Samsung Galaxy Tab sold just 20,000 out of 1m shipped, claims rival
16 replies, posted
[quote]
An executive at Android tablet maker Lenovo claims that Samsung sold only 20,000 of the 1m tablets that it shipped last year as it tried to "buy share" from market leader Apple.
The dramatically low figure suggests that Samsung's efforts with its first 7-inch tablet, launched exactly a year ago, fell far short of targets.
Andrew Barrow, director of consumer products and pricing for Lenovo Western Europe, told the Guardian that the problem with trying to substantially undercut the price of the Apple iPad, of which around 30m have so far been sold, was that "any [manufacturer] would be giving money away."
Samsung said at the end of 2010 that it had shipped 1m of its 7-inch Galaxy devices, which were seen as the first real Android competitors to Apple's iPad. However, according to Barrow, Samsung only sold 20,000 of the tablets. Samsung had not returned a request for comment on Barrow's claim by the time of publication.
Samsung has never given details of the actual sales it has made in the tablet market. In an earnings call at the end of January, Samsung executives admitted that the company had shipped far more tablets than had actually been sold, saying that the latter figure was "quite smooth" – a puzzling phrase that was never explained.
Lenovo announced its own entry into the Android tablet market at the IFA technology show in Berlin on Thursday, with the IdeaPad K1. Asked whether the K1, which will launch in mid-September with a starting price of £349, should be much cheaper than the market-leading iPad 2, priced from £399, Barrow told The Guardian that "at that price, any [manufacturer] would be giving money away".
He added: "We don't feel the need to buy share from Apple. If the product sells, it sells." He said that Lenovo is being "tentative with [its] first volume", unlike certain other manufacturers. When pressed, Barrow said the Galaxy Tab "sold 20,000 out [of shops], and Samsung claimed a million shipments in [to shops]", thereby making a huge loss but becoming known as a major Android tablet manufacturer.
Rob Bamforth, a mobile analyst with Quocirca, told the Guardian that sales of 20,000 would be surprisingly low. "It's certainly plausible that sales into the channel are going to be significantly higher than sales out. The question is by how much, and that does sound like an awful lot," Bamforth said. "When you walk the streets and take the train you see iPads. Certainly the [Android] figures will be relatively poor. Whether they're that poor, I don't know."
Bamforth noted that if the claim was true, Samsung would have been engaging in an activity known as "channel stuffing", in which manufacturers can claim large shipments of products in order to rev up publicity. However, as resellers can generally return large amounts of stock if sales are particularly poor, manufacturers such as Samsung tend to have an incentive not to stuff the channel.
"These things tend not to emerge immediately, but if it was that bad three or six months in, you'd expect grumblings from various channel partners and I haven't seen significant grumblings," Bamforth said, adding that if sales were that low he would also expect to have seen more discounting of the device.
Since the original Galaxy Tab, Samsung has launched a series of successors in a variety of sizes. Its flagship model, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, has a similar screen size to that of the iPad 2 and is currently banned in Germany and Australia due to ongoing litigation with Apple. Apple claims Samsung has copied the look of the iPad in its Android tablets, along with certain elements of functionality.
Many manufacturers are now trying to sell Android tablets, and some recent iterations of such devices have become viable alternatives to the ubiquitous iPad. Samsung's new Galaxy Tab 7.7, a direct upgrade of the original, offers a faster processor than the iPad's, along with an impressive screen. The range of tablet-optimised Android apps has also grown significantly since the original Galaxy Tab launched at IFA 2010.
Barrow refused to say how big Lenovo's "tentative" first run of Android tablets actually was. Asked what would happen if it was not a hit, he said the company has "other products in the pipeline", with possible enhancements in terms of resolution, battery life, weight and size, as well as connectivity types.
Lenovo also has a business-oriented ThinkPad Tablet which is already available through IT suppliers across western Europe. That device is slightly pricier than the K1 due to its enterprise features, and is not being positioned a direct competitor to the iPad and the many consumer-oriented Android contenders.
[/quote]
Source: [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/02/samsung-galaxy-tab[/url]
If they sell so badly I could use one for free, thanks.
Or for cheap, whatever.
At this point, I want a tablet with good hardware capability at cheap price, I don't care about the OS or the brand at all.
I would have bought the HPs Touchpad, if the $100 thing ever applied here, in Czech repbulic. Fuckers still sell these for $700 here.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;32144398]If they sell so badly I could use one for free, thanks.
Or for cheap, whatever.
At this point, I want a tablet with good hardware capability at cheap price, I don't care about the OS or the brand at all.
I would have bought the HPs Touchpad, if the $100 thing ever applied here, in Czech repbulic. Fuckers still sell these for $700 here.[/QUOTE]
Motorola Xoom
its maybe because the first galaxy tabs were terrible
Wow, that's a huge loss.
