Related
http://m.examiner.com/exSanFrancisco/pm_75809/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=WzckuLg6
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I can accept that story or some other form it. I mean, it is out in Europe and has been for some time. And they have been dropping new phones with 2.2 for a while now. Why wouldn't these A-holes release it in the States. Can't imagine they have been testing the firmware for the past 7 months.
I have the epic and our update got delayed too. I knew it had something to do some bs like this but why would they delay the epic update because it already has sprint 4g in it. They could be upgrading their wimax to lte or coming out with the bidder screen model with the super amoled plus screen and they will launch that with froyo and leave ours in the dust. I guess we will find out on the 3rd of feb at sprints special event
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I thought maybe Samsung was going to just skip 2.2 and release a 2.3 update because Samsung is already running 2.3 on their Nexus S.
I was actually going to buy an Epic tomorrow.
But, if this article is true, I am going to "devalue" Samsung and not buy their product.
[email protected] them if they are making existing customers suffer because of their greed.
Honestly, this is probably true. I know this sucks, but companies like this value their earnings more than their customers. Those of us who have been eagerly awaiting Froyo are in the minority, and they know that most of the people who own these devices couldn't care less about it.
This will probably be the last Samsung phone that I will ever buy, I'd rather give my money to a company which values their customers and provides customers with timely information regarding updates and the like.
This reminds me of the initial warnings about previous samsung devices and the lack of updates when the epic first came out. Although this is the best sprint phone I have owned to date I still wonder if I should have taken those warnings a little more seriously!
Yes I heard complaints in the past about Samsung's poor phone support but I still got the Epic. Mostly because my old phone (HTC Touch) died and it was going to cost $100 for a replacement (thanks lame Sprint insurance). So I just decided to get a new phone and compared to the Evo, the Epic seemed like the much better option. After experiencing Samsung's greed and lack of support for their existing products, I'm going back to HTC next go round.
Let's kill!
Agree. This most likely would've been the last Samsung phone I bought. This pretty much seals the deal.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
For my next phone I'm going to do exactly what I did with this phone. Find out what the best phone is.. check the phones out.. and go with the one that is the best. Right now, even after the Evo 4G Shift was released, the Epic and other Galaxy S phones are still the best phone. I have friends with the Evo, Droid X, MyTouch.. and I can safely say that I have the best phone. Those phones have 2.2, but I wouldn't THINK about switching to them. Do I want 2.2? Of course. I have it now thanks to custom roms but of course it kinda aggravates me that there is no official release of 2.2 yet. But that is ok. If I had a choice between a laptop with a Intel i3 running Windows 7 and a Intel i7 running Windows Vista (or even XP), I would take the i7.
In my opinion, company tactics will forever aggravate us users. Throwing around other company names like HTC as the company that will be this "knight in shining armor" will only dissappoint you in the future. I have had 3 HTC phones previously and without a doubt, I can say that they are definitely not beyond screwing their customers over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is right, but I'm saying that it is not uncommon. The day that these companies become non-profit organizations is the day you will see them put customers first.. I'm not holding my breath.
HeXeD said:
For my next phone I'm going to do exactly what I did with this phone. Find out what the best phone is.. check the phones out.. and go with the one that is the best. Right now, even after the Evo 4G Shift was released, the Epic and other Galaxy S phones are still the best phone. I have friends with the Evo, Droid X, MyTouch.. and I can safely say that I have the best phone. Those phones have 2.2, but I wouldn't THINK about switching to them. Do I want 2.2? Of course. I have it now thanks to custom roms but of course it kinda aggravates me that there is no official release of 2.2 yet. But that is ok. If I had a choice between a laptop with a Intel i3 running Windows 7 and a Intel i7 running Windows Vista (or even XP), I would take the i7.
In my opinion, company tactics will forever aggravate us users. Throwing around other company names like HTC as the company that will be this "knight in shining armor" will only dissappoint you in the future. I have had 3 HTC phones previously and without a doubt, I can say that they are definitely not beyond screwing their customers over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is right, but I'm saying that it is not uncommon. The day that these companies become non-profit organizations is the day you will see them put customers first.. I'm not holding my breath.
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I couldn't have said this better. I had debated typing this up earlier but you beat me to it. Great minds think alike
JD
As Lee Corso would say, 'not so fast my friend.' Before I scooped my Epic, I had the HTC Touch (the original way old Vogue) and the ppc6700 (the silver brick) before that. I never had any issues with software other than crappy windows mobile but when it came to updates and/or support, I was happy. Hardware was on point as well. Samsung Galaxy has been a major disappointment for me having owner various Samsung products and knowing that their hardware is excellent. Still think the Epic is terrific. Just disappointed at all the troubles that customers have experienced across the entire Galaxy lineup.
JudasD said:
I couldn't have said this better. I had debated typing this up earlier but you beat me to it. Great minds think alike
JD
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This page has more detailed information on the T-Mobile leaked rumor:
...Trust me when I tell you, we had an update for the original G1, and HTC begged us not to. In 75% of the cases known to me in my [time] here and my [time] dealing with Android I will say that honestly most upgrade hold offs were the Manufacturer and NOT us as some believe. But we catch the flack.
I am tired. [redacted] I am up to here with Samsung. They pulled the same thing with the Behold 2 that I MYSELF had to clean up and caught wind over. The update to 2.1 update 1 is existant...
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If true, this shows how completely and utterly out of touch Samsung's executives are with reality.
First of all, the whole theory that a 2.2-Vibrant(non-4G) would "devalue" the 4G. EVEN IF the only difference between the old and new Vibrant were the front camera and 4G, how many users likely to notice or care about whether or not the current Vibrant has 2.2 would *honestly* choose to buy the old model instead of the new one, even if it were a $50 difference between the two? People who buy $50 phones or wait months to get an old model on closeout for "free" with 2-year contract aren't the people who buy phones like the Epic, Vibrant, and the rest of the Galaxy S family. People in "our" category might ******* about a $50 difference... but we'll pay it anyway, because we know that if we don't, we'll be miserable and regret it daily for the next year or two.
Ditto, for customers who already own a Vibrant. In the entire United f***ing States, there *might* be 10,000 Vibrant owners who'll dump one and buy a Vibrant4G at full retail just to get 4G and/or the front camera. And I'll bet that a hefty subset of that group are T-Mobile employees whose "full" cost (after employee discount) is roughly what the rest of us would pay for a subsidized phone with contract, anyway. Now, having satisfied that group... how many more existing Vibrant customers do they REALLY think they're going to get by withholding 2.2 from owners of older Vibrants? Especially considering the abundance of custom ROMs.
The rationale becomes even more absurd when you consider the case of withholding 2.2 from Epic4G owners. I'm sure if you combed America hard enough, you might find a few Epic4G owners who'd dump it, pay the ETF to Sprint, switch to T-Mobile, and buy a Vibrant4G... but scratch a bit deeper, and I'd bet a major body part that the overwhelming majority of THAT group consists of users who probably wanted to switch anyway, and the existence of the Vibrant4G was more of an enabling excuse and rationale than an actual *reason*.
Companies like Samsung just don't seem to "get it". Consumers might chuck a $25 mp3 player to buy a newer, cooler one in 4 months. Statistically NOBODY chucks an expensive pocket computer whose marginal replacement cost exceeds $400 for an incremental improvement 4-6 months down the line. The closest ANY phone has probably come to motivating early switching was the Evo, and that was basically because the Evo was roughly twice as good as the Hero in almost every meaningful way, and worse in basically none. Users MIGHT be induced to switch early for 10x faster data, twice the cpu speed, 50% more resolution on a screen nearly twice the size, and a lot more ram. Users are NOT going to casually switch because one has 2.2 and one is officially stuck at 2.1... they're just going to root, reflash, and promise their deity of choice that they'll never buy another Samsung phone again.
If anything, T-Mobile is the biggest loser, because if true, this means that Samsung is effectively doing its best to devalue T-Mobile's inventory of existing unsold Vibrants. Now, if T-Mobile charges $10/month more for 4G service, that might merit trying harder to induce otherwise-indifferent new purchasers to go with the 4G model instead of the old model... but if it's the same price per month for service, it's to T-Mobile's own advantage to all but encourage new customers who are indifferent between the two to go with the old one... it's one less phone for T-Mobile to write off as a loss and send to a spare parts warehouse to gather dust until it ends up in a landfill or gets dumped on a new penny-pinching customer who only cares that it's "free" with 2-year contract, and one fewer customer who'll start abusing youtube as a source of free in-car music on demand (soaking up lots of bandwidth in the process).
