Kevin Bostic
Samsung CEO J.K. Shin had a lot to say this week, reassuring investors that the company's latest flagship smartphone is indeed selling well, while at the same time dismissing the notion that the company is anywhere close to détente with its chief rival, Apple.
Samsung's stock dropped six percent last week when a J.P Morgan report warned investors that sales of its recently launched Galaxy S4 smartphone could fall short of expectations. Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, though, Shin dismissed J.P. Morgan's analysis of S4 sales, according to The Korea Times.
"I can say sales of the Galaxy S4 smartphone are fine. It's been selling well," Shin told reporters after meeting with executives from Samsung's partners. "The report was based on its own analysis. Probably the bank may have corrected its previous bullish estimate about the S4 sales."
Samsung launched the S4 amid tremendous hype, and the company expects to sell around 100 million of the Android-powered device. Within its first 28 days of availability, the S4 moved 10 million units, but both J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley revised their sales estimates downward recently.
The ensuing sell-off resulted in Samsung's largest single-day drop in nine months, taking Samsung's shares to a four-month low. The South Korean conglomerate lost $12.4 billion in market capitalization, and the stock has been trending downward since.
Shin also commented on Samsung's ongoing worldwide patent struggle with Apple, saying that Samsung has no plans to relent or concede.
"Patent disputes against Apple will continue," Shin said in his first Apple-related comments since the ITC handed Samsung a win in the form of an import ban on older iPhones and iPads.
Malcolm Owen
Mike Wuerthele and Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
Sponsored Content
53 Comments
FWIW - this rivalry is a necessity. Neither Samsung nor Apple would really be motivated to improve, innovate, whatever without good solid threat from each other.
Show us the numbers, Shin. Is that "fine" as in smooth [1]? [1] http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/151854/quite-smooth-samsung-actually-sold-1-10-of-the-2-million-galaxy-tabs-it-claimed-in-2010
"Sales have been smooth."
Apple - We sold precisely X number of devices over the opening weekend of our new product. There's no guessing, there's nothing to hide. Apple just lays out the cold hard facts.
Samsung and everybody else - Our sales are smooth. Our sales are fine. Trust us. We sold a shit load of devices, but there is nothing suspicious at all about us refusing to reveal any numbers. Scouts honor! I swear on my dead mother! And by the way, we are also proud to announce that 17 Billion Android devices have now been activated, and no, we are not going to provide any proof for that either.
There is a difference between a rivalry and a war. The former is healthy and capitalistic, the latter is destructive. He seems to be bragging to his investors that the patent war will continue and as an investor myself I am not happy to hear this. Because both companies have large patent libraries, each one is holding the other back so the collective result is BOTH companies are being handcuffed from bringing better products to market and therefore producing more revenue. This is not something Mr. Shin should be bragging about and astute investors would call him to the carpet for this.