Brand store Xiaomi and the prices of smartphones, the new Pixel line and Google's throwing, the fate of the Galaxy Note 7 and universal justice …
Opening of a brand store Xiaomi in Russia
The first company store Xiaomi was recently opened in Moscow. This event left the overwhelming majority of ordinary buyers completely indifferent, but the 'geeks' are discussing it in full. Someone rejoices at the expansion of the presence of their favorite brand, someone sarcastically asks who needs these smartphones at all for such money.
Whatever the opponents of the brand say, Xiaomi are loved not only for a low price. Rather, because buying even the most budget smartphone, you do not feel that you have been saving on you by all means. And that the main purpose of the purchased device is to remind you every day that for your own good you should have given more money to the company.
If we talk about Xiaomi, then even a budget smartphone will still have a comfortable level of performance, an interesting shell with a number of software 'chips' and good support (even if not always official). There are more than enough “Chinese” for the money, but the user experience in most cases will be completely different.
Nevertheless, it was the price that made it possible not to pay attention to possible shortcomings and defects of devices Xiaomi, immediately sweeping aside all the minor 'jambs'. Now the devices Xiaomi do not have such a head start, which inevitably will force potential buyers to look at them with a much more sober look. After all, when the scales are practically level, then any trifle can be decisive. Either the company will prove that it can fight on equal terms with the players officially represented in the Russian Federation, or it will forever remain with us the lot of geeks who are not shy about ordering the required smartphone “from over the hill”.
It seems to me that opening a network of own stores is not so much an attempt to seriously compete for market share as a kind of reconnaissance in force. It is for this reason that no one really tried to drop prices to a minimum or offer some cool bonuses. If the project shows at least minimal success, the chain of stores can be expanded and prices slightly reduced. Otherwise, it is simply pointless to lure users with a low price (which cannot be kept constantly in any case) for the company.
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Google Pixel
This is one of those announcements that everyone knew about in advance. Google didn't have any aces up its sleeve, which, against the backdrop of a heap of leaks, in itself made the presentation bland and not particularly interesting.
I do not even want to argue about how successful or unsuccessful smartphones were – before the first reviews, talking about this in any case is pointless. The question is, rather, for whom they are generally made.
Google's policy regarding the release of devices under its own brand can be described in one simple phrase – it wants to, and it pricks. On the one hand, there are a bunch of manufacturers who are not doing exactly what the search giant would like. And the good old thought that if you want to do something well, you better do it yourself. On the other hand, understanding that the future Android is much more important than the future of any particular piece of hardware under any brand. Including your own. And device manufacturers are a nervous audience and want to see Google as a partner, not a competitor.
HTC Nexus was the first attempt to launch a 'own' smartphone and sell it in-house. Yes, formally it was a smartphone for developers and enthusiasts, and Google initially did not expect special sales there … but almost certainly the company had some kind of hope for a bunch of pre-orders and had a plan B for this case.
The next chance to set up your own production was after the purchase Motorola. Again, formally, the deal was made solely for the sake of a set of patents, but the company was definitely tempted to take advantage of the opportunities that had opened up. Moreover, this scenario was clearly kept in mind.
As a result, Motorola was first squeezed like a lemon, and then resold its remains (or remains?) Lenovo. And it would seem that it would be possible to put an end to all plans for the release of their own devices. But on the horizon is already looming a company HTC, which has been in a deep crisis for several years and is about to be ready to agree to anything. Rumors about the sale of its mobile division have recently appeared on the network with alarming frequency, and the only real buyer is called the same Google. If so, then the new Pixel line could be the search giant's last attempt at assessing the pros and cons of 'own' devices before the final deal.
Just to start, it would be nice for the company to formulate what exactly it expects to achieve. So far, it seems that the new Pixel smartphones were created by Swan, Cancer and Pike. The devices are expensive, but do not have any bright “chips” typical for flagships. There will always be people who are ready to pay a tidy sum for the device – but they still need to at least try to explain what exactly this amount should be laid out for. Smartphones have a very unusual design, but it only seems that no one tried to make them beautiful, the emphasis was rather on the fact that Pixel is 'not like everyone else'. The main distinguishing feature of smartphones should be the quality of photos, but there is nothing special from a technical point of view in the camera, and the same optical stabilization was completely abandoned for the sake of the thickness of the body.
In general, everything is very, very ambiguous, both from the point of view of 'geeks' and 'ordinary buyers'.
The Google brand means something, at least compared to a bunch of little-known Chinese manufacturers that are constantly trying to creep into global markets. Google had chances to interest the audience, all it had to do was show a fashionable and beautiful smartphone with its own label. Even if not with the most advanced hardware, but at an affordable price. But the company decided not to look for easy ways and started with the fact that they released something too original and ambiguous, and even in a very limited number of markets. As if understanding in advance all the hopelessness of this venture and from the very beginning minimizing all possible risks.