This is the kind of logic that leaves me wondering how some big corporations can even stay in business. I worked for one a couple of years ago where we were ordered to *immediately* dispose of a hundred or so old laptops -- at a cost of $250 apiece -- instead of keeping them piled on a few shelves in a storage room in case we came up with a good use for them someday (like using them as thin clients for call center operators... something we had, in fact, done before). The executive rationale? The accountants complained that they were "costing" us $5,000/month to store based on the square-foot value of the space they were taking up in the closet, and somebody's wet dream fantasies about the value of that space. The thing is, we were about ~15 employees in a warehouse-like facility almost a square city block in size that was 95% empty (built during the dotcom boom, then the company was stuck with it due to a glut of similar buildings nearby). So, we burned $25,000 in the name of emptying off a 4x6 foot steel shelving unit, basically to humor the delusional fantasies of a faceless borg more concerned with a checklist item than getting actual work done and bringing in revenue. Madness. Pure, faceless, bureaucratically-driven out of control insanity.
HeXeD said:
For my next phone I'm going to do exactly what I did with this phone. Find out what the best phone is.. check the phones out.. and go with the one that is the best. Right now, even after the Evo 4G Shift was released, the Epic and other Galaxy S phones are still the best phone. I have friends with the Evo, Droid X, MyTouch.. and I can safely say that I have the best phone. Those phones have 2.2, but I wouldn't THINK about switching to them. Do I want 2.2? Of course. I have it now thanks to custom roms but of course it kinda aggravates me that there is no official release of 2.2 yet. But that is ok. If I had a choice between a laptop with a Intel i3 running Windows 7 and a Intel i7 running Windows Vista (or even XP), I would take the i7.
In my opinion, company tactics will forever aggravate us users. Throwing around other company names like HTC as the company that will be this "knight in shining armor" will only dissappoint you in the future. I have had 3 HTC phones previously and without a doubt, I can say that they are definitely not beyond screwing their customers over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is right, but I'm saying that it is not uncommon. The day that these companies become non-profit organizations is the day you will see them put customers first.. I'm not holding my breath.
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I agree with you and I really love my Epic BUT.... I can't help wondering how much better the phone would be with the upgrade.
Also Im sure this has been posted but this is an interesting read rating carriers and manufacturers on their upgrade rate.
looks to be true. This is on the front page of yahoo news.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/216716/samsung_blocking_ota_update_on_tmobile.html
Also made it to Slashdot!
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/01/13/2334213/Is-Samsung-Blocking-Updates-To-Froyo
And PC World:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/216716/samsung_blocking_ota_update_on_tmobile.html
I have a feeling some people at Samsung are having a very bad day indeed.
Nexus S reboot problem:
Google Nexus S, google's second handset is in the limelight for wrong reasons this time. Looks like, the nexus S handsets are randomly rebooting atleast once every 48 hours, usually during a voice call! Google has officially confirmed this bug in their support forum. All the handsets that has been updated to the latest version of gingerbread (Android 2.3.1/GRH78) are affected by this bug.
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User's post from Slashdot story:
The real reason they are stonewalling on the 2.2 update for Vibrant is this: When they released the 2.2 update for the Vibrant in Canada, the update worked fine for a week or two, and then like clockwork bricked a huge percentage of the phones that updated. And when I say bricked, I'm not being liberal with that word, after a week or so running the Samsung 2.2 update, the SD card would become corrupt, and recovery mode would be unable to format it. My wife and I both have Vibrants, and it happened to them both one day apart. Samsung has been silent on the matter. Not surprising they'd avoid moving sending the 2.2 update out to US Vibrant owners, and also not surprising that they're refusing to explain why. Bell at least is fixing them, but lots of people on the XDA forum are saying their "repaired" phones are bricking again in short order.
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Samsung's official response to CNET's query about the rumor:
Samsung Mobile does not comment on rumors or speculation. With regard to the Froyo update, we recently issued the following statement: "Samsung feels it is important to make the Android 2.2/Froyo upgrade available only after we feel that we can give the millions of U.S. Galaxy S owners a simple and reliable upgrade experience. Due to the complexity and unique functionality of each Galaxy S device, we are performing additional testing and are working to make the Android 2.2/Froyo upgrade available to all U.S. Galaxy S owners, including the Samsung Vibrant, as soon as possible.
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Just to add to this conversation --> Just got off a chat with Sprint and I kept asking them about Froyo for the Epic. Everytime I mentioned it, the Sprint rep would direct me to Samsung and it's their fault. I think they got mad that I kept asking and pushing the subject, that they said they could no longer help me on the chat and gave me Samsung's number to call.
Looking at Samsung's facebook account, there a bunch of people complaining about this issue. Hopefully all this pressure will make Samsung cave in. *crosses fingers*
I call bull****.
Having come from the Crackberry world, this sort of stuff happens all the time. A supposed "reliable source" will leak some sort of story, the fringe enthusiast sites get wind of it and generates chatter and it eventually gets picked up by a naive journalist with a lazy editor and it gets put up as "legit" news which then causes a feedback loop which causes the internet to explore.
The example that comes to mind is the OS 4.7.0.113 update for the Blackberry Storm 9530 on Verizon, a leaked OS that "reliable sources" claimed was going to be the next official update but wasn't. It made it to PC World as well:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163056/blackberry_storm_to_get_firmware_update.html
And it was 100% bull****. So I wouldn't give this rumor much credence.
The explanation of not wanting to take the wind out of the sails of the Vibrant 4G is irrelevant to other Galaxy S models where there is no similar Osbourne effect - such as with the Epic 4G.
My guess is that the actual explanation is much more mundane. Given the problem with Froyo bricking Vibrants, I would bet dollars to donuts that Samsung got super gunshy and their slow approach to Froyo updates to smaller markets is nothing more than a widespread, low-risk beta test to make sure their code is up to snuff before risking releasing an unstable update to the larger, litigious American Galaxy S userbases.
I have a P6800.
I think it's a great tablet with many technical innovations.
I accept it wouldn't be to everyones taste.
I've worked in electronics in both retail, wholesale and manufacturing for a fair proportion of my working life.
Why haven't Samsung yet worked out that announcing a new product, then making the market wait months and months for shipment, while continuing to announce new products (which also won't ship for months) is undermining their impact in the market.
The new product announcements deter individuals and more importantly retailers (bricks and mortar not virtual) from carrying the product as they'll be concerned they'll either get left with stock or get hit with price drops.
Grey importing from the Far East destroys retailers willingness to carry a product with a RRP of £350 when it's available from Far East drop shippers for around 2/3 of that price.
This scattergun approach to product launches and lack of discipline in global pricing is seriously undermining Samsungs long term success in my opinion, someone somewhere high up in the organisation should really step back and make some hard decisions on strategy.
With so many products to support it takes a disproportionate amount of time to release updates (as we've seen with the P6800 6 months after ICS release) and the customer experience is therefore diminished.
Fanboiism only goes so far, a coherent, global, long term, production and marketing plan is what works in the market.
They also need to work on their pricing - I'd have bought one of these 7.7's long ago if they'd been realistically priced. As they are (in the UK) they're simply overpriced.
In general the Galaxy Tab range is just way too expensive - I know 2 people who bought iPad 3's instead as they were the same price as the 16GB Galaxy Tab 10.1!
You have to differentiate between lower price and diifferent price.
Personally I think the 7.7 is worth every penny and if Samsung did better marketing they could show the differences between the 7.7 and the IPad 3.
Instead they now have 5 different product ranges or 6 if you include the Galaxy Note....
7 Plus
7.7
8.9
10.1
7 v2
These, in theory, come in various memory sizes although I've never seen any memory size of more then 16gb on the 8.9, 7.7 or 7 plus ranges.
The average time between announcement and shipping seems to be 5 months and even today in the UK you cannot buy a UK sourced 7.7 3G as far as I know and it's 8 months since it was announced.
There are rumours of a 11.6? unit coming.
