mohini
October 18th, 2007, 05:23 PM
Several weeks ago we published a preview of Samsung i300. Then we had an early prototype, which allowed only preliminary conclusions about the smartphone. And lately we have got a working prototype of the model. So, now we publish a renewed and the final version of the review.
The basis for the manufacturer's development, advancement and, as a result, the growth of the market share supposes not only constant innovations and flexible price policy, but also strengthening its positions in all the price segments. That is a necessary condition for growth. That is true for all the markets with monopolistic competition (when a product is not standardized).
The company of Samsung was treated as a manufacturer of expensive fashionable phones with low-functionality for long. The company was not represented in the low-end segment, and thus an extra-popular Samsung C100 appeared (and all the c-series phones). But still the company lacked "business" phones. And the D500 changed the situation. So, we see the company's growing pressure in various price segments and, as a result, the sales growth.
A very important segment that the company was not present in is smartphones and communicators. We got used to the fact the it announces new devices, brings many smartphones from one exhibition to another. But in the end the customer receives only a little part and, moreover, with considerable delay. For instance, Samsung i700 appeared on the market only when it got uninteresting for the majority of the customers (was sold exclusively because of the brand name). All the new smartphones by Samsung were treated as prototypes not for mass production. However the company achieved several goals by showing the developments. First, that was to gain experience in smartphone manufacture and as soon as the direction gets perspective (crosses a critical mass) enter the market with ready products. That is why the company supported all the operating systems for mobile devices (Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Linux) to issue smartphones run by the most demanded operating systems when necessary. Second, that is to demonstrate its power, which gives points to the manufacturer's image. That is some kind of PR like a race for higher number of pixels in mobile phones (do you remember a lately announcement of a 7-MP phone?).
At CeBIT 2005 it got clear from the company managers responsible for production that the company changes its smartphone strategy. The devices now will be sold on the global market and, even more, the direction is one of the prior for the company. End users tired of reading about the prototypes doomed to stay on paper now will be able to estimate engineers' efforts. In the current product line "I" series devices run by Windows Mobile are positioned as smartphones, the "D" series means Symbian (Series 60) smartphones, but the company positions them as usual phones (like Nokia does). As we see no space is left for Palm OS, since the company considers this operating system unpromising.
The basis for the manufacturer's development, advancement and, as a result, the growth of the market share supposes not only constant innovations and flexible price policy, but also strengthening its positions in all the price segments. That is a necessary condition for growth. That is true for all the markets with monopolistic competition (when a product is not standardized).
The company of Samsung was treated as a manufacturer of expensive fashionable phones with low-functionality for long. The company was not represented in the low-end segment, and thus an extra-popular Samsung C100 appeared (and all the c-series phones). But still the company lacked "business" phones. And the D500 changed the situation. So, we see the company's growing pressure in various price segments and, as a result, the sales growth.
A very important segment that the company was not present in is smartphones and communicators. We got used to the fact the it announces new devices, brings many smartphones from one exhibition to another. But in the end the customer receives only a little part and, moreover, with considerable delay. For instance, Samsung i700 appeared on the market only when it got uninteresting for the majority of the customers (was sold exclusively because of the brand name). All the new smartphones by Samsung were treated as prototypes not for mass production. However the company achieved several goals by showing the developments. First, that was to gain experience in smartphone manufacture and as soon as the direction gets perspective (crosses a critical mass) enter the market with ready products. That is why the company supported all the operating systems for mobile devices (Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Linux) to issue smartphones run by the most demanded operating systems when necessary. Second, that is to demonstrate its power, which gives points to the manufacturer's image. That is some kind of PR like a race for higher number of pixels in mobile phones (do you remember a lately announcement of a 7-MP phone?).
At CeBIT 2005 it got clear from the company managers responsible for production that the company changes its smartphone strategy. The devices now will be sold on the global market and, even more, the direction is one of the prior for the company. End users tired of reading about the prototypes doomed to stay on paper now will be able to estimate engineers' efforts. In the current product line "I" series devices run by Windows Mobile are positioned as smartphones, the "D" series means Symbian (Series 60) smartphones, but the company positions them as usual phones (like Nokia does). As we see no space is left for Palm OS, since the company considers this operating system unpromising.