Last night, 23th March, Samsung launched the next generation of smartphone, the Galaxy S4. The event was held in New York, which is significant as they are a South Korean based company - the purpose was to topple Apple's iPhone dominance in the USA. Samsung are growing in confidence, which showed last night at an impressive launch.
The S4 has many new software and hardware features. For example, the hard drive has three possible sizes (64GB being the biggest), it is thinner and slimmer than its predecessor and it has a bright 5" touch screen with better capacity battery. What's more, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the phone lies in the innovative new feature in terms of the camera; if someone turns away from watching a video, it will pause. This is all very impressive.
Samsung are already the largest manufacturer of Android-based smartphones with the S3 being the most popular Android-based smartphone to date. So if their new phone reaches the target of 10 million sold in the first month, predicted by analysts', they are going to be making significant strides ahead of their Android rivals, HTC and Nokia, who have themselves recently released new phones. Moreover, Samsung are taking advantage of Apple's lack of recent innovative products. However, another significant point to make is that around this time each year, March/April, Apple have consistently released a new version of their prestigious iPad. This year is different. Could it be a signal for something special in the waiting, or have they ran out of ideas? They are famous for keeping everything they are working on very secret. Therefore, they very well could have something very impressive in the making or being developed. Yes, they have not released an innovative product since the iPad, but that's what they pride themselves on, so who's to say they have not got something very special planned. Only time will tell. For the mean time, it is clear that Samsung have seen an opportunity to overhaul the dominance of Apple, and they may well do it. Ultimately, the sales figures for the phones will see who comes out on top. In literal terms, that could show the winner anyway.
Apple pride themselves on not only being innovative, but people 'loving' their products. Are Samsung trying to do the same? The vast majority of people with an Apple product have an attachment to their Apple products, or at least, used to - Apple are increasingly seen as becoming 'boring' as many people now own an iPhone. But Apple will already know that. That's why I am predicting that they will more than match anything Samsung do. Well at least I would have said that with Steve Jobs at the helm. So the question is, will they?
Over time people get bored of using the same device. There are many alternative smartphones on the market, but in reality, it is becoming increasingly a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung, so many people end up choosing between the two of them.
The S4 will be released early next month. It will be interesting to see the price of three versions of the phones (dependent on the memory) as Apple have always had higher prices in comparison, but people are still willing to pay more to have one of their products. Will Samsung go for a high price and follow the same path as Apple, or will they stay with lower prices as a way to further entice consumers to have one of their products? It depends on where they see themselves in the eyes of the consumer.
Source : Mobile Prices KSA
No comments:
Post a Comment