While I understand the desire to have a comprehensive range the reality is that Samsung are spreading themselves too thin and instead of launching 1 product in say 3 sizes they see each version as a totally new product. This means they themselves are confused about the offerings, this is reflected in the lack of marketing 'punch' in their message.
My suggestions for what could help.
1. Stop any new tablet announcements for 12 months.
2. Simplify the product range for an announcement in 12 months.
The range should be....
11.6 with no bezel (so same physical form factor as the current 10.1)
8.9 with no bezel
7 or 7.7
All should have Super Amoled Plus (or anything newer and better that's arrived by then)
The range should be technically identical except for the screen size (the specifics of the offerings would need to be worked out nearer to the launch)
Ship globally the full range within 4 weeks of the announcement, concentrate your marketing spend to this one 'product' in three size 'flavours'.
Sit back and reap the rewards.
In what regards consumer electronics, Samsung is being crushed by its own growth, "ungovernance" and lack of focus.
I've noticed this has been going on since, at least, 2007 year of my first interaction with them on account of the BDP-5000 combo player.
Like many Asian corporate giants, seen from the outside, Samsung seems like either (1) they don't have anyone at the helm or (2) they have too many people allowed at that very same helm, just giving the odd directional input, as they cluelessly seem fit.
When I see a photo of Gee-Sung Choi I don't think "Hey!...So that's the man behind all those incredible devices...".
Instead I think "...So, this is the guy behind that ugly mess..."
GK
(PS: Mine was 479 EUR at Dixons, in the Netherlands...excellent, excellent price)
You can buy a UK sourced 3G 7.7 from Clove Technology. Product code is GT-P6800LSAXEU. Price is an eye watering GBP478.80. When it gets to GBP350 I might get one. Current price is just too expensive for something which will be superseded in 6 months.
Yep!!
I am no marketing expert but even I can say that Samsung are continually missing out on opportunities for more sales, and more to the point getting themselves known. This isn't just the case with the P6800.
I know marketing/advertising is expensive but the rewards they would reap would be huge. Especially with the new budget Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 tablet, there are many people out there hungry for a capable tablet, but don't they want to shell out £500 for a tablet. An advertising campaign would make all the difference.
Look at the Galaxy Note! It took them 3 months to start TV adverts for it here. They really haven't a clue about marketing. Instead they are churning out products left, right and centre. Trying to cover all bases, it's an insane tactic.
The 7.7 is definitely over priced here, over £400 for the Wifi only model is just nuts. I don't own a 7.7 just yet, but I am very tempted. However, I don't have too much faith that ICS is actually coming to the 7.7.. also it's not been a very popular device for developers to play with, we can blame the price tag for that. It kinda feels like that even Samsung aren't really that interested in the 7.7. It's availability in general says something to me... then again Samsung are just a strange company.
Samsung have this frantic idea to push as many new products out the door, their business model is so wrong. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
jeremyr62 said:
You can buy a UK sourced 3G 7.7 from Clove Technology. Product code is GT-P6800LSAXEU. Price is an eye watering GBP478.80. When it gets to GBP350 I might get one. Current price is just too expensive for something which will be superseded in 6 months.
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Yea, Expansys have them too (SAMP680016GBS) at GBP479.99. I agree that GBP350's more realistic, but I'm not holding my breath.
I've just checked and you can pick them up on Amazon.com for USD597 (GBP371). Yet again we pay through the nose in Europe - Amazon.de's selling them for EUR742 (GBP591) and Amazon.fr for EUR683 (GBP544)!
Samsung probably doesn't go by the same metrics and ideas as you. People here often refer to the 7.7 as Samsung's "flagship tablet". It's really not. It's certainly their nicest one, and one that probably is the most difficult to manufacture.
The 10.1 is their "flagship" since that's what's selling and that's the direct competitor to the iPad (or least it used to be). The 7.7 is more of a niche edge thing.
burhanistan said:
Samsung probably doesn't go by the same metrics and ideas as you. People here often refer to the 7.7 as Samsung's "flagship tablet". It's really not. It's certainly their nicest one, and one that probably is the most difficult to manufacture.
The 10.1 is their "flagship" since that's what's selling and that's the direct competitor to the iPad (or least it used to be). The 7.7 is more of a niche edge thing.
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The 10.1 isn't selling in the UK or quite a few other parts of Europe.
My point isn't about this tablet or that tablet, it's about Samsungs lack of overall strategy.
Simplistically if you had 1 product in 3 size 'flavours' it allows you to price differentiate accordingly. Especially as the Internet means that your pricing strategy has to be global.
The current RRP pricing in the UK could work (and I know some people here will say it never would) if they concentrated their marketing spend and targetted it effectively, the reality is they're just spread way too thin with too many products and no clear strategy.
55brianb said:
I've just checked and you can pick them up on Amazon.com for USD597 (GBP371). Yet again we pay through the nose in Europe - Amazon.de's selling them for EUR742 (GBP591) and Amazon.fr for EUR683 (GBP544)!
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Here (austria) you can get the 7.7 for 499EUR. Shipping in EU is around 10EUR. Just wanted to state that because it seems to me that everybody thinks you can't get this device at a proper price. (german price is very overwhelmed because the tab 7.7 isn't officially available in germany!)
By the way I don't think the price is a huge problem as you get the device for "free" when signing a contract for mobile internet, and without that the tab is pretty much useless anyways.
Back to topic: I totally agree samsung is carrying a very strange marketing strategy. Also I think the idea of "unifying" the tabs, so that screen size is only technical difference and launch all of them with one big marketing campaign would be alot better and more efficient than just rolling out device after device after device. I can imagine some people don't want to buy a tab because you can be sure 2 or 3 months later the next, better model is announced. I think better support (ie releasing updates in time and for a longer period of time) would be much better than having slightly better hardware every few weeks.
OP actually listed marketing strategies of Apple. Unfortunately Samsung could not, and probably never will follow the very same strategies.
Samsung actually follows the best marketing strategy, only that strategy focuses on profit, rather than customers, like Apple does. That's why you think Samsung made a mess in marketing, from customer's perspective.
Also, price segmentation, wide variety of product line and hidden product roadmap is exactly most vendors do for decades, for profit maximization. Not that I believe these are the best strategies, Apple for one has proven them wrong.
In short Apple's marketing strategies must accompany with market-dominating products, which is a very risky marketing model for most corporations. (I think I should stop at this point, I found discussing marketing in tech forum boring indeed )
九千. said:
OP actually listed marketing strategies of Apple. Unfortunately Samsung could not, and probably never will follow the very same strategies.
Samsung actually follows the best marketing strategy, only that strategy focuses on profit, rather than customers, like Apple does. That's why you think Samsung made a mess in marketing, from customer's perspective.
Also, price segmentation, wide variety of product line and hidden product roadmap is exactly most vendors do for decades, for profit maximization. Not that I believe these are the best strategies, Apple for one has proven them wrong.
In short Apple's marketing strategies must accompany with market-dominating products, which is a very risky marketing model for most corporations. (I think I should stop at this point, I found discussing marketing in tech forum boring indeed )
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Errr...
I didn't quote use the marketing strategies of Apple. Apple have a very different value proposition which is based upon diverse revenue streams.
1. While they make good money on their hardware their tight control of their App and ITunes stores generate them substantial and very profitable secondary revenue streams.
2. They are single product focused (the continued sale of the IPad2 is to run down production lines in my opinion). They only have single products in a segment, albeit with different memory sizes.
3. While they present themselves as a technical leader they are in my opinion a very good marketing operation who package up others technical breakthroughs.
I met Steve Jobs back in about 1979, he was pretty good at pinching other peoples ideas even then.
I disagree with your assessment that Samsung focus on profit, frankly the marketing of their tablets in Europe has been non existent. Unless you're selling a product you're not making profits and allowing such large pricing differentials in markets just encourages grey imports and undermines your message to your stockists.
I know of at least two major UK retailers who carry Samsung tablets but don't carry the full range and don't have presentation units on display, when I asked them why they said "...because we don't know where their focus is...." (my paraphrase).
I'm glad that you are interesting in this boring topic.
pinsb said:
Errr...
I didn't quote use the marketing strategies of Apple. Apple have a very different value proposition which is based upon diverse revenue streams.
