Samsung on Monday admitted that it has failed to gain ground in the tablet market while Apple’s iPad continues to proliferate at an increasing pace. Speaking with reporters at Mobile World Congress, a Samsung product strategy executive stated plainly that Samsung has a lot of work to do if it hopes to gain ground with its tablet portfolio. “Honestly, we’re not doing very well in the tablet market,” Samsung’s Hankil Yoon said, according to CNET. Read on for more.
Yoon seemed confident that Samsung’s new Galaxy Note would be a huge hit — he said he believes Samsung will ship 10 million 5-inch Notes — but despite its supersized stature, the Galaxy Note is still a smartphone. The executive also thinks the larger Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet will be a success, and he says original Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners will upgrade to the Note.
“The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products,” Yoon told CNET. “We want to stay competitive in the market.” The only problem, however, is that the Galaxy Note 10.1 isn’t really a Tab 10.1 killer. It’s basically a Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a faster processor and an S Pen.
We were fans of Samsung’s S Pen stylus when we reviewed the original Galaxy Note, and the technology is even better suited for a full-sized tablet like the Note 10.1. The S Pen itself might not be a big enough draw for the mass market, however, and the Note tablet doesn’t have much in the way of innovation to offer users beyond its stylus technology.
Samsung also announced its Galaxy Tab 10.1 sequel from Mobile World Congress this week, the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), and we were not impressed with that slate either. The updated version of the original Tab 10.1 is hardly worthy of the term “update,” and it even moves backward in some respects.
It’s good to know that Samsung recognizes that it has some serious work to do if it hopes to truly compete in the tablet space, but we don’t view its device announcements this week as a good start. Samsung still has a surprise up its sleeve, however, and we’re hoping it can manage some substantial specification and design updates to support what should be an amazing display in its upcoming flagship tablet.
