Creative CEO upset that Apple created a flash memory shortage
It ain't just the Koreans who are crying foul over the sweet deal Samsung cut Apple on NAND flash memory modules (like the ones being used in the iPod nano) — our old friend Sim Wong Hoo (aka the CEO of Creative) isn't happy either — it's been a "busy" couple of days for him. He's complaining that Samsung gave Apple a "one-sided deal" that no one else the industry has been able to get (Samsung has been accused of selling the memory chips to Apple below market value) and has directly resulted in an industry-wide shortage of flash modules that will make it difficult for Creative to keep several of their flash-based players in stock this holiday season. Don't worry about ol'Creative, though, Mr. Sim is really just looking out for the little guys:
The low-end [manufacturers] went out of business in the last few months because it's very hard to face this pressure. If Creative is losing money then it's very difficult for other companies to really fight in this battle.
Boo freaking Hoo. Hate to say it, but business is business and as long as no laws are broken (and we'll leave that issue up to the Korean FTC to decide), there's nothing wrong with a company locking down a strategic resource (in this case, flash memory) in order to keep it out of the hands of the competition.
[Via TechDirt]