1. While they make good money on their hardware their tight control of their App and ITunes stores generate them substantial and very profitable secondary revenue streams.
2. They are single product focused (the continued sale of the IPad2 is to run down production lines in my opinion). They only have single products in a segment, albeit with different memory sizes.
3. While they present themselves as a technical leader they are in my opinion a very good marketing operation who package up others technical breakthroughs.
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Actually I think we were not discussing above three point before. Anyway, I agree with you except point 3, I have problems with Apple in their motives on crushing technological advancement, least honoring them with the title of technical leader.
pinsb said:
I met Steve Jobs back in about 1979, he was pretty good at pinching other peoples ideas even then.
I disagree with your assessment that Samsung focus on profit, frankly the marketing of their tablets in Europe has been non existent. Unless you're selling a product you're not making profits and allowing such large pricing differentials in markets just encourages grey imports and undermines your message to your stockists.
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It depends on regions. As liberal as they seem to be, many EU countries have strict imports restrictions that effectively repel foreign imports. I can't speak for Samsung, but in our case our electronics products have to go through complicated regulations on standards and safety measures, before being allowed to import, with applied period and quantity constraints. Also, EU has their own patent office, on the top of USPTO, which in effect erecting a huge import barrier to all import goods, especially electronics.
Given such a huge barrier, it makes sense for a large corporation cutting back budget in marketing. For example, delay in launching Galaxy Tabs in Germany as a result of on-going litigation causing them to lose the time-to-market, and you wouldn't be surprise when they retreat all the marketing campagin planned.
pinsb said:
I know of at least two major UK retailers who carry Samsung tablets but don't carry the full range and don't have presentation units on display, when I asked them why they said "...because we don't know where their focus is...." (my paraphrase).
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UK has a different story. I cannot detail that without offending British Government or people supporting them. So please let me pass on that. As to the reason why Samsung widely expands the product lines in Galaxy Tab, I think I have explained before. This is not about market-focusing, it is about market-segmentation.
I wish my above points reaching you.
I think Samsung have got the right strategy by offering a choice of different tablet sizes in the same way that laptops are offered in different sizes. A lot of the big laptop players such as Toshiba are now entering the market and offering a choice of 3 or 4 tablet sizes. People have become brain washed by the Apple one size fits all approach.
Crazy prices, and here is me, getting the tab for 499 Swiss Francs
Having seen the Sammie press release about 9m pre sales of SG3 handsets I now understand.......
Sammie see their route to market (In Europe at least) as via Carriers, they aren't really that interested in marketing products except as an adjunct to assist the Carriers sell handsets. As tablets are much more often a stand alone sale it's had no attention.
While I still think the P6800 is a great product I've come to the realisation that Sammie will never give it the attention it should have got, as a result sales will never reach their potential and therefore ROM development will always be restricted.
Hopefully the CM9 situation will accelerate when ICS Colonel Sauces are release, the developers have already done a fantastic job of getting a 90% working build.
Ho Hum.....
To sell the tablet and replace with the new Google (Asus) Nexus (depending on spec) or see what happens.
I'm feeling pretty let down by Sammie right now and to be honest it'll influence my decision about buying Sammie products in the future.
pinsb said:
You have to differentiate between lower price and diifferent price.
Personally I think the 7.7 is worth every penny and if Samsung did better marketing they could show the differences between the 7.7 and the IPad 3.
Instead they now have 5 different product ranges or 6 if you include the Galaxy Note....
7 Plus
7.7
8.9
10.1
7 v2
These, in theory, come in various memory sizes although I've never seen any memory size of more then 16gb on the 8.9, 7.7 or 7 plus ranges.
The average time between announcement and shipping seems to be 5 months and even today in the UK you cannot buy a UK sourced 7.7 3G as far as I know and it's 8 months since it was announced.
There are rumours of a 11.6? unit coming.
While I understand the desire to have a comprehensive range the reality is that Samsung are spreading themselves too thin and instead of launching 1 product in say 3 sizes they see each version as a totally new product. This means they themselves are confused about the offerings, this is reflected in the lack of marketing 'punch' in their message.
My suggestions for what could help.
1. Stop any new tablet announcements for 12 months.
2. Simplify the product range for an announcement in 12 months.
The range should be....
11.6 with no bezel (so same physical form factor as the current 10.1)
8.9 with no bezel
7 or 7.7
All should have Super Amoled Plus (or anything newer and better that's arrived by then)
The range should be technically identical except for the screen size (the specifics of the offerings would need to be worked out nearer to the launch)
Ship globally the full range within 4 weeks of the announcement, concentrate your marketing spend to this one 'product' in three size 'flavours'.
Sit back and reap the rewards.
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Click to collapse
They should all have wacom digitizers. That's all I'll add. I dont care if its as much or more than an ipad. I HATE HATE HATE apple.
Samsung already offers a superior product. If they consildated their Note line-up into these specs, included gs3, gave the gTab 7.7 and gs3 wacom digitizers and launched them ALL with ICS at launch, let touchwiz be an opt-in with first FOTA, EVERYONE would be happy.
Sent from my GT-P6800
Yep!!
I am no marketing expert but even I can say that Samsung are continually missing out on opportunities for more sales, and more to the point getting themselves known. This isn't just the case with the P6800.
I know marketing/advertising is expensive but the rewards they would reap would be huge. Especially with the new budget Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 tablet, there are many people out there hungry for a capable tablet, but don't they want to shell out £500 for a tablet. An advertising campaign would make all the difference.
Look at the Galaxy Note! It took them 3 months to start TV adverts for it here. They really haven't a clue about marketing. Instead they are churning out products left, right and centre. Trying to cover all bases, it's an insane tactic.
The 7.7 is definitely over priced here, over £400 for the Wifi only model is just nuts. I don't own a 7.7 just yet, but I am very tempted. However, I don't have too much faith that ICS is actually coming to the 7.7.. also it's not been a very popular device for developers to play with, we can blame the price tag for that. It kinda feels like that even Samsung aren't really that interested in the 7.7. It's availability in general says something to me... then again Samsung are just a strange company.
Samsung have this frantic idea to push as many new products out the door, their business model is so wrong. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
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Click to collapse
Be more than tempted. This is the best device on the market. From what I understand, samsung is having a hard time supplying the screens. The production process is outrageously precise and there are only two factories producing them in the whole world. Those two factories are supplying htc, motorola, and what's the other 7" amoled tablet?
Its US$699 in the states and only offered under Verizon. They took out telephony hardware. So the only way to get the gsm version is through import. I got mine used for US$500 and is in excellent condition.
The sad thing is, in my personal opinion, this technology is the greatest innovation in mark-making since the invention of painting. PM me for more on that one.
Sent from my GT-P6800
To me it looks a bit like Samsung is using a shotgun blast of models and sizes to look what the public wants.
If it becomes successful enough it gets an followup and else they try something different.
Mario387 said:
To me it looks a bit like Samsung is using a shotgun blast of models and sizes to look what the public wants.
If it becomes successful enough it gets an followup and else they try something different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What the public want are good quality, speedy, reliable tablets, priced fairly. The first company to deliver on this will make a killing. Simple.
Samsung's trying to compete with Apple, which I now think they are close to in terms of hardware. Where they appear to be going wrong is in their pricing strategy - they are simply pricing themselves out of the market, and as long as their prices remain high they'll lose out on potentially massive sales.
First of all I am not what I would call a fan boy even though every major appliance in my house is a Samsung, even the dishwasher. I have an S3 phone and the Note 10.1 is my constant companion. Lately I have been wondering as we wait for JB update (both phone and tablet) if the Apple ruling in the USA is hampering the speed that we are getting Samsung updates or software. Hell, you can barely get any accessories for the Note 10.1 in the US much less an update. There are even issues with some software available on the the Samsung app store that due to licensing issues Samsung can't sell in the US but the rest of the world has full access.
I love my tablet and would not trade it for any other. Works great as it is and if JB never came I would be fine. However, I think that it is possible we will see a much different user experience here in the states over the next few years when it comes to Samsung Tablets and Phones than the rest of the world. Until Apple gets off the crack pipe and stops litigating every electronic item that comes out we may have an issue.
