Comment by Samuel_Michon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Samuel_Michon | Hacker News Reader

Samsung needs to realize that in order to compete with Apple on its home turf, it's not enough to copy Apple's products. Samsung also needs to copy Apple's marketing savvy.

Right now, they're going about it the wrong way. First they announce the Galaxy Player, a supposed competitor to the iPod touch, which has yet to materialize. Then they brag about having sold 2 million Galaxy Tabs. Soon after, they have to retract that statement; it was the number of Tabs shipped to retailers, at that point they weren't sold to consumers. Next, they had a Korean exec with poor English language skills making statements about the Galaxy Tab's sales [0], explaining that "sales are quite smooth" while also stating "sell-out wasn’t as fast as we expected". This week, we find out that Samsung cancelled the previously announced Galaxy Tab 10.1, replacing it with a non-working prototype of a new 10.1 tablet, not mentioning a shipping date for the actual product. And then this, a commercial with bad actors being presented as customers who've seen and used the product (which doesn't exist).

  - Only announce products that you're ready to ship. 
  - Don't let just anyone at your company comment on those products.
  - Hire only the best firms to create your ads.
  - Communicate emotion, not features.

[0] http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/01/31/samsung-galaxy-tab-sa...

Why imitate Apple? Just cause Apple have American executives who can communicate well with the American press, Samsung should too? And somehow they should only report the exact number of devices sold to customers, when not other company in the world (not even Apple) does?

Samsung is a different company than Apple. Even if they were to try and attack Apple through imitation, they'd just come off as a pale copy. Personally I'd say they are doing OK, especially cause they get the enviable position of making money off every iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV made while presenting a competing device of their own. There is no one true way.

And some fact checks:

Galaxy Player is available, just not in America (Samsung has a Korean bias, just like Apple has an American bias): http://en.akihabaranews.com/89201/dap-pmp/samsung%E2%80%99s-...

And the Tab 10.1 does have a ship date: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/22/live-from-samsungs-ctia-e...

if they were to try and attack Apple through imitation, they'd just come off as a pale copy.

That's the path Samsung is on. Sure, it'd be nice if they'd try something new, but apparently that's not the kind of company they are. If your product isn't novel, you better be a good salesman.

Or be a global manufacturing Behemoth that builds the parts that others put in their finished products so that you win either way.

It's interesting that you say "Only announce products that you're ready to ship." I think doing the opposite (announcing a product that's not ready or not even in development) is a strategic decision used by many firms (Microsoft, for example) to discourage competition.

It doesn't work well here because Samsung is not the dominant player in the market, as Microsoft is in its own market. Ironically, Apple could do this, and it would work. But it'd be against Apple's secretive nature.

It wouldn't work better for Apple than what they currently do. Stuff that's pre-announced rarely lives up to expectations even when it's good because people embellish what they've heard in their own minds. There's too much at stake for it to discourage competition, but it would disappoint consumers.

True, but this is also one of the most annoying tactics that fanboys use to dismiss the value of other products. They quote these statements of future intent as if they are currently available products or features, and often confuse those who don't know any better. I just think it would be nice if companies competed head on, instead of putting an existing product against the possibility that they might make a competitive product in the future.

Talking about commercials with actors using products which don't exist, anybody's checked out the credentials of these people? http://www.windows7news.com/2011/03/21/windows-7-asus-slate-...

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