I do it?

Additionally, what do you guys look for in a phone? What do you want from it? Would you be attracted by a Samsung Galaxy S4 analogue which costs much less than the original, but performed exactly the same (or even better)?

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

I would be attracted to it very much.
Problem is apps. You would not have the proprietary operating systems so you would have to have enough money or enough penetration to get tons of apps ported.

If I were a tech genius I probably wouldn't get into phones at all. It's such an over-saturated market already. You have Apple and Samsung, but you also have HTC, Blackberry, Microsoft, LG, etc.

A much better idea would be to work on an innovative new app for web/mobile, like the next Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr (which just made it's tech genius into a multi-millionaire, who can now go on to make something else). I would also personally consider something that has an impact on the world at large such as the recent Boycott app.

I know it's hypothetical but we don't need more phone companies, we need more innovations in content, content delivery, monetization of apps and world changing apps.

Not sure if this is true or not, but here's how the story goes.
Henry Ford was first trying to make a better horse. Instead, he invented the automobile.

Don't think about making a better phone.

Cell phones have their limits.

I want a ring on a finger with a little button and a sphere that projects a beam onto a flat wall to have face-to-face conversations with others. And you can talk to the ring, have it bluetoothed to an ear-thing that might be a phone if it weren't actually transmitting data through your skull-bone into your brain-parts to cause changes in emotion, perception, and memory. Have an extra male enhancement button for men and a wrinkle reducer for women. Then maybe as you're working on that, you can peddle a few phones.

Oh wait, the DoD is already working on that so you might as well take your ideas and medium sized wallet and get a contract with them. That's how you make big global friends and get lots of support for your techy inventions, as well as a big brain trust and a talent pool.

Honestly, Apple and Samsung isn't your global challenge. If I were you I'd go shake hands with the Waltons, make a Wal-Phone, helping them to finish taking over the planet.

I'd like a phone without GPS, bluetooth, data-mining apps/code, spyware, adware, Android, Apple, windows, but with an encrypted connection. I guess I want an old flip phone.

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens

Say, hypothetically, I were a tech genius (i.e. have the technical expertise to build quality phones and computers - and also business acumen) and had a few hundred million dollars to spare - do you think I could start up my own phone manufacturing company?

How could I do it?

Additionally, what do you guys look for in a phone? What do you want from it? Would you be attracted by a Samsung Galaxy S4 analogue which costs much less than the original, but performed exactly the same (or even better)?

The closest I got to Samsung was reading an article in a recent magazine. Well now I know Samsung has a recreation of the hotel room where the determination started.

You're going to need money in the billions to get started in technology. I read somewhere it costs about 500 million to start up a chip-making lab, one of those places that makes big discs of chips that go inside computers. A few million doesn't do much in cell phone making land, especially not against trillion dollar companies.

My big phone wants is a phone that can't be hacked, cracked, spoofed, or exploited. A stealth phone in other words, without me having to buy stupid apps that make me look like I'm calling from a fake number, or some other little gimmick like that. Something that's not illegal either. Something that can't be followed. Encryption would be great. See what is trending is these phones that can share data by just touching one another, that's old fashioned RF/infrared sharing. So what happens when you accidentally put your phone on a counter that picks up signals like that? That's the big problem with phones - they remind me of baby pacifiers. There is usually someone sucking on one in public, and crying if they don't have one.

Ideally, if I had enough money I wouldn't need a phone, instead buying a personal assistant with an office and a phone to do details for me.

Toolate bud...knock offs from china are fifty bucks each on the internet...theyll sell you quantity too.....

Originally posted by Abstruse
I'd like a phone without GPS, bluetooth, data-mining apps/code, spyware, adware, Android, Apple, windows, but with an encrypted connection. I guess I want an old flip phone.

The problem with the old phones (flip phones are old now?) is that they turn on almost instantly. They turn off almost as fast. And the really annoying thing is if you want to make a phone call, you press 1 button if you have it stored. And it dials.

Unlike the smart phone I had that took 3 minutes to finally boot up and be responsive, would sit there telling me it's about to turn off for 5 minutes before switching off, and if when you need to make a call, you find it's still trying to register you on the network, that 3G is unavailable, that the data plan I didn't opt into would be better as I can get more internet on the little screen, and it lags every 30 seconds as some app is polling the system and freezing everything.

Those old phones are nothing but old technology. They should be made illegal.

SMRT FONES 4 EVER1.

As to the OP. Unless you can make a mobile phone that has a built in 3D printer, then you're probably better off leaving that idea. As someone said Apps would be the biggest problem.

As it is with so many hardware platforms with android, big software developers were saying they refuse to port to the platform as it's impossible to cater to the variety. Make it work on some fancy phone, you get nothing but complaints from people with a cheap one. Drivers also, while you may be making a cheap knock off, it means you're using non standard parts inside. Whichever fits under the budget.

Save a FoxConn employee. Buy 2 HTC's.

So no general apps or proprietary apps that make you no more innovative than apple, so far.

Faster processor, but no heat dispersion, cheap ram, cut down gpu. it's faster for most things, but throw a grunty app at it, and it's as good as a $90 phone. Which runs at 600mhz with 256mb or on board ram.

And it constantly reboots. And the touchscreen is off slightly. And the drop shipping company has stopped responding to emails.

Why you, I'm never buying an ATS phone again!!!!!!!11

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


If you had a few hundred million dollars, would you even bother? I think not. You'd be cruising in a yacht in the Caribbean, while well-tanned and quite naked models did unspeakable things to you, and you know it...

reply to post by Gazrok


But that's the thing - if everybody who had had a few hundred million at some point in their lives did that, then...we wouldn't have many billionaires!

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens

But that's the thing - if everybody who had had a few hundred million at some point in their lives did that, then...we wouldn't have many billionaires!

I'd wager you'd be hard-pressed to find ONE billionaire who HASN'T done this at some point....

Hell, I'm married, and if we had hundreds of millions, my wife and I both would be doing it! She'd have male models that looked like Thor, and I'd have female models that looked like Kate Beckinsdale or Megan Fox rubbing oil on us while we sipped top-shelf cocktails and they fed us lobster with drawn butter. What's the point of having that kind of money if you don't LIVE!???