Samsung is no match for Apple, IT guru Ahn Cheol-soo said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald, stressing that Samsung is paying the price for failing to create and encourage original platforms.

“The vibes we are getting from abroad on the situation are quite different from what we are feeling in Korea,” Ahn said.

Apple and Samsung are currently embroiled in a bitter legal dispute over licensing rights. 

“Samsung, despite its position as a conglomerate, has failed to create an ecological business environment and instead has turned the industry into a zoo,” Ahn said.

He used the zoo metaphor to indicate that the business sector has become a ruthless place where nobody gets a second chance, and because there are no second chances, nobody takes risks to form their own platforms.

Because Korea has no real platform, the entire digital industry has fallen five years behind the U.S., said Ahn, now dean of Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University.

Ahn went on to say that none of the domestic conglomerates seem interested in encouraging second-tier players to help shape a corporate “eco-system” where failing is allowed to pave the way for eventual success.

The feud between Apple and Samsung started in April when the California-based company sued Samsung for “blatantly copying” its iPhones and iPads.

Samsung, fired back with a countersuit, claiming Apple infringed on its communication technology.

Samsung, which has sued Apple in eight courts in six countries, recently dropped one of its suits in California, but stressed the move was aimed to streamline its legal proceedings.

Ahn also serves as chairman of the board at AhnLab, the antivirus software and security solutions company he founded in 1995.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)