Off the Galaxy Note 7 : “Samsung needs to contain the crisis and stabilize its image” – The World

World | 11.10.2016 to 16.50 • updated 11.10.2016 at 17h51 | interview by Anna Villechenon (interview by)

Read also : Samsung announces the cessation of production of the Galaxy Note 7

The case of the Galaxy Note 7 foreshadows a crisis of long-term to Samsung ?

Thomas Husson : It is difficult to say for the moment. Samsung is a brand that is extremely strong, largely as world number one on the sector of smartphones. She has sold about 70 million in the second quarter of 2016 compared to 40 million for Apple. It is a very large group that has a lot of resources and many products.

However, the crisis which is the key for a month fell at the worst possible time, in the lounge of the electronic in Germany (IFA, 2016) and a week before the launch of the last iPhone of its competitor Apple.

Gold Samsung has put in the time to respond. The group began with a recall of products before making the radical decision to stop production a month later.

Everything now depends on the impact of this crisis on the image of the brand. It is still early to tell, we do not yet have enough hindsight on the perception of the users. But it will be soon, the end of the year is an important period for smartphone sales.

Read also : How Samsung has come to suspend the sale of the Galaxy Note 7

BlackBerry and Nokia have experienced their own difficulties before collapsing. The crisis facing Samsung is it comparable ?

In the case of BlackBerry and Nokia, it was a matter of structural crises, due to poor strategic positioning for several years. The case of Samsung, it is a crisis a priori in the economy.

in addition, the south Korean group is left without a clear leadership for several months, which happens very rarely in Europe or the USA. This management system nebula may have had an impact, notably on policy decisions.

What is the issue now for the Samsung ?

first The company has to stabilize its image and its focus on crisis communication in order to narrow down the problem to a single product, and prevent it from spreading, for example, of all the Galaxy.

Now that they have made the decision to turn the page of the Galaxy Note 7, it is necessary to stay on the same segment by coming out with a new product or by changing their range so as not to lose users and stay in the race.

in the longer term, the challenge for Samsung is innovating not only in the electronics and materials, but increasingly in the software and services. They have begun to do with Samsung Pay (payment system without contact). It is necessary to go further.

The redemption of VIV, a start-up artificial intelligence founded by the creators of Siri (the voice assistant of Apple), went unnoticed last week, but it is a movement very interesting.

in the end, we can imagine an interface conversational integrated not only with their smartphones but to the whole of their range of electronic products.