Over the last few years, Samsung overall has grown immensely, increasing total revenue by $60 billion USD from 2009 to 2012 (starting at ~$130 billion USD and now in 2013 over $200 billion USD). Obviously, their smartphone (and now tablet) businesses have been key drivers of that growth.
An interesting New York Times article describes this growth and future challenges in depth, raising some interesting questions for Samsung's surveillance business.
First, here's a few key excerpts:
- Samsung has about "the same sales as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook combined."
- "Last year, Samsung shipped 215 million smartphones, about 40 percent of the worldwide total, analysts estimate; this year, it is expected to ship more than 350 million."
- "Interbrand, a marketing consulting firm, ranked Samsung as the eighth-most-valuable brand in the world."
- "Samsung is a well-oiled machine: If it spots a trend and decides to compete, it can outspend and outpace practically anyone. Its everything-included, research-to-manufacturing-to-marketing model allows it to obliterate the competition."
- Innovation (leading / creating trends) and low cost Chinese competition are cited as both key risks.
As we recently tested, Samsung Wisenet III cameras have gained lots of ground against leading IP camera manufacturers with close performance and low pricing. There's nothing technologically innovative about their surveillance offering but, at least for surveillance, that may be good enough. Thoughts?