OEM vs ODM Explained..

Many have asked this question - What is the difference between an OEM and an ODM?

So here it is in a compact form

OEM and ODM are terms that we come across in the design and manufacturing industry and people remain unsure of the difference between both terms as they appear to be similar. These are in fact categorization for the manufacturing companies and the resellers. This article will help the readers in differentiating these terms by finding more about their functions and responsibilities.

OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is a company which produces a product according to parameters given by another company. The product is sold to the company which gave order and then it is sold under a trade name given by the purchaser. OEM has the facilities to manufacture products, but it is not involved in Research and Development and manufactures products according to the specifications of the company which places the order.
Examples will be Quanta, FoxConn, Compal.

ODM
ODM is Original Design Manufacturer which refers to a company which conceives and manufactures the product. It sells the product then to another company which sells it under the own trade name. An ODM company can begin only if it knows the concept and the function of the product and it has the facility for research and development.
Examples will be Asus, Acer, Dell.

Now it is clear that an ODM company is the one which designs and manufactures products according to the ideas conceived by them, while the OEM Company works like a businessman who accomplishes the specifications of design given by another company. As ODM companies make their own products, they have of course more negotiating power and are able to ask for more prices than OEM companies.
An advantage which OEM gives to the business owner is that they get the ownership of a brand without setting up infrastructure for production because they get finished products from manufacturers. ODM is innovative and is involved in R and D and this is why they need to wait to get profits until their products are approved by industry and bought by the interested parties.

Ubuntu Phone

Ubuntu recently announced its Phone OS.
It was long in the works and was delayed after last year's anticipated launch. But finally its here.
And while it was showcased at the CES 2013, it was only on demo hardware. There has not been a clear answer from Canonical (the Mark Shuttelworth led outfit that develops Ubuntu OS, about the likelihood of and definite carriers or hardware vendor committment. Last heard, its rumored to be launched in the Q4 of calendar 2013 or Q1 2014.
That said, its not all doom and gloom. While many analysts have commented that Ubuntu OS is late in the game and stands no chance without any hardware platform, there can be hardly and doubt that the Smartphone market is now a highly polarized market. The one side is the Linux kernel based Android camp that is the worldwide leader compared to the iphone that is a single vendor lock-in. Nobody denies their presence however, there is always a room for an entrant that can prevent the consumer choice from becoming bipolarized. What really needs to be seen is how effectively can Canonical convert the news about its newborn phone OS into a curiosity in the minds of the consumer. And only once that curiosity is evoked there will be any interest in the new platform. Ofcourse, this has to to with a definitive hardware platform. So far we have heard none but we will like to be wrong about that. The more the OS platform is popularized among the hardware vendors, the more chances of it being noticed. That said, there is great need to have the Marketing and messaging piece in order so there can be an atmosphere of awareness about the product.
On the onset the various demos we have seen about the OS hints that they have thought through about the design aspect well enough to make the best use of all real estate on the phone screen. That however needs to be optimized with a single focus hardware platform and lots of PR/promotions.
The good news is that this only increases the ubiquity of Linux platform in the market and mind of the consumer. Good job so far from Ubuntu. A lot needs to be covered yet...