Mary Meeker and her team at Kleiner Perkins issued their Internet Trends 2014 report this past May, and while Mary has been associated with hyping the tech bubble, she has also long been a good trend spotter, providing lots of perspective as to the who, the what, and the why. Her current projection is that we will continue to see 30 percent growth in smartphone adoption, a view that is not shared by IDC, which predicts less than 20 percent growth in that same area.
Samsung’s recent earnings warnings point to cheaper competition in China for pretty good phones. The company has built some amazing solutions, and James Brehm recently saw one of the new devices they were bringing to the market and gave us a review. As in modern times, though, in reference to wedding announcements, where friends mean well but say stupid things like “Well, I hope this works” or “Did you sign a pre-nup?”, Samsung gets dismissed as being “not an iPhone.” Of course, this is a very unfair commentary on a company that has brought us significant upgrades in processing and screen resolution. What it ably illustrates, though, is the associative skills of brand.
In my opinion, the laptops Samsung has in the marketplace are second to none, and their Notes and Galaxy series phones hold their own against the iPhone. I never, though, see myself buying the same way at the Apple store as I would at the local Samsung outlet. Apple has a cohesive look and feel while Samsung has silos that get in the way of branding.
As regular readers know, I am not loyal to Apple and find their environment to be extremely closed. On the other hand, they have been quite stand-up in dealing with most of my recent problems. I will comment and would love to have you share your own experiences, but I remember when the Genius bar had three stools. On my last visit to the Boca Raton Apple Store, though, they had three ROWS of stools (roughly 36 in number). Samsung does not offer that kind of access (though they have added space and representation at my electronics store), but the company does have the control and focus that an Apple store has.
Samsung competes on price in a way that often hides its innovation. At DevCon5 I heard Samsung’s Tizen more often than Windows8, which might mean that Samsung can deliver a breakaway from Android phone. Personally though, I don’t think being the top Android phone company is the problem. I do think that Samsung may have fallen into the Nokia trap of thinking that more models means more sales. For instance, I find it hard to distinguish one part of the Galaxy series from the other, and I am not sure the consumer needs the same products divided in such a way.
On a separate but related note, I would like to see better tie-ins between Samsung Smart TVs and Smartphones / Tablets.
As far as sheer volume goes, Mary Meeker would point out that the US is saturated and the real issue is price wars for market share capture in China. Even so, I would like to see Samsung bring a new model for the low-end and not contaminate their existing product lines.
In the car industry there is a model = generation strategy that seems to have developed over time, with the compact car of the past continuing to grow and become more spacious as owners mature. Perhaps generation product lines are what Samsung needs to focus in on, something that is right for the tweens and teens today that that will inspire loyalty as they mature. I believe that Samsung has the ability to execute such a strategy now, in fact, provided that they market it in the correct manner.
Edited by
Rory J. Thompson 
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