Wired’s Gadget Lab:
Too big to be a wieldy smartphone, too small to be a generously sized tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note hasn’t received a warm critical reception. Wired’s review ended with a 4 out of 10 verdict, Gizmodo gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Analysts have also been Galaxy Note skeptics.
So critics and analysts have not been kind to the Galaxy Note — making recent news of strong Samsung sales figures all the more curious. Samsung is on pace to sell 10 million more before the year’s end.
So why is a handset that’s being critically panned selling so well?
As an iPhone user, most of us couldn’t imagine using a slab like the Samsung Galaxy Note but it looks like it has found its niche.
Samsung Galaxy Note but it looks like it has found its niche:
http://i.ehow.co.uk/images/a05/ri/pt/delete-presets-sony-boombox-800X800.jpg
Many of the major sites ended up giving pretty high marks to the Note actually. For all of us that use our phones as data devices first and phones second the Note is a perfectly logical option.
It will be interesting to see if it has staying power. It may have found a niche, or it may be that it is a hit with “early adoptor” types, but won’t catch on with the general public and sales may taper off.
So they cherry picked two negative reviews? I know we loved the Galaxy Note and saw the positives right off. Is it “proving critics wrong”, or were some so-called critics just wrong?
I’m not surprised that there is a niche for this device, or that Samsung will have some success in it.
But I am always skeptical when Samsung tells us about how many devices they have “sold”.
Let’s not forget what happened with the original Galaxy Tab. Two Million sold turned into Two million shipped, with 20,000 sold.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/31/just-kidding-samsung-galaxy-tab-sales-are-quite-small/
As an avid iPhone user and Apple Blogger, I could not disagree more with all those who speculate that the Galaxy’s size is too big. I can’t wait for Apple to catch on and release a larger iPhone. I believe that I, like many iPhone users, use my iPhone less as a phone or even texting device and more as a mini-personal computer. For those of us for whom this is true, a larger iPhone screen would be just what the doctor ordered!
For more on this very topic, check out my blog at:
http://www.theiphoneaddict.com/iphone-news/iphone-evolution-of-the-species/
Must be a little careful with Samsung. They tend to equate selling and stuffing the supply channnel as the some thing.
That said, here in Korea many seem to be buying it. As Sean Riley said, as a pure data device it would probably be very good. Most people I see using it as a phone tend to use a head set with it, so its size doesn’t seem to be an issue
Were these sales or just shipments?
They “plan” to sell 10 million this year. I’m sure that’ll fly…
Two million sold is nice. More than I’d expect. I imagine the retail experience includes a demo with video playback of something jiggly or explodey.
Tell me how many of those owners stick with the device through the length of their contract. And then find out how many of them stick with a similar-sized device when they trade up.