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The Unbearable Pain of Competing with Apple: Samsung’s Sad Christmas Tale

Yesterday, I tried to not buy an iPod.

Specifically, I tried to buy a Samsung “P2″ - 4gb, touchscreen, bluetooth, video, music. I looks sweet, has a great UI, is tiny and slim, and hits an awesome price point at $149 - perfect for Christmas gift giving.

Sadly, Samsung is not Apple. Let us count the ways in which Samsung fucked screwed up and put an iPod in my wife’s stocking…

1. STOCK: Christmas is the make-or-break retail season for consumer electronics. Yesterday, I went to five retail stores: two Futureshops, one Best Buy, one London Drugs, and even Zellers. Each store (except Zellers, which apparently doesn’t carry MP3 players over $50) had a full array of iPods in their full spectrum of prices and capacities. They were flying off the shelves, and the staff kept on carrying out more from the back. Samsung? Not one. Anywhere. In the ENTIRE CITY. Someone at a Futureshop told me they were on backorder from the manufacturer. How do you let your retail distribution network run out of stock two weeks before Christmas??! Are you kidding? Nope. The Futureshop that told me about the backorder didn’t expect any until January.
2. PRICING: Every staff member at every store new the iPod product line inside and out, and knew exactly how each was priced. Each store had identical pricing for each item - my expectations were consistently met. For the Samsung P2, I saw $149, $169, $179, and $219. That’s almost a 50% spread on price. Talk about sowing confusion and alienating customers…
3. POSITIONING: Obviously, every store had the iPod’s front and center. OK, makes sense. But the Samsung’s weren’t just out of the way - they were generally dirty, unplugged and battery drained, mislabeled, and generally disheveled. Does Samsung not have a freaking Retail Merchandiser in Winnipeg? The city draws a shopping population of over 1,000,000 people, the majority of who probably get their consumer electronics from under 30 retail locations. Why doesn’t Samsung have someone out there doing the rounds every day to ensure product condition, correct information, pricing, etc.? I know PEPSI does it on a weekly basis, sending reps around to 7-11’s and other retail channels. Why can’t Samsung?
4. EDUCATION: That same merchandiser should be educating holiday staff at the retail outlets as to the product names and features. Most staff that I spoke too seemed surprised that the product existed, and when I pointed to the demo model reacted as if they’d never seen one before. Insanity.

The moral of the story? Apple has it together. Total value chain management. Prescient inventory loading of their retail partners. Flawless execution. Samsung doesn’t even appear to be making an effort. Is it any wonder Apple dominates?

The other moral: Samsung needs to get a clue.

apple, bestbuy, christmas, futureshop, ipod, samsung shopping

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Sometimes Apple “Misses It” - the ipod calendar “add” button

Yesterday I opined that Apple “got it” - and indeed, in most ways they do.

However: Apple doesn’t acknowledge that technologically savvy early adopters can see through “Value Proposition Engineering.” Case in point: the ipod Touch, identical to the iPhone in hardware and software (phone & bluetooth excepted) cannot “add” an appointment to its calendar (despite having the software/hardware to do so), making it functionally crippled as an organizer, thus “clarifying its value proposition” vis-a-vis the iPhone.

Killing zero-cost, value-added features for the sake of brand positioning does not sit well with those in the know. So says Gizmodo, Engadget, TechWhack, TechShout, AppleTell,
iPhoneAtlas, MacUser, AppleGazette, Technovia, ack/nak, etc.

To be honest, brand-engineering like this is something General Motors would do. That’s about the biggest insult I can imagine for Apple - comparing them to an out-of-touch corporate behemoth famous for its pathetic, superficial badge & feature engineering. Lets hope this Calendar Add function is an abberation.

Of course, to the mass-market the move makes sense - as most things Apple usually do. 95% of the ipod buying public will not recognize the bald-faced chicanery behind this move; indeed, 95% of the public will probably never use the calendar at all anyway. Its just the loyal Apple-fan base and techno-savvy geek-corps who feel let down - not an uncommon sensation from Cupertino these days.

apple, calendar, iphone, ipod touch

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Apple, Steve, and Burnout

This is pretty much a collection of random thoughts, prompted by Michael Gartenberg’s post on similarities between Windows 95 and the iPhone. I hate to be the “rain on the parade” guy - lord knows, Apple is riding high and shows little sign of slowing down. That being said: reading around I can feel an undercurrent to Apple coverage, that maybe things are getting stretched a little thin over there. The AT&T “deal with the devil,” 2.5g instead of the obvious 3, Leopard delays, a stagnating core-iPod lineup — Are Apple and fearless leader Jobs burning out?

Anyway - Micheal Garetenberg’s posted pointed out that (a) rarely does a tech device elicit such public interest as with the iPhone (w95 being the last such example), and (b) that the iPhone is - like Windows 95 - a better mouse trap, not a paradigm changing device.

Two solid observations, that highlight the core of Apple’s approach: iterative design contextualized within an overall strategy (seeming media dominance in Apple’s case; compare to data-dominance in Google’s), actualized through a consumer-facing design process that eschews compromise and accepts a smaller slice of big markets for the sake of cultivating brand excellence.

Boy, that’s a buzz-word heavy description. “Brand excellence” - please - this is taking me back to my B.Comm. case study days. That being said, Apple is the stuff of case studies:

1. They’ve profitably commoditized the geek-subculture;
2. They’ve broken down the barriers between fashion and technology; and,
3. They’ve created a corporate structure that enables breakneck innovation.

But - can it last?

On points one and two: Technology is no longer distinguishable from the other components of our day-to-day lives; some may have more interest in the tech-details than others, but fundamentally, everyone that carries a cell phone or uses and iPod is a “geek,” based on yesterday’s definitions. My parents understand Bluetooth, WiFi, device pairing, DRM, syncing devices, and so on; so do all the other parents I know.

Geekdom has gone from subculture to mainstream. Apple was ahead of the curve on this trend, recognizing it and bundling it premium design and prices to maximize margins on the early adopter segments. RIM (Blackberry) got on the same curve via the corporate market. Other companies (LG, HP, MOTO, MSFT, ETC.) are still struggling to hit their stride with but I’d contend that Apple’s edge in design excellence is being eroded daily.

On point three: Apple’s corporate structure is a weird blend of benevolent dictatorship and hippy commune. Dictatorship allows for quick execution and long shot plays that steering committees, boards of directors, and so on would other-wise pass up, while the commune underneath allows for a wealth of ideas to land on the dictator’s desk. Problem: the success of the company depends on the dictator and their ability to dictate. (1) Who do you see as Steve Job’s successor? (2) As Apple grows, will there come a time when the board will go activist?

apple, iphone ipod

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Next Gen iPod escapes the Apple Mutant Hand of Death

I couldn’t resist commenting on this one as Apple patent illustrations are a favorite topic of mine. Anyway, Apple is contemplating a front / back UI something akin to that in the goofily named Samsung Upstage. That’s cool, good for Apple. Personally, I don’t care what they patent as long as it doesn’t feature that HAND OF DEATH in the patent art:

From the Apple Tablet filing:

Courtesey Gizmodo

From the most recent Mighty Mouse filing:

Courtesey Gizmodo

Yeesh. That thing gives me the shivers. I think I’m going to get a t-shirt made with that hand and the caption “we come in peace.”

apple, handofdeath, ipod, mutation, samsung upstage

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