Bloomberg:
Samsung Electronics Co. is ending production of its problematic Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, taking the drastic step of killing off a smartphone that became a major headache for South Korea’s largest company.
Samsung had already recalled the Note 7 once last month after early models exploded and the latest move comes after customers reported that replacement phones were also catching fire. Samsung will be without its highest-end smartphone that was supposed to compete against Apple Inc.’s iPhones and other premium devices during the holiday shopping season.
This is a remarkable turn of events. Can you think of another major product that went through testing and release and was then completely killed off before it finished its first wave of shipping?
Karma’s a bitch.
Quote:Can you think of another major product that went through testing and release and was then completely killed off before it finished its first wave of shipping?
Yeah, I can think of several Google branded products….
Off the top of my head, there are several AppleTV competitors put out by Google, Glass, Android for Tablets, Android for Watches.
Does the Q count?
I’m dumbfounded. Their stock just tanked ~8% for a dollar loss of about ~$17 bn. Is this a fatal blow to Samsung?
The Edsel? The Epilady?
I imagine once they figure out what went wrong and actually fix it, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will return under a slightly different name with (maybe) a slightly different look. It’s not like Samsung is going to throw the money they spent designing this phone away.
Maybe the Samsung Galaxy 7 Inflammable* Edition.
It’s a pretty huge conglomerate, so their eggs aren’t all in the smartphone basket. In fact, they also make exploding washing machines.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/09/28/government-agency-issues-warning-over-exploding-samsung-washing-machines
Step 1: Waterproof
Step 2: Fireproof?
Not close. Even if their entire smartphone division dies, Samsung would still be a major going concern.
But someone be … fired?
Glass didn’t make it through release before being canned. Did Q?
Makes me wonder how Apple would handle this. Samsung makes many phones. Apple essentially makes 1-2 and much of their rev/profits are hitched to that product. The way Wall Street thinks the company is doomed when it’s far from it, I’d think it would be devastating.
I wonder how Apple prevents sabotage when they source many of their components from Android manufacturers who would benefit greatly from Apple’s demise.
I think the problem is that it didn’t go through testing. They pulled the old GM trick of letting the customers find the bugs.
Out of a canon, into the sun? No no. Just “fired.”
Their punishment – keep the Note 7 in their pocket for the next 2 years.
It’s likely that this was going to happen to one of the smartphone makers sooner or later. Everyone is following Apple’s lead to make the phones thinner and thinner. Everyone is coming out with a new model every year with greater performance in a body that is either thinner than or as thin as last year’s model. This was inevitable. Samsung fell victim to this first because of bad luck or because they simply could not keep up. But there’s no way we can say this could not have happened to Apple.
But, with Samsung’s example to learn from, everyone will hopefully step up their testing process.
They must have the same beta testers as Apple does for iOS and macOS.
Lots of “testers”, no bug reports.