Samsung looks at market leadership with 100% Q2 growth

By Cheranka Mendis

Samsung Electronics, after a successful Q1, is getting ready to aggressively expand in the market and anticipates gaining market leadership in mobile and flat panel television by the end of the year.

Country Manager for Samsung Electronics Sri Lanka Shankar Narayan told the Daily FT that the company is expecting a 100% growth rate from 2010 and that plans are underway to achieve the expected growth rate and to position itself as the leader in the mobile sector as well as the flat panel television sector.

Narayan stated that in Q1, the company managed to grow by 95% when compared to the same period of the corresponding period in 2010. Riding on the positivism in the market, expectations for Q2 is a growth of 100% compared to Q2 2010.

“Consumers have really accepted and embraced Samsung products. With our distribution network reaching all corners of the island, we have done better than we initially expected,” Narayan said. He added that the market demand from the north and east had contributed immensely to the company’s accelerated growth. “In fact 15% of our business comes from the north and east,” he revealed.

Furthermore, this is still a market that is growing. “We hope to widen our footprint in this area as we see high potential for Samsung products within the north east community,” Narayan added.

Positioning itself as ‘pioneers in innovation,’ Samsung will launch a range of products in the local market with only a minimal delay from the global launch.

Narayan stated that this would put Sri Lanka on par with the rest of the world in technology and innovation. With an aggressive expansion plan in place, Samsung will launch its new Galaxy Tab 10.1, the successor to its Android-based Galaxy Tab tablet by end June or early July, followed by Galaxy S II, known to be the world

Samsung on Monday awarded prizes to six dealers whose sales exceeded Rs. 10 million within the ‘Samsung Bakmaha Vasana’ promotional campaign within a two month period. Also 10 lucky winners who participated in the ‘Samsung Mobile Fan Frenzy’ campaign where the winners were picked from over 8,000 SMSes received on why the customers pick Angelo Mathews, Brand Ambassador for Samsung as their favourite cricketer were given an opportunity to meet and interact with Mathews. The campaign was run in March and the winners were picked from those who purchased a Samsung mobile phone from their dealers during the month of March.

Samsung asks court for next-gen iPhone and iPad

Reuters: Samsung Electronics has asked a US court to force Apple Inc to hand over its next-generation models of the iPhone and iPad in the latest volley in a series of patent infringement suits between the two technology companies.

Earlier this month, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered Samsung to give Apple copies of several models of its Galaxy mobile phones and tablets, as well as other products.

“It would put Samsung at a significant disadvantage in this litigation if the Court allowed Apple access to Samsung’s future products ... but prevented Samsung from gaining access to Apple’s future products so that it could prepare its defense,” Samsung argued in a motion filed on Friday with the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Apple sued Samsung last month, claiming Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copies the iPhone and iPad. Samsung followed with its own lawsuit, alleging that Apple was the company doing the copying.

Apple was Samsung’s second-biggest customer last year, mostly for semiconductors. The iPhone maker’s claims against Samsung focus on Galaxy’s design features, such as the look of its screen icons.

Samsung declined to comment, and Apple could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

Apple and Samsung are part of a wider web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in smartphones and tablets as rivals aggressively rush into a market jump-started by Apple with its iPhone and iPad.

Samsung is one of the fastest-growing smartphone makers and has emerged as Apple’s strongest competitor in the booming tablet market with models in three sizes. But it remains a distant second in the space. Samsung’s Galaxy products use Google’s Android operating system, which directly competes with Apple’s mobile software.