Unprecedented Safety Crisis- Samsung urges customers to stop using Galaxy Note 7

11

October

2016

5/5 (7)

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has halted production of Galaxy Note 7 and said on Monday night it would ask all carrier and retail partners to stop sales and exchanges of its flagship smartphone while a thorough investigation is taking place into why new replacement devices are catching fire as well.

Should customers keep using their Note 7?

No, the world’s top smartphone company urges customers to stop using it, after fresh reports of fires in replacement models raised new warnings from regulators, airlines and phone carriers.

“Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device”, the company said in a statement.

Customers are also encouraged to exchange their Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or a Galaxy S7 Edge, or ask their point of purchase for a full refund.

As it could be expected, airlines, forced to follow the FAA requirement, prohibit these products’ check-in and onboard use.

What is the future for Note 7?

Jan Dawson, tech industry analyst at Jackdaw Research, said in a tweet that this was “terrible news for Samsung” and the Note 7 is “likely dead”.

However, as analysts say a permanent end to Note 7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion, the company has not shut down production entirely, but said earlier on Monday it would be “temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note 7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters”. That means halting production of certain components of the phone suspected for causing fires, including batteries.

But after all this, it’s not clear who would ever still want to buy one new Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung is taking a hit

To recap, the premium device was launched in August and was supposed to compete with Apple Inc’s latest iPhone for dominance in the smartphone market. However, within days of the launch, photos of charred Note 7s began appearing on social media, and Samsung has since recalled 2.5 million Note 7s.

The Note 7 crisis seems likely to generate serious concerns about Samsung’s other phones, especially if the safety issue relates to components other than the battery, which could result in huge financial and reputational costs.

The timing couldn’t be better for competitors.

There is no doubt that Apple’s rival iPhone 7 Plus could take benefit of Samsung’s safety issues. “While we have been relatively conservative in thinking through any beneficial impacts to Apple from Samsung’s issue, we do believe that after multiple safety concerns around the device, the longer term brand damage should now be assessed,” said analysts at Credit Suisse in a note earlier on Monday. “We believe the Note 7’s ongoing issues could help market share shifts for Apple.”

However, Google that has just launched its new Pixel handsets seems likely to attract more Samsung’s customers- they are used to paying high prices for a premium device and most importantly they already use Android. Switching from one mobile platform (Android) to another (iOS) is a pretty big deal. Apart from the design, you need to port over all your data and there is no guarantee that you will get all the apps you want.

 

 

Sources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-smartphones-idUSKCN12A2JH

https://www.ft.com/content/f126c8fc-8e92-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78

UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS: Samsung reportedly halts Note 7 production after replacements also explode

Please rate this

Smartwatches are taking over!

17

October

2015

No ratings yet.

The first digital watches were introduced in the 1970ies and almost put conventional watches out of business back then. This eventually was postponed until the 1990ies. Samsung introduced its first smartwatch in 1999.

Today, Oktober 2015, Samsung has just introduced its Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. This impressed a lot of technicians, because this was a big innovation in the field of smartwatches, especially for Samsung, who didn’t make very much impression in this area the last few years.

Nu.nl has got the chance to try the sports version of the new smartwatch from Samsung. It is not a nerdy gadget, because it isn’t that big and therefore doesn’t stand out. This ensures this new smartwatch from Samsung to be miles ahead of the old Samsung smartwatch, which was enormous, ugly and it barely functioned. The quality of the new watch is a lot better and the rubber band is comfortable.

The watch can be controlled by a circle around the screen. With every click, you switch apps or screens. This makes this watch directly understandable, in contrast to the Apple smartwatch which is pretty difficult to understand.

The most outstanding characteristic is actually invisible: in contrast to other, former Samsung smartwatches, this watch is also functioning in combination with Android-smartphones from other manufacturers. This makes this watch more attractive to other Android-users, who don’t use Samsung. I think this is a very smart move, which would definitely raise sales.

Watch the video below to get a better idea of how this smartwatch works.

After reading this information about the new Samsung watch, would you consider buying one? It is clear that the smartwatches nowadays are only getting better and that this is the smartphone of the future. Do you think that smartwatches really are going to replace smartphones eventually? I would like to hear your opinion about it!