Thoughts?
rap6388 said:
...if the Apple ruling in the USA is hampering the speed that we are getting Samsung updates or software.
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Click to collapse
It's just Samsung's priorities or lack thereof. HTC's just as bad. And both typically launch updates internationally first so our friends overseas aren't getting something we're not since other than the one German carrier ROM no Note has JB. The JB roll-out on the SGS3's not going particularly well and the One X JB update went back to the drawing board after problems were encountered when it was rolled out to the first region to receive it (Taiwan). So it’s the update process that sucks and the U.S. is just along for the ride.
Hell, you can barely get any accessories for the Note 10.1 in the US
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Click to collapse
Or Europe. The car dock for the GN was released nine months after it was shown. Same thing for the wireless charging station for the SGS3. The U.S. actually got the book cover for the Note before Europe. The accessory line is just mismanaged; I don't think the U.S. fares better or worse than the rest of the world. And again, HTC's the same. Kind of makes you wonder why they offer accessories at all if they don't want to sell them.
I think that it is possible we will see a much different user experience here in the states over the next few years when it comes to Samsung Tablets and Phones than the rest of the world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to separate tablets and phones. Phones are always going to be a cluster here in the U.S because Samsung doesn't sell unlocked phones directly and the carriers here are notorious for their lack of urgency for getting updates out. The U.S. Wi-Fi Note is a Samsung direct device and so far hasn't been treated better or worse than its international relatives when it comes to updates. Samsung customizes the s/w by region for each device they sell. The U.S. is just another region and a big one at that. Certain Android features are blocked in the U.S. by both Samsung and HTC but so far that hasn’t appeared to affect the update schedule one way or the other.
Don't you guys never heard abaut ebay (de or gb). And considering on updates, sammobile page is available on whole earth.
No, its the same everywhere else. I'm in the uk and have received 0 updates.
im in egypt and no update
i wish the give the update to world wide very soon
I don't think I was clear. This is not about the JB update but just Samungs' position in the market right now with Apple hanging over their head based on the over the top billion dollar ruling.
For example, there is an app in Samsung market called DirectOffice Print. It is a great print app but the US owner can't buy the app on the app store because of contract issues Samsung has in the US. It is items like this and features that the US seem to miss that I am speaking of.
rap6388 said:
I don't think I was clear. This is not about the JB update but just Samungs' position in the market right now with Apple hanging over their head based on the over the top billion dollar ruling.
For example, there is an app in Samsung market called DirectOffice Print. It is a great print app but the US owner can't buy the app on the app store because of contract issues Samsung has in the US. It is items like this and features that the US seem to miss that I am speaking of.
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Click to collapse
The Samsung App store not being able to manage payments in the U.S. is an infrastructure issue that has nothing to do with Apple. They've said U.S. payments will be in enable in Q1 2013. And the "billion dollar ruling" is a drop in the bucket; they made $7.4B in profit in Q3 of this year alone. By raising Apple's chip prices 20% they probably covered it if they indeed ever have to pay it. The Note V will be out by the time appeals are exhausted. If Samsung's not doing something or not doing it right it's because their Samsung. They get a lot right but they get a lot wrong too.
rap6388 said:
I don't think I was clear. This is not about the JB update but just Samungs' position in the market right now with Apple hanging over their head based on the over the top billion dollar ruling.
For example, there is an app in Samsung market called DirectOffice Print. It is a great print app but the US owner can't buy the app on the app store because of contract issues Samsung has in the US. It is items like this and features that the US seem to miss that I am speaking of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as much as I hate to say it, this is how Sammy does business.
It's worse if you're in Canada.
Samsung Canada has a reciprocal agreement with Samsung USA not to sell to each other's market. But Samsung Canada doesn't feel there's much demand in Canada for computer products - just phones... (although it is getting better - we now have netbooks... Yes, that was sarcasm...) so we either get Samsung products late or not at all. And even though we're right on the border - we can cross border shop - we can't buy the products in the US online and have it shipped.
Ironically, Samsung opened their first North American full time store in Metrotown Mall in Burnaby British Columbia Canada (a suburb of Vancouver).but they can't show most of their products because they're not available in Canada and you can't buy them from the US.
And even though Canada uses the same cell and WiFi frequencies as the US, we get 'special' verisons of their products that block us from getting updates at the same time as the US. (That's why there's a GN 8010 AND a GN 8013 that are essentially identical). I had the same problem with my Galaxy Nexus phone - the Canadian version is a yakjuux which is supported (barely) by Samsung rather than the yakju version that's supported by Google directly,.
Like you - most of my hardware is Samsung - simply because they build exactly what I want. No one else does. But it means I have to drive to the US and buy these over the counter and drive them back, or have a friend in the US ship it to me.
I may like Samsung's products - but the company sucks...
Side note: Also, they're lousy at getting accessories in big box stores like Best Buy and Future Shop up here... I was trying to get a Note 10.1 Book case and the Samsung Store was out. They recommended going to BB or FS and I had to point out that neither of them actually carry any Samsung accessories - hell, it's hard enough finding the Note 10.1 in some of them...
I should have learned my lesson when I had my Tab 10.1, took them a year to update it to ICS. By the time they did that, I had been using unofficial ROM for about 4 months (give or take). Not acceptable. This is definitely my last Samsung tablet, even though I love it dearly. Samsung don't deserve one single dime for their awful commitment to customer's satisfaction.
Gotta get Nexus
if you want the latest ROMS
mrdaco said:
Don't you guys never heard abaut ebay (de or gb). And considering on updates, sammobile page is available on whole earth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not a solution. If I wanted to buy from unreliable and potentially shady resellers - I'd buy at Best Buy.
At least they have a return policy...
The point is that if you're going to make products, you should support them well. Or at all. Samsung is the leader in sales for smartphones and are rapidly growing in market share for tablets... yet they still can't get Best Buy to carry cases for their phones or tablets. All you get is the usual wall after wall of iDevice crap.
Best Buy isn't a charity - they carry what they think will sell - or what the manufacturer will pay them to carry (yes, surprise - manufacturers pay for special displays and 'endcaps' as well as for preferred positioning - higher on a shelf for example). Samsung has to spend a bit more to get the visibility Apple gets. They have to realise that customer support is more than just having a lousy website that's more about selling more product than about supporting the customers they already have...
But 'return customer' and 'customer loyalty' seems very low on Asian hardware maker's minds, it would seem.
TheWerewolf said:
But 'return customer' and 'customer loyalty' seems very low on Asian hardware maker's minds, it would seem.
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Click to collapse
The h/w business is almost entirely Asian with the exception of Apple, Nokia, and Motorola. We've discussed update priorities, accessory availability, and general attention to existing customer's needs. Only Motorola sells Android devices so it's them vs. the Asians if you want to draw a comparison. I've owned devices from Motorola and most of the Asian manufacturers. Here's my conclusion: they all suck in the three categories we're discussing. Let's add a fourth category; product quality. Here's my quick assessment:
Samsung - Means well but gets caught up in their enormity. Their priority is clearly future sales but they generally tend to treat the existing customer base well. There are exceptions and the OG G-Tab update to ICS is a good one. By offering dozens of different s/w types on a single device they make their own life more difficult. Rolling out updates across regions is a cluster because of it. They have terrific warranty service and will pay roundtrip shipping for repairs and replace a device with a new one if parts aren't available. They suck at the number of accessories offered and making them available in a timely manner. Their products are generally well put together using premium components.
HTC - Has really been trying to get updates out more quickly and with better quality. The One X has been updated to three new Android versions and has gotten three new versions of Sense since March. In spite of that it still takes too long to get updates out and they've had some pretty bad s/w that's been deployed without being thoroughly tested. Their warranty service is hit or miss depending on region. The U.S. isn't too bad and they do seem to try to get things right. They have a really nice variety of accessories; good luck trying to find them in stock anywhere. Their products are made from premium components but they've had a lot of QC issues with their latest devices. Good examples are extremely well made. They don't provide warranty support for devices that have had their bootloaders unlocked.
