Samsung Tab 3 growth strategy revealed

Vineet Taneja, country head, Samsung Mobile and Imaging Business, targets three segments — education, entertainment and enterprise — for its Tab 3 tablets.

Samsung, to tap the rapidly growing education segment, presented an IIT student and shared how the student is utilizing Tab 3 tablets for education content and personal uses.

The Korean consumer electronics giant also has a fan base from budding enterprises such as Flipkart.com. Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal endorsed Tab 3. The latest tablets are used by several enterprise CIOs and sales people who are on the move, said Samsung.

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Yami Gautam, the young actress, is one of the young entertainment professionals, who are using tablets for both professional and personal purposes.

Samsung tablet strategies

The smartphone major says the Tab 3 is meant for increasing its tablet revenue market share in India from the present 62 percent.

Vineet Taneja is confident that the flood of low cost tablet models will not eat into Samsung’s market share. In fact, Samsung Galaxy S4, which did not meet analyst expectation globally, helped improve its smartphone market share in India by 2 percent in May.

Samsung tablet strategies are focused on high quality education content for students and education institutes. Though the company does not offer any subsidy to college students, it encourages them to buy tablets through EMI options and by offering free downloads. In the B2B segment, Samsung works with education institutes and offers special deals.

For working professionals at enterprises, Samsung tablets are offering end-to-end solutions and apps to improve productivity, said Manu Sharma, director, Samsung Mobile. Samsung tapped several enterprises in India for its tablet range. In fact, Samsung tablets started eating into smartphone market share of Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry.

Even Google smartphones — which will be out from Motorola soon — are not a worry for Samsung. “This company (Google) knows about software. But we are leaders in the market because we know and managed both software and hardware,” Taneja says.

Samsung tablet market share challenge

Home grown companies are challenging Samsung tablet market share in India. But Samsung is confident about revenue market share growth.

Indian grown Micromax, the #2 smartphone player in India, could not continue its smartphone growth in tablet business thanks to Samsung’s growth strategies.

Micromax tablet market share in the 7-inch and above screen category has decreased to 12.3 percent in the first quarter of CY 2013 from 19.04 percent in fourth quarter of CY 2012.

Samsung says its expanded range of tablet will energize to take more share in tablet space in India. Apple is struggling in India, according to market analysts.

Globally, Samsung may double tablet market share in 2013, according to ABI Research. Tablet sales in 2013 will grow 28 percent to $64 billion. The tablet unit shipments will reach 150 million, growing at 38 percent in 2013.

Market intelligence firm ABI Research says a well-executed Samsung tablet strategy could double the company’s tablet market share this year. Earlier, IDC said Apple dominated the tablet market with 43.6 percent share in Q4 2012.

Number two tablet vendor in Q4 2012 — Samsung — experienced 263 percent year-on-year growth, shipping nearly 8 million combined Android and Windows 8 tablets during the quarter to grab 15.1 percent of the market.

Apple’s market share in tablet segment has declined to 39.6 percent in Q1 2013 from 58.1 percent in Q1 2012. Samsung increased tablet market share to 17.9 percent from 11.3 percent.

Microsoft has 1.8 percent market share in tablet space in the first quarter of 2013. It shipped nearly 900,000 units of Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets.

Baburajan K
[email protected]