Samsung killed Note 7. But the demise may have put massive dent on its chances of continued dominance in the smartphone universe.
Following weeks of reports of exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phablets, concerned parents are asking their kids, "You have a Samsung phone na? Please be careful, beta.
They're exploding!" As if every Samsung mobile device has turned into a highly unstable nuclear warhead with a fast degenerating plutonium core. Some people are seeing phantom smoke come out of Samsung washing machines even. Airlines and pilots are asking passengers to turn off Note 7 devices, calling out the brand by name in a never-seen-before move.
Last week, TechCrunch's John Biggs wondered, "Could this be the end of Samsung's smartphone reign?" It can't get worse, right? And yet, over at Cnet, Chris Matyszczyk made the unkindest comparison of all: "Samsung or Trump: Which brand is in bigger trouble?" He wrote, "When the mighty fall, they don't always know how to react. After all, they're mighty. Falling is for lesser sorts. Yet the last couple of weeks have seen two famous brands fall into disrepute by their own hands. Careless hands, small hands."
Samsung's Note 7 debacle is being billed as one of the worst disasters in tech history.
Analysts have calculated the total cost of a permanent end to its "combustible" flagship product's sales and it doesn't look pretty. A cost of $17 billion never does.
An unintentional roastBefore the first Note 7 turned into an explosive device, though, it was hailed as the ultimate victory for the South Korean electronics giant. At launch, in Samsung's home market, over 200,000 units were pre-ordered in 2 days. Every Note 7 review was a slap in the face of Apple fanboys and gals everywhere. Even now, despite a steady stream of reports and pictures of cooked phablets, and Samsung officially killing the Note category, some users and loyalists refuse to give up their devices. Reasons vary from its superior capabilities to replacement hassles. Sample this from Josh Dickey, entertainment editor at Mashable (@JLDlite): "I am keeping my Samsung Galazy (sic) Note 7. The ORIGINAL one."
Dickey's piece on why he won't abandon the "ticking time-bomb"- 'My Galaxy Note7 is still safer than my car. I 'm keeping it' - comes with this disclaimer though; "Mashable does not condone keeping your Galaxy Note 7, and in fact has recommended strongly against it. This viewpoint is the author's alone, and his judgment is obviously questionable."
There's certainly no dearth of "shame on you for still using Note 7" messages. Samsung's shame, now, users' must bear too. Power down or
bugger off, dear irresponsible user.
'Next is what'?
"Clearly this is an unprecedented (and unanticipated) incident," says Manu Sharma,vice president, mobile business, SamsungIndia. "Despite that across the world teams have worked together fast and efficiently to announce to the world and take the bold decision to have this kind of recall worldwide and not launch product in India.
The main thing that we did was tell consumers that we care about them and we don't want them to have a device that undermines their safety.
That's the first message we passed on to consumers. The second thing we did was apprise them of the situation and how Samsung was trying to find the root cause of the problem. And then we announced that in the interest of consumer safety the product and sale of Note 7 would be stopped globally. While in India we decided to not sell it anyway until we were absolutely sure we were giving a safe product to consumers."
Samsung's Sharma admits that lasting damage to the brand is a concern, and gaining back consumer trust is top priority. "While Note category in India is not that large. But for us it's very important that each and every consumer, even people who don't own Note devices but some other Samsung device is absolutely sure that Samsung would work in their best interest and build the best products for them. We'll do everything possible to gain their trust, and we'll come back with a very solid plan for them on the S7 and S7 Edge product."
bugger off, dear irresponsible user.
'Next is what'?
"Clearly this is an unprecedented (and unanticipated) incident," says Manu Sharma,vice president, mobile business, SamsungIndia. "Despite that across the world teams have worked together fast and efficiently to announce to the world and take the bold decision to have this kind of recall worldwide and not launch product in India.
The main thing that we did was tell consumers that we care about them and we don't want them to have a device that undermines their safety.
That's the first message we passed on to consumers. The second thing we did was apprise them of the situation and how Samsung was trying to find the root cause of the problem. And then we announced that in the interest of consumer safety the product and sale of Note 7 would be stopped globally. While in India we decided to not sell it anyway until we were absolutely sure we were giving a safe product to consumers."
Samsung's Sharma admits that lasting damage to the brand is a concern, and gaining back consumer trust is top priority. "While Note category in India is not that large. But for us it's very important that each and every consumer, even people who don't own Note devices but some other Samsung device is absolutely sure that Samsung would work in their best interest and build the best products for them. We'll do everything possible to gain their trust, and we'll come back with a very solid plan for them on the S7 and S7 Edge product."
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