LG - Their support in the U.S. is atrocious and the rest of the world is a mixed bag. An alarming number of their products over the past two years have had design and h/w issues. Examples are overheating, spontaneous rebooting, boot loops, and sporadic wireless performance. Both the new Optimus G and N4 have thermal throttling issues so it doesn't seem like much has changed. The HTC Droid DNA has the same chip set and isn't experiencing similar issues. They are absolutely atrocious at updates. They offer few accessories and what's offered is impossible to find. Their devices are built well but it doesn't matter if they have fatal design flaws. The customer has to pay to ship a device to LG for repair.
Asus - They put more effort in to serving their existing customers than any other Android manufacturer. They are quick to update their devices, have representatives commenting on XDA, and try to address issues they're made aware of. Their warranty service is atrocious with frequent claims of "customer induced damage" for known issues. It can take weeks to get a device repaired and it's difficult to get an accurate status. Customers pay shipping to get the device to Asus. Their products are made from inferior and in some cases outdated components. They also have an abnormally high number of QC issues. The latter two elements along with crappy repair service sort of negate their customer service efforts. They offer a few basic accessories that seem to be generally more available compared to other manufacturers. When they introduce a new device its a cluster trying to find it and, because they're offered in multiple colors, finding the matching keyboard. They don't provide warranty support for devices that have had their bootloaders unlocked.
Sony - There are tied with LG for being worst at keeping their devices updated. I'm not familiar with their mobile device service but I've used them for PC service and they've been very responsive. Their products are generally well made but always seem to be a cycle behind everyone else design, feature and s/w wise. They tend to do well with offering accessories and making them readily available but they are very expensive.
Motorola - Their support of existing customers is tragic compared to the Asians. Even after Google acquired them they announced that late-2011 high-end devices that they promised upgrades to ICS for wouldn't be receiving them. They offered affected customers $100 off a future Motorola phone instead. They are also worse than the Asians at updates they do roll out. Their warranty and repair service is generally good. Their products are well made but MotoBlur is considered the worst of the overlays. It has been toned down on newer phones but is still far less complete than Sense or TW. They offer quite a few accessories but they are quite expensive. They are fairly easy to find. But in comparing Motorola to the Asians their complete lack of regard for existing customers makes them the worst of a bad lot. They don't provide warranty support for devices that have had their bootloaders unlocked.
So, at the end of the day, there aren't really any stand-out winners. Toshiba, Acer, and Lenovo are bit players based on the low volume of devices they sell so I haven't included them. From general observation they aren't typically known to be any better or worse than the companies I've described. So balancing all four criteria Samsung and HTC, IMHO, are the best of a bad lot (at least in the Android world). Since Samsung seems to be taking over the Android world any way we might not have to worry about comparisons for very much longer.
Thoughts? Personal experiences?
BarryH_GEG said:
The h/w business is almost entirely Asian with the exception of Apple, Nokia, and Motorola. We've discussed update priorities, accessory availability, and general attention to existing customer's needs. Only Motorola sells Android devices so it's them vs. the Asians if you want to draw a comparison. I've owned devices from Motorola and most of the Asian manufacturers. Here's my conclusion: they all suck in the three categories we're discussing. Let's add a fourth category; product quality. Here's my quick assessment:
...
So, at the end of the day, there aren't really any stand-out winners. Toshiba, Acer, and Lenovo are bit players based on the low volume of devices they sell so I haven't included them. From general observation they aren't typically known to be any better or worse than the companies I've described. So balancing all four criteria Samsung and HTC, IMHO, are the best of a bad lot (at least in the Android world). Since Samsung seems to be taking over the Android world any way we might not have to worry about comparisons for very much longer.
Thoughts? Personal experiences?
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Click to collapse
Sounds like Samsung should hire Asus to support their products and Asus should get Samsung build their products.
Vincent9756 said:
Sounds like Samsung should hire Asus to support their products and Asus should get Samsung build their products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the difference between Asus and Samsung/HTC when it comes to updates. Asus is the hands-down winner for getting updates out the door the fastest. But in doing so, it takes at least three subsequent updates to make the initial update complete. Samsung and HTC are painfully slow but (usually) the updates they get out are pretty solid. By that time, because Asus had to update the update multiple times, they arrive at the same place at the same time. Kind of a "tortoise vs. the hare" thing.
BarryH_GEG said:
The h/w business is almost entirely Asian with the exception of Apple, Nokia, and Motorola. We've discussed update priorities, accessory availability, and general attention to existing customer's needs. Only Motorola sells Android devices so it's them vs. the Asians if you want to draw a comparison. I've owned devices from Motorola and most of the Asian manufacturers. Here's my conclusion: they all suck in the three categories we're discussing. Let's add a fourth category; product quality. Here's my quick assessment:
...
So, at the end of the day, there aren't really any stand-out winners. Toshiba, Acer, and Lenovo are bit players based on the low volume of devices they sell so I haven't included them. From general observation they aren't typically known to be any better or worse than the companies I've described. So balancing all four criteria Samsung and HTC, IMHO, are the best of a bad lot (at least in the Android world). Since Samsung seems to be taking over the Android world any way we might not have to worry about comparisons for very much longer.
Thoughts? Personal experiences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I wasn't actually making a 'Western vs Asian' comparison - although rereading what I wrote, it does come across that way. Unfortunately, Apple is kind of the bar for support, quality and attention to detail, even with their recent decline in all three areas.
But my experiences with HP, for example - with their Slate 500 was odd - they had delivery problems, but they really went the extra mile to make up for it. In fact, in my own case, they ended up giving me almost a 30% discount for being late. I didn't even ask for it. They did screw up by choosing n-Trig for the digitiser - but at the time, it seemed a logical choice.
I only have one major experience with Dell - I bought an Axion Windows Mobile PDA that failed. They sent me a box in which to return it at no cost... and a new unit along with the box - also at no cost.
Of course, I have a Transformer Prime - and it's such a mixed bag of hurt and happy. As you note - the device feels right - and they got a lot right about it. It has the best USB driver support of any tablet out there. It provides enough USB power to run a hard drive. The dock is brilliant. And then they mess up something as basic as the GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. And I think most of us could have dealt with that - if Asus hadn't utterly botched their response to the problem by essentially admitting the problem, then failing to fix it, then claiming the GPS wasn't meant for serious use (commerical GPS? What?) then trying to erase history by removing the feature from the box, then sending everyone a free GPS dongle that was just horribly thought out... and didn't fix the WiFi or BT issues. To add insult to injury - they announce a replacement pair of Transformers with the problem fixed... just two weeks after finally shipping the Prime - which was late. But the Infinity was supposed to be $100 more (which kind of took some of the pain away) - only to finally ship at the exact same price as the Prime.
Oh.. and then just after getting the dongle, the Prime's back camera died and that took a month to get repaired...
That's a lot of bad PR and bad customer support in one ball of hurt.
I bought an HTC Surround - the design made it impossible to remove the back without holding the screen which is on a slider. I sent it back after just two months of ownership because after upgrading to WP7.5 the screen started to act oddly.They claimed that the strain on the screen damaged it and refused to repair or replace it under warranty - demanding $250.
Which brings us back to Apple for a moment - I bought an iPhone 3G and two weeks afters the warranty expired, the 3G radio fried. When I took it back, they refused service - but offered refurb replacement.. also for $250. I asked if I could pay extra and upgrade to the 3Gs, but they refused claiming that their agreement with the cellco prohibited that. You'll pardon me when I get annoyed at people who go on about how great Apple's customer support is and how 'they'll replace or repair broken devices, even if they're a little over warranty...' Riiiight.
So, yes, as much as I hate to say it - at the moment, Samsung is the least evil current choice....
But it's definitely not what I would call a great choice...
TheWerewolf said:
Apple is kind of the bar for support, quality and attention to detail, even with their recent decline in all three areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree. Part of it is because Apple's a marketing culture. They have always believed that pulling customers in with an excellent experience (h/w, s/w, content, support) and not relegating the control of the experience to others would lead them to loyalty, advocacy, scale, and profit. Looking at their market cap you can't argue with their approach. But their stock's dropped 20% since September while Samsung's been selling record numbers of devices and reeling in record profits. Samsung is no Apple and I don't think they'd ever be able to adapt that culture. But Apple's begun to bore people by sticking to their formula while everyone else is offering bolder more individualized experiences. The aging of Apple's demographic and adoption of Android by younger market segments doesn't bode well for Apple's future. At some point they are going to have to do something interesting and it isn't making the iPhone's display taller. Remember their famous "1984" commercial and the "think different" campaign? They've become what they used to parody.
