Samsung Galaxy Tab Sells Well to Retailers–Consumers, Not So Much
Samsung may have shipped two million Galaxy Tabs in its fourth quarter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it sold them all. Because evidently, it didn’t. In truth, sales to date haven’t been as fast as the company expected, according to Lee Young-hee, senior vice president of the company’s mobile communications business.
“As you heard, our sell-in was quite aggressive and this first quarterly result was quite, you know, fourth-quarter unit [figure] was around two million,” she said during the company’s recent earnings call. “Then, in terms of sell-out, we also believe it was quite smooth*. We believe, as the introduction of new device, it was required to have consumers invest in the device. So therefore, even though sell-out wasn’t as fast as we expected, we still believe sell-out was quite okay.”
A bit of a paper tiger, then, that two million Galaxy Tabs sold in three months. And the true number? Well, Samsung isn’t even willing to disclose that yet. Said Young-hee, “As you know, the tablet is relatively new and we need to see how the market develops before we give any firm numbers.”
Another reason to look askance at recent predictions that Apple will cede a significant portion of the tablet market to Android rivals in the years ahead.
*It was originally reported that Youg-hee described Galaxy Tab sales as “quite small.” She actually described them as “quite smooth,” as you can hear here.
comments so far. Add yours.