Dear Samsung:
I like you. I like that you jump out early in certain innovations. I like that you are more than one note. I like your phone sometimes. I use it all the time.
But I am not going to buy your latest Galaxy and apparently I am not alone. This morning the Guardian analyzed your latest quarterly sales, which you know was not good news, that operating profits were "down 60% from a year before, with revenues of 47tn won falling 20% from the same period in 2013." They compared that kind of decline to Blackberry and Nokia. I hope you had some relaxing music playing while you read that article.
Here's the truth. I suspect you've gained customers like me, even though you were not exactly serving us. When Amazon announced it was coming out with a phone, for instance, I was ready to jettison the Galaxy for Fire, as long as some key conditions were met. They weren't. Bad call.
We're still out here, so let me explain who we are.
We don't need an iPhone. It looks fine, my wife says it works great, but I simply don't want to spend that much for a technology that, yes, is pretty amazing but still highly limiting in many ways. I am not anti-Apple. I have insisted for years that my MacBook Air is the best mobile device I own. I just don't need to be that person with an iPhone. In fact, I don't need any premium phone.
Listen to Tom Kang of Counterpoint Research, who told the Guardian this (my emphasis): "They’ve been throwing the same course repeatedly, and getting pounded by the same player each time – Apple. They shouldn’t be stubborn; they can just pass over the star player and compete with the next in line. They can win the game if they swallow their pride. The market is about more value for the same amount of money, and Samsung should switch gears towards that."
I am that market. I want a simple smartphone and I don't mean Apple's deep, rich simplicity. I want holistic simplicity instead. Simplicity that blends an easy interface, stylish without shininess, a platform that prioritizes battery time and security over cute features, a price that makes sense for an 18 to 24 month life span, input that works without wow, a shell that prioritizes strength, all with quality of construction at its core. It doesn't need to recognize my face. It needs to recognize my needs. Limit the features I never knew I needed and give me what I want.
One more thing. Start with the pay-as-you-go market. Why? One, because that is such a better deal for so many people. Secondly, maybe you can avoid the problems Fire had going exclusively with AT&T.
I know what you've been wanting to say. "We already have this." I know about the Galaxy Victory. Unfortunately I know about its reputation too. Yes, I understand the Android OS is part of the issue. Maybe Google is not even willing to work this out with you, but I hope they do and they should. Because you made Android a far more viable OS and this kind of simplicity would only bolster the brands.
The first company that does real, holistic simplicity will win a big, loyal customer base. Other companies are trying, but the barrier to market is subtle and still profound: The decision to buy it cannot feel, or be, cheap.