I'm from Australia and thought much the same particularly with accessory availability. Then I moved to kenya of all places. Here Samsung is the undisputed champion. Nobody has an Iphone. Everyone has Samsung. Accessories are everywhere. All the major Supermarkets have a phone shop inside them and nearly all carry accessories en masse.
It makes an enormous difference to the functionality and usefulness of the product when you can do things like plug a flash drive into it or plug it into your TV. There are also many dedicated Samsung shops around the place. Although for some reason they seem to get the products later than the other retailers.
Samsung can definitely get it right in certain regions. I'm not sure why it struggles in others
Sent from my GT-N8000 using xda app-developers app
Simple, its what the public wants... Or thinks it wants...
Samsung have started to push out adverts here in Oz, especially S3 and SGNote 10.1, now when you rarely ever used to see their phones advertised. Apple was everywhere...
The shops are simply responding to what the customers want... Everyone was buying apple products, so naturally you stock Apple accessories with a few other brand accessories too. But if the lions share of customers want Apple products, why would you stock with only a few Apple accessories and have a whole heap of stuff you can't sell because the perceived market isn't there? That would be, from a sellers point of view, madness...
Until public opinion and buying habits shift noticeably then we are stuck with shops full of Crapple merchandise. When Android becomes a major seller, this is where standardisation is good, then we'll see the stock move to that area instead as profit drops for Apple stock... Unfortunately there's still a perception among retailers that Apple is an easy sell... That and the fact that there are a million different types of android tablet and phones out in the world, and there's only so many things they are prepared to stock while generally all Apple stuff fit or was useable by all apple customers... Until Iphone 5 that is...
The issue as I have always understood it has many sides. First Apple builds their OS for their devices, no one else gets it no other hardware can run it so they only have to optimize and remove features based on the generation of the device (3GS, 4, 4S, etc) and what will and won't work.
Now for Android OEM's they have a couple of challenges. First Google makes the OS and unless you are chosen for a Nexus launch you won't get the new OS in its finished state until after that (don't recall when JB 4.1.1 came out) so they have to wait.
Then the OEM's have to decide which devices can and cannot run the software based on the crippled (carrier specified hardware in the USA) so devices that are less than a year old get screwed over (HTC 2012 and 2011). Then they have to make sure their drivers work since not ever one of their phones (and tablets) uses the same processor or family of processors so we have Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Samsung, Intel, etc. Then the priority is always given to the latest hardware going out the door since you want your newest hardware to (hopefully) be running the most current OS you had in the pipeline, or in our case JB 4.1.1. Then they start to update for devices they can support.
Now what I see as a huge issue and is the heart of fragmentation is Google's failure to set standards and timelines from both the OEM's and Carriers (USA are the offenders here) to deliver the OS updates. Google should be collaborating with the OEM's to enforce software rollouts. They could also put forth some type of awareness campaign to insure users are in the know and can have an expectation from their carrier and OEM that they will get that update. Oh wait that was the Android Alliance crap announced last year that did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
For me I would be fine with my GN 10.1 and soon GN 2 running some iteration of JellyBean hopefully 4.2 so it has the enhanced security features etc.
BarryH_GEG said:
I totally agree. Part of it is because Apple's a marketing culture. They have always believed that pulling customers in with an excellent experience (h/w, s/w, content, support) and not relegating the control of the experience to others would lead them to loyalty, advocacy, scale, and profit. Looking at their market cap you can't argue with their approach. But their stock's dropped 20% since September while Samsung's been selling record numbers of devices and reeling in record profits. Samsung is no Apple and I don't think they'd ever be able to adapt that culture. But Apple's begun to bore people by sticking to their formula while everyone else is offering bolder more individualized experiences. The aging of Apple's demographic and adoption of Android by younger market segments doesn't bode well for Apple's future. At some point they are going to have to do something interesting and it isn't making the iPhone's display taller. Remember their famous "1984" commercial and the "think different" campaign? They've become what they used to parody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just gotta say: iCustomers are snobby, horribly wretched, self-absorbed "high designer" wanna-be's. Apple's hw is far from impeccable, the sw is strangling. They're good at glamour (making something appear far better than it actually is). Samsung is unfortunately trying to cut into that crowd, and I think they'd do better to provide a strong counter position: a tablet that lasts for years instead of 6 months. A phone that makes it to the next upgrade cycle (like the gNex).
Early 20th century design principles (built to last decades-- ie heirloom quality) should be a global standard....yes I know I'm pipe dreaming here....
Apple IMO has made it difficult for Samsung to really get behind its own products in the US, but it's jot just apple, mobile device carriers have lobbied our government, fcc, and individual manufacturers to NOT release things like the p6800 or the n8000 because carriers want you to buy a phone AND a tablet with a data plan, not just a tabletnwith telephony hardware... so f***ing sick of our markets being manipulated by the big players, people don't even know that there ARE tablets available with telephony hw... blah...
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Damn just when i thought HTC could redeem themselves with the new One. One impressive phone. Ive loved HTC since the G1 days. I had an Amaze from T-mobile USA but sold it and got a samsung galaxy nexus for the pure android experience since HTC was lagging with updates and the lack of community developers. It was horrible there were incomplete roms because of lack of source code from HTC. Though I missed sense and the practicality it brought with it's widgets. Now I heard that the HTC one is coming out im like SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
Well back to the topic. Isn't the USA their main market target and that the delay shouldn't affect the release date? Then whats with all the hubub with people from the UK already having it in their hands. So whats up HTC? is it really delayed or what? If you really want people to stick to your company you shouldnt leave people out in the shadows about release dates. If you say its delayed then how come some people already have it?
For the people that has the HTC one how did you get your lucky hands on one?
Anyone in the US has it yet?
Different markets are getting it at different times.
No manufacture delivers it to every nation straight away. Especially into a market as big as america. They've aimed for a smaller markets in the UK and Germany as a tester it seems, see how to manufacturing process is and the reviews from sites and people who own it to then see how they can ramp it up.
Narom88 said:
Different markets are getting it at different times.
No manufacture delivers it to every nation straight away. Especially into a market as big as america. They've aimed for a smaller markets in the UK and Germany as a tester it seems, see how to manufacturing process is and the reviews from sites and people who own it to then see how they can ramp it up.
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Nothing to do with manufacturing. In fact it's nothing to do with anything you mention.
It's more to do with how many advertising and PR campaigns a manufacturer can effectively maintain in a cost effective manner.
One territory at a time, innit, with a bit of overlap. Plus there's ad space to book and buy ... editorials .. all the other stuff the punter doesn't see.
Wonder what the reasons on this are?
I know a few people who decided it wasn't worth the upgrade over the S3.
After breaking sales records in its first month the Samsung Galaxy S4 may not be as popular as first thought, as reports roll in suggesting the Korean firm is reducing its orders.
According to ETNews, Samsung has slashed its July orders for Galaxy S4 handsets by almost half, as it looks to ship in 6.5 million units next month compared to the 12.2 million in pushed May.
Sales have apparently begun to slow at faster rate than expected, which has led Samsung to reevaluate its monthly orders to meet the reduced demand.
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http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...y-s4-popularity-on-the-slide-already--1160366
Still, it's a lot better upgrade to go from an S3 to S4 than iP4S to iP5.
For me. Battery life is one massive reason. Easily get a full day of full use on the s4 where I was struggling on the s3 with the same usage.
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It's their own fault for diluting their brand with 20 different versions of the same phone
That and HTC really stepped up this year
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I wonder if all these other Galaxy branded products that have appeared from Samsung has had an effect?
I think the main reason is the S3, S3 LTE & Note II being so popular and also being alot cheaper now aswell both simfree & on contract.
Alot of people apart from us on here, will look at the S4 and think it looks no different from the S3, so no point in upgrading.
I also think brand dilution is also starting to having it effect aswell, moreso with the S4.
Next year Samsung need to go back to the drawing board with the S5, bring out something that looks totally different & fresh from the S3/S4, redesign touchwiz make it lighter & more upto date, instead of adding more bloat.
Those numbers imply that Sammy are on target for 50/80 m sales of the s4 as they projected
Ever heard of the term "market saturation" ?