Website Nutech, http://www.nu.nl/reviews/4119020/eerste-indruk-samsung-imponeert-met-gear-s2-smartwatch.html, accessed at 17th Oktober 2015
Website Nutech, http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/4146578/samsung-smartwatch-gear-s2-30-oktober-verkrijgbaar.html, accessed at 17th Oktober 2015

Please rate this

From smartphones to Phoneblocks.

29

September

2013

No ratings yet.

The other day I was browsing around Facebook, checking on some old friends what they have been up to and I came across this video that was shared by one of them through 9gag called “Forget Samsung and Apple. This is the future…” My first reaction when I read the title was something like “Chyeah, sure… Like you know what you are talking about!” I honestly thought it was another attempt of Nokia, or any other long forgotten phone manufacturer for that matter, to get to the spotlight of the phone industry by making a viral video. Despite my initial skepticism, I decided to watch the video and see what they had to offer.

So after watching this I was astonished. A customizable phone which will not only be all you want but will also attempt to save the world? Amazing, finally, right? But, honestly, this was not really the main point that caught my attention. To my academically trained brain (that´s how I like to call it when I find the terms to be more interesting than the content) the focus point of this video was the amazing combination of crowdsourcing, crowdspeaking and usage of social media in the attempt to launch a new mobile phone.

I have to say, in a sense it reminded me of the Threadless case. Phoneblocks seems to be the same concept built on the community, offering a platform to be creative and to gain a great product from it. However, with a slight variation of the industry, from apparel to electronics. Phoneblocks, if successful, will give lot of opportunities to creative and handy people around the world who are interested in technology and have the interest in building their own blocks. Crowdsourcing 101. We all gain. We could have great blocks we could use on our phones and the creators (as I assume) would gain a slight profit from this.

But for all this to be possible to happen, the whole idea would have to be realized. How, you ask me? As they said in the video, they were using crowdspeaking to raise the buzz and interest in potential investors, companies, designers, people. All this by using social media and people from all over the world who would share their content all at the same time. What is the idea behind this? Well people sharing the same content at the same time would flood the internet with Phoneblocks and nobody would be able to run away from it. People would get suddenly interested and would want to find more about it. Eventually, it would reach the companies and people who can make a difference not only by sponsoring but also by offering ideas and technological knowledge to make this idea happen. But for all this, a huge effort from the broad public would be needed. A crowd, community that desired to change the phone industry and make it what they want. I think it is a brilliant idea with the use of social media to start strong with this project.

Only future will show how this project will evolve and if, in real, the social media boom will be successful start of the journey of Phoneblock. But, after seeing the success of their viral video (more than 15 million views in 2 weeks) I am fairly positive about the outcome and can´t wait to see how this will evolve.

 

For more info go to: www.phoneblocks.com

Please rate this

A kangaroo on a unicycle

15

September

2013

No ratings yet.

Last year, Samsung Canada received a Facebook message from a loyal fan of theirs, a man named Shane Bennett. Shane listed all the products he already had of Samsung, namely a TV, a Galaxy S, and a laptop. However, he was hungry for more, and asked Samsung for a free Samsung Galaxy S3 because he was such a loyal fan. But that was not the only thing that Shane did for them – no, he included a picture of a dragon that he drew all by himself.
Of course, Samsung was not very eager to start giving out free phones, and explained to Shane that they would very likely go bankrupt if they would do so. However, the employee handling the Facebook account decided that the drawing of the dragon was “epic”, and returned the favour by drawing a kangaroo on a unicycle.

Samsung

Shane was amused and decided to post the conversation on Reddit, and the case soon became viral.
Samsung received a lot of positive attention, replying to a customer in such a playful and creative manner. Because of the enormous amount of publicity they had received thanks to Shane, they decided to grant his request and send him a free Samsung Galaxy S3 – but then customized with the drawing of the dragon.

Samsung2 Samsung3

Personally, I like this case a lot, since Samsung is showing a whole other, more personal side of them. Instead of being a big corporation that sends out standardized responses, or no response at all, this employee really made an effort to provide a creative and amusing answer to Shane’s nearly ridiculous request.
However, we were talking in class about the issue of keeping up the professional appearance as a company. Some thought that a more serious, large corporation should not be all too neighbourly with its customers on social media. However, in the case of Samsung, do you think they were letting go of their professional image or is it ok to be so personal in their responses? I am curious to hear what you think about this case!

Please rate this