If it looks as though Samsung (005930) isn’t putting that much effort into selling Windows-based devices, that might be because it isn’t. Per Barron’s, a new research note from Detwiler Fenton analyst Jeff Johnston contends that “there is no evidence that Samsung has any interest in seeing the Windows Phone platform succeed,” and that the company is simply biding its time until it can release its own Tizen platform to act as an insurance policy for Android.
Johnston further notes that Samsung’s “Windows Phone roadmap is limited to a small number of smartphones, none of which appear to be all that exciting,” and that the company has given no indication that it will use some of its enormous marketing budget to help boost lackluster sales of its ATIV Odyssey smartphone based on Windows Phone 8.
“Having a successful Windows Phone 8 platform only means it will have another mobile platform (backed by deep pockets) to compete with,” Johnston writes. “Samsung has a long way to go before we can take Tizen seriously however one thing seems certain, it is going to keep its foot on MSFT’s throat as it pours money into Tizen.”
While Johnston’s assessment may seem a bit harsh, it’s no secret that Samsung has not been a big booster of Microsoft’s newest Windows operating systems. The company recently announced that it would not sell its Windows RT-based ATIV Tab in key European markets due to weak demand, and Jun Dong-soo, the head of Samsung’s memory chip business, said last week that Windows 8 was “no better than Vista” and had failed to reignite demand for personal computers.
