Ambitious 50M sales target for Sony Xperia reportedly revealed

Does Sony have something huge up its sleeve?

Sony has set itself some sky-high sales targets for next year, according to reports, furthering speculation that the company has something big up its sleeve.

CENS.com has posted figures, unconfirmed by Sony, stating that the Japanese giant intends to sell 50 million smartphones during the 2014 financial year.

That's the twelve month period commencing in March 2013.

For the likes of Apple and Samsung, that figure would be no big deal, but for Sony it would represent 50 per cent year-on-year growth compared with the 33 million sales it expects to achieve in fiscal year 2013.

This prospective upturn in demand would be enough to catapult Sony Mobile from the manufacturer with the seventh biggest share into third place, behind the Apple and Samsung juggernaut.

Great Odin's haven?

So what could be the catalyst that propels Sony Mobile from a middle-of-the-pack manufacturer directly onto the smartphone podium?

Could it be the Sony Xperia Odin? During the last week it has emerged that that this rumoured - and ominously-codenamed - handset may be the successor to the Xperia S and Xperia T smartphones that impressed in 2012.

Rumoured specs for the Odin include a 5-inch Full HD 1080p display, a Qualcomm S4 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, Android Jelly Bean and 4G LTE connectivity.

While those features, combined with Sony's acclaimed design language, would certainly be enough to put Odin up there with other high-powered Android devices, could it inspire a mad dash for Xperia products?

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ambitious-50m-sales-target-for-sony-xperia-reportedly-revealed-1105133

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Samsung attacks iPhone 5 in new Galaxy S3 print ad

Samsung drops all pretence of class and shamelessly targets Apple's iPhone 5 in new Galaxy S3 print ad.

Set to hit newspapers across the USA tomorrow, Samsung’s latest print advertisement aims to make the iPhone 5 look low-end in contrast to the Galaxy S3.

The new advertisement claims “The next big thing is already here.” From the looks of the ad, Samsung has yet to move on after being ordered to pay Apple $1 billion in damages back in August. Publishing an advertisement directly comparing Apple’s products with its own is a bold move from Samsung, especially since it lost the court case to Apple for infringing on its patents.

The print ad carries the tagline, “It doesn’t take a genius.” This is a play on Apple’s Genius branding, referring to in-store Apple experts and the online recommendation system for iTunes and the App Store. It also implies that choosing the Galaxy S3 is a no-brainer for consumers, considering it’s large number of features over the iPhone 5. There’s a clear hitch with this type of comparison, however, as Samsung has (for obvious reasons) made the list of features quite one-sided in the Galaxy S3′s favor.

Without placing any bias in favor of one phone over the other, Samsung does omit some popular, well-known features of the iPhone 5. For instance, where’s FaceTime, iCloud, or iTunes integration? And Android 4.0 is a year old now while iOS 6.0 is brand new, is that really something to brag about?

Attempting to smear the competition’s hardware isn’t the most mature way to market a product. No one’s saying the Galaxy S3 is an inferior device, but Samsung could have easily focused on the stellar features of its own device rather than taking another stab at Apple that comes across as petty. Rumor has it Samsung has a video ad in the works as well, in the same vein as its Galaxy S2 commercials showing a line up of people waiting for the new iPhone while ogling Samsung’s newest Galaxy handset.

A few parodies of the ad — presumably made by fans of Apple — have already begun to circulate the net, giving the Samsung a taste of its own medicine. Here’s one courtesy of Business Insider and created by Tim Sears that hits Samsung right where it hurts.

What do you think? Is Samsung employing smart marketing or does the whole thing come off as a bratty child acting out?

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-attacks-iphone-5-in-new-galaxy-s3-print-ad/

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Samsung targeting 30m sales for Galaxy S3 before 2012 ends

Lofty targets for Samsung's flagship mobile devices

Samsung Mobile boss JK Shin wants the company's flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone to reach 30 million sales in 2012 as it prepares to go head-to-head with the iPhone 5.

The Korean giant has already amassed a whopping 20 million sales since it became available at the end of May this year.

In a bullish claim told Korean news agency Yonshap that it can add another ten million devices in the final quarter of the year, despite solid competition from a new Apple device for the first time.

In the first four months of its existence, the S3 has only had to content with a dated iPhone 4S device. Many buyers have chosen the Samsung device rather than wait for the iPhone 5.

Doubling down on the Note 2

Shin also says he expects the new Galaxy Note 2, which goes on sale in mid-October, to rack up 20 million sales worldwide, over the course of its existence.

That would double the figure achieved by the original Galaxy Note 'phablet' which surpassed the expectations of most observers.

Samsung has set itself some big targets, but the company has specialised in surpassing expectations in the last couple of years.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-targeting-30m-sales-for-galaxy-s3-before-2012-ends-1096793

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