An open letter to Samsung, from a Samsung convert

Dear Samsung,

You had the golden opportunity to make a lot of sales this season with the no-headphone jack iPhone 7 releasing and the other low-selling flagship phones from other companies, but you blew it up, quite literally, with the Note7.

The Galaxy Note7 is an amazing device, which I had quite some time with when it was first released, and I’m 100% convinced that it’s the best smartphone out there, even until now if only it didn’t have issues, but it does have issues, and mostly everyone who has heard of the exploding issue is going to associate Galaxies, specifically Notes with grenades, and that’s not a good thing for the Note line, and for those who are going to own a Note, since they’ll be mostly joked on by their friends and other people.

“Blew up the opportunity, literally.”

You can build an incredible Galaxy Note 8, but it would be hard to market without bringing up the previous iteration, and everyone would remember the Note 7 — the story that lit up sparking you some controversy, and much more than that when the replacement units you sent also caught fire.

The Galaxy Note has been a great line of smartphones, and it evolved amazingly. It has set the phablet standard, it pushed forth your company’s smartphone design, and it even had the latest specs and the arguably useful S-Pen in tow, but here is a case where all of the good things one has done can easily be covered up with one huge mistake. Remember how several bended iPhone 6 models caused everyone in YouTube to bend test their phone?

Here’s my suggestion.

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, both w/ Edge & S-Pen

Now, you have the Galaxy S7 series, divided into the standard model and the larger Edge model. The Note7 came out several months later with an Edge screen and updated internals, and as an S7 user myself, it sparked a little disappointment in me as my smartphone got outdated that easily. I didn’t have that sleek design, the Iris Scanner, and even the smallest software tweaks. On your end, that also leaves you with two flagship phones to constantly update with software pushes and accessories.

Do this: Add the stylus and the Edge into the smaller Galaxy S and the larger Galaxy S Edge. Call them the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus / XL as you would, but announce that you’re killing the Note, and add those things and keep the internals similar.

This way:

The two phones would have the same software.
All your marketing / innovation efforts would be focused on one flagship lineup for the entire year.
You would, by default, update this phone constantly increasing customer satisfaction.
Lessen confusion and buyers holding back for the Note months later, which again, would be hard to market after the Note7.
You would have a clear set of direct competitors to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Google Pixel and Pixel XL, and so forth.

I know how you run things as a business is a lot more complicated than this ‘open letter’, but I’m not writing as a Marketing Graduate anyway. I’m writing as your customer, and as a friend of those who still believe in the Galaxy Note but had to go through chaos having theirs destroyed and replaced with more explosions.

Bob Freking

Bob Freking occasionally contributes articles to the website. He is a UST Graduate of Commerce & Business Administration, Major in Marketing Management, and a full-time Sith Lord with three dragons.

13 Comments

123456 says:

8 years ago

I’d rather have the S8 without S-pen. It is better to incorporate the S-pen on the larger Galaxy S phone. Just sayin’.

Apple user.
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Jedrix says:

8 years ago

I’m very frustrated with Samsung ‘coz they didn’t release an update of android versions for marshmallow and nougat for note 3. It was a good phone and it was expensive when I bought it. It was fast and has a good performance. I’m about to upgrade very soon with the newer note version but knowing that they’re ditching note 3 for android updates plus these note 7 unit is hazardous, hell, no, no. I wont choose Samsung phones anymore. You’re note models might also be ditched with new android updates in the future.

I’m switching to Apple since they still support old models of their phones with their new IOS updates. I’m not promoting but just giving heads up to others.
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Vheryo Villareal says:

8 years ago

RIP Galaxy Note series T_T
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Ren says:

8 years ago

I agree with the name changing. Plus, a note 8 exist years ago, a tablet with 8 inch display.
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Ren says:

8 years ago

I agree with the new name change. Plus, a note 8 exist years ago, its an 8 inch tablet.
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Malvin Lim says:

8 years ago

There’s tons of great custom firmware for note 3
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psikick says:

8 years ago

Sorry but this will not work.

Part of the reason the Note is released in Sept is for Samsung to have a fresh flagship in direct competition with the iPhone which is released at the same time. Also, this helps them increase sales in the Christmas holiday period. If they release only one flagship (S8) early next year as you suggest, they will no longer have anything to throw back at Apple come September 2017 when the iPhone 7s (or 8) is released.. By then, the S8 will be up for replacement and will be completely demolished by Apple and other Android makers in terms of specs/performance. Remember LG, Huawei, HTC, etc will not follow Samsung with your 1-flagship-released-early-in-the-year suggestion so they will continue to release new models. Not to mention Oneplus and Xiaomi who constantly release updated versions of their flagships. Google will also release the Pixel successor around Sept next year. How will Samsung respond to that without the Note?

There is also no confusion among consumers between the S and Note series. Samsung has been doing this for years. In fact they were among the first to do this (2 flagships of different screen sizes released months apart).

Part of the reason updates are slow for Samsung are the carriers who demand testing for each update. Different carriers in different countries result to the staggered updates in each country we experience now. Apple does not have this issue because they have that clout to make the carriers bow down to them. As long as Samsung cannot convince carriers to allow them Apple-like update clout, timely updates will never happen even if Samsung decides to only release one smartphone model in a year.

The main problem with the Note 7 battery nightmare is customer trust. Samsung has to make sure customers will still trust them the next time they sell a flagship (be it the S8 or the Note 8 months later). What they can do is improve customer support. They should follow Apple and GoPro with their excellent worldwide customer support. Keyword is worldwide. Example: No need for receipts (they have a database that can identify if your unit is under warranty or not and this works anywhere in the world you go to their service center). Buy an S8 in Bosnia and you should have official warranty privileges here in Manila just like everyone who bought theirs here at no additional cost. Same if you buy here in Manila, you should be able to get Samsung warranty if you have phone issues in Tibet. That is peace of mind. Right now that is not the case. You do that now and all you encounter is headache and alot of back and forth and added fees. They almost treat you like your unit was stolen or fake. As long as the service center sees your unit is original, has warranty seals intact, and is under warranty per centralised database, you should get official warranty services. Does not matter if the unit is your cousin’s neighbor’s friends’ phone you borrowed or bought. They made it, they should service it if I have a problem.

Peace of mind. That should be Samsung’s product next year for us to forget this Note 7 nightmare.
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Grammarcheck says:

8 years ago

In essence, it works both ways. Now that samsung made a critical error, which probably would not happen again, apple blew it by not releasing an iPhone with a headphone jack. Just when iPhone finally offered 256gb of memory, they removed the headphone Jack. If not for the lack of headphone Jack, I’d buy an iPhone 7 due to the note 7 Fiasco. Now that it happened, I’ll just stick with my note 4, since nothing really matches the note 7 on the market.
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Kabayan says:

8 years ago

Changing the name will not make any difference if Samsung cannot determine what is the cause of the Note 7 problem. Because from the looks of things, its a design and manufacturing issue, not just the battery.
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No Samsung says:

8 years ago

Good grief. Just ditch Samsung and go for better Android makers like Sony, OnePlus, Xiaomi, or Huawei. I don’t get this infatuation Filipinos have with Samsung. Is it because of the high prices that feeds their social climber tendencies?

Samsung fanboys are worse than iPhone fanboys. #truthhurts
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Kwentology says:

8 years ago

Probably i go to LG, removable battery can help fire prevention. LOL literally…
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Resin Auto Apply Machine Specialist says:

7 years ago

Sorry for being out of topic but when will Battlefield V be released?
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