There are tons of S3 everywhere around me and none of them is planning to update any time soon.
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I've had an S3 i9300 since it was launched and I bought an S4 i9500 yesterday.
The only important difference I see is in the camera software.
Wasn't worth the purchase. Should have waited for the Note 3.
You kind of have to put the SGS4's sales "decline" in context:
High-end smartphone sales are slowing. Primarily because the market has matured and penetration is now high. This is an issue that affects every high-end smartphone manufacturer equally. And in emerging markets high-end phones aren’t what sell. As an example, high-end smartphones over $400 USD only made up 2.5% of smartphone sales in India in 2012. Phones between $100-130 USD were 30% of sales.
Samsung may have outpaced Apple in smartphone sales last quarter, but it’s facing the same slowdown risks as its biggest competitor. Both companies are battling to dominate the world’s smartphone market. In places such as the United States, nearly everyone who’s interested in buying a smartphone already has one, decreasing demand overall. But the smartphone revolution has yet to hit the world’s most lucrative markets such as China and India in full force. That leaves smartphone companies in a bind. High-end devices provide the lion’s share of smartphone profits, and are still too expensive to appeal to customers outside of the major cities in the world’s most important markets.
Samsung, overall, is well-positioned to navigate this split. The company is already the market leader in China and picking up more customers across the globe, thanks to its strategy of offering a wide range of devices apart from its premium iPhone competitor, the Galaxy S 4. Apple, meanwhile, offers older versions of its phones at lower prices rather than specifically making cheaper phones.http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...one-market-smartphone-sales-smartphone-makers
The SGS3 sold 50MM units over twelve months. Analysts have lowered their estimates on SGS4's shipped; primarily because of the above. But in this example the analyst dropped his estimate from 80MM to 60MM this year. Since the SGS4 launched in April that allows for nine selling months. On an annualized basis 60MM is equal to 80MM SGS4's a year. That's a 33% increase over the SGS3's annualized selling rate.
JPMorgan now expects Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung’s shipments of the S4 to be 60 million this year, compared with a previous estimate of 80 million. Samsung sold 10 million units of the S4 within 27 days, the company said.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...pmorgan-cuts-estimates-on-s4-seoul-mover.html
Samsung itself never disclosed actual SGS4 sales targets for 2013. All the numbers being talked about were unofficial analysts estimates. In terms of overall mobile sales revenue Samsung will probably still meet analysts’ expectations. This year Samsung's got a ton of products launching in the same time frame (SGS4, SGS4 Active, SGS4 Zoom, SGS4 Mini, Mega, N3, a bunch of mid-range phones, and four new tablets). The concern becomes "profit" rather than "sales" because Samsung makes less on non-Flagship devices. Here's what Samsung's CEO said about the SGS4's sales.
"I can say sales of the Galaxy S4 smartphone are fine. It’s been selling well. The report (by JPMorgan) was based on its own analysis. Probably, the bank may have corrected its previous bullish estimate about the S4 sales."http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_ceo_says_galaxy_s4_sales_are_fine-news-6210.php
Samsung, because of their dominance, has become like Apple. They are the company the investment community and media "love to hate." A headline like "Samsung loses $20B of market value" gets a lot more clicks than "HTC reports another disappointing quarter." So at every opportunity expect to see some tidbit regarding Samsung's performance to become "major news." They and Apple generate 95% of mobile device profits. There may be fewer profits because of changes in the market place but the 95% of profits they both share isn't going to change. And if Apple and Samsung are "challenged" where does that leave the dozen manufacturers sharing 5% of mobile device profit?
Maybe you could install s4camera on your S3 by an rom update.... ?
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oicirbaf said:
Maybe you could install s4camera on your S3 by an rom update.... ?
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I use Omega ROM. Maybe Indie could implement that mod. I don't think it's available because I've been waiting for it since the S4 was launched. There are several S4 imitation ROMs for the S3.
Dunno if the above claim is true or not, but the reason is pretty simple.
Increased Competition.
The competition for an android based smartphone is never like before, During the days of s2 and s3 those phones were the only dominant performers with the rest of the manufacturers catching up. But now thats not the case any more, making an android based phone has become much simpler for phone companies. Get a cheaply available LCD, get a cheaply available soc like mediatek or some other, put it inside a mobile body and voila!!! there we have a new android device ready.
With the emergence of snapdragon all over in high end devices and samsung struggling to get their big little architecture right(5420 might fix all those issues), its pretty apparent that things are not looking good for sammy.
In India currently almost all mobile manufacturers have launched a quadcore phone with 720p LCD, So how will you differentiate those mobiles from the high end ones? For now the only differentiation between s3,s4 and the rest of cheaply available android phones is the amount of software goodies samsung provides as an addon and the high quality soc inside.Only time will tell on how long this will go.
The HTC One is certainly a much closer competitor to GS4 than the competition the GS3 faced last year.
If the s5 comes in one hardware version with all wcdma and lte bands enabled it will be the next best seller guaranteed!
I would be interested to see how many google gs4's will be purchased. I almost grabbed a gs4 before I heard about the google one and thats on my list to purchase two of them next week.
Sales might go up with google edition.
Sent from the state where marijuana is not illegal !
thedadio said:
If the s5 comes in one hardware version with all wcdma and lte bands enabled it will be the next best seller guaranteed!
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I'll tell you what, if the specs of the Sony Xperia Homani are real, Samsung, HTC, Apple, are all going to have to go back to drawing board. Spec wise it's going to embarrass everyone.
bala_gamer said:
The competition for an android based smartphone is never like before, During the days of s2 and s3 those phones were the only dominant performers with the rest of the manufacturers catching up. But now thats not the case any more, making an android based phone has become much simpler for phone companies. Get a cheaply available LCD, get a cheaply available soc like mediatek or some other, put it inside a mobile body and voila!!! there we have a new android device ready.
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All those reasons are why everyone that's not Samsung and Apple are screwed and why the two of them own mobile device profits. Samsung and Apple control the supply chain because of their massive component commitments. They also get components on hugely favorable terms because of their volume. In Samsung's case, they even make a good deal of their own components further driving up their profit.
I'm not picking on HTC but they are a good example. They don't build a single component used in their devices. All they do is assemble the pieces they buy from third parties. Because their volume has dropped, they aren't even a tier one vendor any longer. That means they pay more per component than their competitors, don't get first priority for in-demand parts, and can have their supply chain disrupted as seen by the botched launch of the One. How are they or anyone else every going to compete against Samsung and Apple if their vendor status is lower, their component prices are higher, and have to sell products at prices determined by the market?
Micromax is a great example. They compete on price and sell largely average devices with mid-range specs and features. No one in India aspires to a Micromax phone. They buy them because Samsung and Apple are more expensive. Samsung's pushing low and mid-range devices in countries like India and China and are making more profit than companies like Micromax because their overall component costs are lower.
Samsung and Apple spend billions on promotion and branding and are both aspirational brands and have become synonymous with "premium" much like BMW, M-B, and Audi are. Between Samsung's global distribution and support infrastructure, lower component costs, and a cache brand the only thing keeping them from owning the low-end market is its lack of profitability compared to other segments their dominant in. Why would they sell a $100 USD phone in India if they didn’t have to? If someone in India could buy similarly spec'd phones from Samsung and Micromax which do you think they'd choose. Much like Apple's moving out of the premium tier with a lower-cost iPhone, Samsung will eventually push down in to lower ends of the market to protect their market share and revenue growth. And there's not a damn thing any other manufacturer can do to compete against that once they do. If phone are a commodity now like you say, and cost<>feature is relatively equal, people will buy the brand they equate with “premium.” And that’s not Micromax, Oppo, ZTE, and Huawei. At the same prices as Samsung and Apple even well-known brands like LG, HTC, Sony, and Motorola are having a hard time competing and making absolutely no profit doing it.
vapotrini said:
I'll tell you what, if the specs of the Sony Xperia Homani are real, Samsung, HTC, Apple, are all going to have to go back to drawing board. Spec wise it's going to embarrass everyone.
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I doubt Honami will be THAT great, the S800 will make it a powerful phone, sure, but other than that? I think it will be more of a Xperia Z+ type thing, better CPU/GPU and Camera, much like Xperia S to Xperia T.