Those who do not take risks do not drink champagne, and Google turned out to be too hesitant in this matter. And even now we can say that in the case of a purchase, the division HTC under the wing of Google does not expect anything good. Most likely, everything will end with a couple more incomprehensible 'Pixels' and several smartphones under the brand HTC, after which the remnants of the Taiwanese company will be disposed of in one way or another.
Hey Lenovo, don't you need a new brand?
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Samsung Galaxy Note
At some stage, the news turns into information noise, you stop paying attention to them like the ticking of a clock. This can be roughly said about Galaxy Note, about which different scary stories are told every day, refutations are published, they come up with jokes and draw demotivators. It is simply impossible to understand that explosions and fires are true, and that inventions and falsifications are now simply impossible, and most of them no longer even try to do this. Especially against the backdrop of news that in some regions Samsung had to send special fireproof boxes and gloves to Note owners, since without such packaging, some postal services simply refuse to transport the Note 7.
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The story, which began as a tragedy, ended in a farce.
After the repeated recall of all sold smartphones, their production was stopped, and it is highly likely that this model will never enter the market. Maybe it's for the best – for the third time in a row, no one would have believed Samsung, just out of principle, the company would have to continue to investigate each rumor and be ready to recall the entire batch again.
I have always said that mass marriage is unpleasant, but inevitable. Sooner or later, any manufacturer will face this, the only difference is whether he tries to silence the facts, shifting all the problems onto the buyers, or publicly admits the problem that has arisen. The way a company will behave in a difficult situation will say a lot about it.
It is too early to draw final conclusions, but it is very likely that smartphones from the new batch are no different from smartphones from the old one. Maybe the company was not able to correctly identify the source of the problem, maybe the quality control was below all expectations, maybe something else happened. One way or another, it was not possible to solve the problem even on the second attempt after all the loud words, heaps of wasted time and a huge amount of money.
This is no longer just a tragic accident, which, according to the theory of probability, had to happen sooner or later. This is a systemic failure, a clear demonstration of the fact that the company was unable to deal with its problems. And even if we assume that all the cases with the explosions of the new batch of Note 7 are fictions, for an outside observer the situation still looks unambiguous.
Commentators mostly argue about how this will affect the future of the company. Most likely – practically nothing. In the same way, the popularity iPhone was not affected by the 'grip of death', and Nokia was not affected by mass marriages of some individual devices. There will be jokes about Note for a long time, but they are unlikely to interfere with real sales of equipment (even mobile, even household).
A person is not even theoretically capable of evaluating events as impartially as a soulless machine. We will always consider any incident through the prism of our experience, as if through glasses with colored glasses. For some they will be pink, for others black, but no one will have completely colorless lenses. As long as for the majority of potential buyers this or that company is the market leader, it will be forgiven for what it would have killed everyone else without hesitation. And vice versa, any achievement of an outsider is devalued in advance, because in the eyes of those around such a company obviously cannot show anything worthwhile.
If Samsung was in place of any company of lower rank, from Sony and HTC to Xiaomi or LeEco, the frank recognition of a mass defect and a willingness to replace all sold devices at first would definitely add points to the company. This is not at all what is expected from the “Chinese” or the “oldies” who are losing the remnants of their former popularity. There would be several times less caustic comments, as well as speculations about world conspiracies, zombie advertising and idiot buyers.
But if smartphones, which seemed to be 'repaired' and returned to their happy owners, continued to burn and explode again, any of the second-tier companies would simply be mixed with dirt without listening to any excuses. There would be nothing funny in this situation either for users or for the companies themselves. 'Chinese' like Xiaomi or LeEco could forever forget about trying to officially enter new markets, even old and devoted fans would give up on Sony with HTC. Regardless of the legal and financial implications of this situation, many potential buyers would decide once and for all – “Company X is not the same”.
Samsung is not threatened with anything like that, interest in the upcoming SGS 8 will be at a very high level anyway. And the Note series, which will probably be revived in less than a year, will clearly not lose its popularity.
Although now there are various rumors about the fate of the line, TASS reports that according to the latest polls, more than 50% of respondents, including in South Korea, have a sharply negative attitude to the device. Which is understandable – the device that was recalled from you twice, but in the end was never returned, hardly leaves a lot of positive emotions.
But it doesn't follow from this that Samsung will abandon the Note brand next year. As well as the fact that no one will buy this particular line of devices now. Rather, everything will turn out to be the other way around, the new Note will break past records, including due to the scandalous fame of its predecessor and the long absence of updates.
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Not fair? Maybe. But, on the other hand, you can be sure that Samsung will rather turn inside out than allow something similar in SGS 8. And the case with Note is an excellent lesson for all companies, which will only benefit them. And it's good that the problem happened with this smartphone, and not with the conventional “Chinese” flagship, where users would have hundreds of times more problems.
They say that everything that doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I propose to wait until the end of February and, using Samsung's example, see if this is really so. With Note, the company frankly got into a puddle, and it will be extremely interesting to see exactly how the Koreans will smooth over the unpleasant situation in the new year and what SGS8 will be like.
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