The new Samsung S Android phone is ripping up the Australian market so much so, that Samsung is struggling to keep up demand claims senior executives from the Companies mobile division attending today’s launch of the new Galaxy Tab 7″ tablet.
According to Tyler McGee, the Vice President of Telecommunications for Samsung Australia the Company will get any extra lift this month when the new device is made available on the Telstra Next G network and on the Vodafone network in a move that is set to hurt sales of the HTC Desire, Legend and the recently launch HTC Wildfire.
Samsung admits that Taiwanese Company HTC, who has had the Android Smartphone market to themselves of late, is going to have to contend with a barrage of TV and online advertising from Samsung who recently restructured their marketing division and are set to launch a major marketing campaign in Australia using Simon Baker from the Mentalist TV show.
McGee said” We’ve had a lot of success with the Galaxy S and we are confident that when Telstra and Vodafone are selling the product is selling the Galaxy S we will significantly increase sales further.”
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During an exclusive interview with ChannelNews, Tyler sounded a sour note for HTC by claiming that Samsung were determined to become the #1 vendor in the Android market and that Samsung would shortly deliver several new Android models “Designed to meet the different needs of consumers” he said.
“Our ambition is to not only be #1 in the Android market but #1 in the overall phone market” said Tyler.
On the question of HTC marketing Vs Samsung Tyler said “At the end of the day the Samsung brand is a lot stronger than HTC. We have more of an aspirational brand and this will help us going forward. Consumers can experience the Samsung brand across a broad range of categories from appliances to consumer electronics”.
Tyler believes that unlike HTC, who have developed separate Android models for the mass retail channel Vs the carrier channel that Samsung does not need to do this as “the brand and the product is strong enough that it can be sold through both channels” he said.
Recently YH Lee, head of marketing at Samsung Mobile who are the world’s second-largest phone maker said “We are Prioritising our Android platform. Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it.”
In a direct snub to Microsoft he said that going forward the key software platforms for Samsung Smartphone’s would be Android and the Samsung developed Bada OS.
Despite this Samsung Australia is set to go head to head with HTC in the Windows 7 mobile market with new models set to be launched in October.
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This year Android has quickly become the third biggest mobile OS in the world, behind the Nokia owned Symbian and RIM, surpassing Apple and Microsoft, which had major head starts in the market.
Globally Samsung is expecting to sell 25 million Smartphone’s this year which is 40 percent more than last year.
“The Galaxy S is highly likely to top 10 million in sales within this year, in six months of its release,” Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung’s mobile business, told reporters at an IFA trade show in Berlin yesterday.
He said that sales of the Android Galaxy S surpassed 3 million sales globally as of August after only being launched in June 2010.
This morning Samsung Australia unveiled the Galaxy Tab, its first tablet PC running on the Android system and a three-times-larger sister of the Galaxy S. Shin said the company estimates it can sell at least 1 million of the Galaxy Tab by the end of this year.
HTC is tipped to launch a new Android Tablet and new Android based mobile phones at an event in London on the 15th of September 2010.