Samsung admits it's "not doing very well" in tablets
A Samsung executive has admitted the company's tablets aren't faring too well. In which case, why is it still trying every size imaginable?
Samsung's tablet size bingo continues, with its latest effort being a 10-inch Galaxy Note. But the company's tablets aren't faring too well, one executive has revealed at Mobile World Congress.
"Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market," Hankil Yoon, product strategy executive for Samsung, told reporters, including CNET News' Roger Cheng. Ouch. So how's it going to go about remedying this? By cannibalising its own products. Seriously.
Asked about whether the latest 10-inch Galaxy Note might impact on sales of the original 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab, Yoon said: "The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products. We want to stay competitive in the market."
It's certainly refreshing to hear one of these suits call it how he sees it. He went on to clarify, saying the original Galaxy Tab wasn't a success, so Samsung changed tack by introducing the Galaxy Note with a stylus for making notes and doodling.
"Even if the design is similar, how you use [the Note] is totally different," he said. In which case, I'd ask why Samsung has just introduced the near-identical Galaxy Tab 2. As well as a 10-inch version.
But it's just a matter of time before people come round to the larger sizes like the 5-inch Galaxy Note, according to Yoon. Three years ago, the largest phone in Samsung's line-up had a 3.7-inch screen, while the Galaxy S2 has a 4.3-inch screen.
"Once I used this [Galaxy Note], the Galaxy S2 looks too small," he said. "I don't go back to any other smart phone or tablet."
As well as the soul-destroying conveyor belt of mindless iteration, Samsung has crammed a projector into a phone, the quirky Galaxy Beam. But we're really waiting for news on the Galaxy S3, and it looks like it shouldn't be too long now.
What do you think of Samsung's tablets? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page. And for everything Mobile World Congress, have a look at mwc.cnet.co.uk.
Update: Samsung got in touch to say Hankil Yoon had been "misinterpreted".
Its spokesperson added, "Seeking to kill your own product by releasing increasingly compelling devices might position Samsung as a confident brand. A brand ambitious to improve its products so that the choice for consumers is between several Samsung products rather than between Samsung and its competitors' products." Well that clears that up.