Samsung sees 300% growth in smart phones market share

By Casey Johnston | Published 8 months ago

Smartphone sales will hit 420 million units by the end of 2011, yet still make up only 28 percent of the market, according to a study released by IMS Research. At the onset of 2011, Nokia and Apple were the dominant brands, accounting for over 40 percent of smart phones sold in the first quarter of the year, but Samsung is rapidly catching up, experiencing well over 300 percent growth in global smart phone market share over the same quarter last year. Samsung now has 13 percent of the market.

Samsung posted revenues of USD 42.19 billion on a consolidated basis for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011, a 13-percent increase year-on-year

Investment
A critical way that Samsung responds to the highly uncertain business environment and the increasingly competitive marketplace is through our commitment to R&D. Each year we invest at least 9% of our sales revenue in R&D activities. Samsung is committed to leading technology standardization and securing intellectual property rights

"We plan to have a zonal distribution structure from our earlier strategy of having just a distributor for each of the regions. We have also appointed a dedicated national distributor for the organised retail business to drive efficiency. Previously, the retail chains were serviced by the regional distributors, It's been a long while since H B Lee really relaxed. Since last February, when he took over in New Delhi as President and CEO of Samsung, South West Asia, the 58-year-old Lee has been busy turning all Samsung strategies on their heads. Showrooms are being brought under a common umbrella brand and now, a new facility may well become a manufacturing hub for Samsung worldwide. Over the past decade, Samsung has clung to its premium positioning, with products that emphasised design, aesthetics and cutting-edge technology and prices that were commensurately higher

Incidentally, Samsung had strengthened its position in the Indian market by appointing regional distributors last year. "We doubled our sales volume in 2008. We are recruiting now to enhance our sales and marketing function