It took the Samsung D600 to make me realize that they were finally a competitor in the market. That was only a few months ago – one of the longest carried phones I have had – and love them and their design. It happens that I am carrying a Samsung D307 right now from Cingular – love it and hate it – has anyone else found the muscles that control Thumbing? They hurt!
With deep pockets, Samsung has won over consumers with clever designs and multifunction gadgets, like camcorders that download songs and refrigerators that also surf the Internet. It has swept up awards for cell phone designs that look like dashboards, tuxedos or pebbles in a stream. Last year, the company had $59.2 billion in sales and reported profits of $7.9 billion, 13 times as much as the 2005 earnings forecast by its rival Sony.
But Samsung executives worry that the company, while excellent at refining other people’s inventions, is relying on an outdated strategy that worked fine only as long as the company was climbing to the top. Now that it is the leader, they say, Samsung has to set itself apart by creating novel products of its own, especially if it wants to stay ahead of fast-rising rivals from China and Korea and fight off the comeback efforts of its Japanese competitors.
This means coming up not just with minor hits, but with breakthrough inventions like the Apple iPod or the Sony Walkman. Otherwise, Samsung risks the same fate as many of the once-formidable Japanese electronics giants it overtook on its way to the top.
SOURCE: Raising the bar at Samsung | CNET News.com