[QUOTE=Jasun;32144650]Motorola Xoom[/QUOTE]
That piece of shit? That's almost as bad as the iPad for christs sake.
[QUOTE=Frogz;32145066]That piece of shit? That's almost as bad as the iPad for christs sake.[/QUOTE]
Something tells me you're just being a fan boy ( or anti-apple ) because just about all of the shit they make is high quality, which is why it's so popular.
[QUOTE=TheCloak;32145091]Something tells me you're just being a fan boy ( or anti-apple ) because just about all of the shit they make is high quality, which is why it's so popular.[/QUOTE]
It may be high quality but that's not why people buy it :v:
[QUOTE=TheCloak;32145091]Something tells me you're just being a fan boy ( or anti-apple ) because just about all of the shit they make is high quality, which is why it's so popular.[/QUOTE]
Yeah the iPad does a fucking marvelous job at doing almost nothing useful.
I have the original 7 inch galaxy tab, and if it really did sell only 20k I have no idea why.
It really is awesome. It's fast, has an amazing screen, has relatively decent battery life, has worked well for me doing some app development, has a relatively stock version of android with an extremely helpful addition to the pull down menu which allows you to turn on / off wifi, bluetooth, gps, silent mode etc. and I haven't found a single game or app which runs slowly on it. I also haven't found a single compatibility problem.
It's got all the hardware you'd expect - multi touch, fairly decent camera (3.2mp), a front camera (1.3mp), accelerometer / gyroscope, gps, wifi, bluetooth, 3G, 1024x600 screen etc.
It's size is perfect too. I can fit it in my pocket (although not comfortably like a phone) so when I'm waiting for something to cook, or I'm downstairs watching TV I can do a bit of gaming or browsing.
If this report is true and they end up selling off their stock cheaper, I highly recommend grabbing one. I really like mine a lot.
This is the one I have
[url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-7-inch-Bluetooth-Android/dp/B0042D75TU[/url]
Course I didn't pay the full price for it. I got it on offer a few months after release.
[editline]6th September 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=stealth_camo;32144748]its maybe because the first galaxy tabs were terrible[/QUOTE]
I have one. Certainly not terrible.
Almost all reviews agree with me too.
Come on fire sale :v:
[QUOTE=Frogz;32145066]That piece of shit? That's almost as bad as the iPad for christs sake.[/QUOTE]
Mine cost me £330, and it's doing literally everything I expected out of it, and the flash player is excellent. Was sceptical about getting it at first, and previously bought the Asus Transformer, but having to exchange twice because of the shitty build quality (light bleed, dead pixels, dust under screen) I went for the Xoom instead.
This doesn't surprise me, I thought the first Galaxy Tab wasn't overly great to be honest. I only used it in a shop but it was the same android version used on phones at the time, and it wasn't too slick (Honeycomb being faster but still not quite as slick as iPads).
I think they should have focused solely on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, its quite the success or so it seems, the original Galaxy Tab was released just for the sake of it. Shipped and sold are different things and people don't distinguish a lot between them.
Wow, this is what Apple is so afraid of that they're trying to sue them out of the market? They're so greedy that 20,000 units is seen as a huge, litigation-worthy threat?
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;32148053]Wow, this is what Apple is so afraid of that they're trying to sue them out of the market? They're so greedy that 20,000 units is seen as a huge, litigation-worthy threat?[/QUOTE]
This is for the 7" tablet.
For me I didn't really see the appeal of this tab, if you've already got a smart phone there's not really much point upgrading, and if you need a tab the majority of people will probably go for 9+ inches, so in my opinion they greatly limited their market.
[QUOTE=Jasun;32148293]This is for the 7" tablet.
For me I didn't really see the appeal of this tab, if you've already got a smart phone there's not really much point upgrading, and if you need a tab the majority of people will probably go for 9+ inches, so in my opinion they greatly limited their market.[/QUOTE]
The 7" model is the one that just got banned from IFA.
[url]http://gizmodo.com/5837212/court-rules-galaxy-tab-77-cant-even-be-shown-on-germanys-ifa-show-floor[/url]
I agree with you, though, 7" tablets are too small to justify buying one if you already have a smartphone. If I want a tablet, I'm buying at least a 9 or 10-inch.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;32148368]The 7" model is the one that just got banned from IFA.
[url]http://gizmodo.com/5837212/court-rules-galaxy-tab-77-cant-even-be-shown-on-germanys-ifa-show-floor[/url]
I agree with you, though, 7" tablets are too small to justify buying one if you already have a smartphone. If I want a tablet, I'm buying at least a 9 or 10-inch.[/QUOTE]
The 7.7" =/= the 7" model. :downs:
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