Samsung’s Lee Young-hee was misunderstood, Galaxy Tab sales are ‘smooth’ not ‘small’

Samsung's Lee Young-hee was misunderstood, Galaxy Tab sales are 'quite smooth' not 'quite small'

The word “whoops” is probably a good place to start with this one. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal ran a story quoting Samsung’s Lee Young-hee as stating that initial sales of the Galaxy Tablet were “quite small.” Turns out that wasn’t exactly the right adjective. As you can hear in the audio clip below, she actually said sales of the thing are “quite smooth,” just like the chins on most of our interns. This mix-up is being blamed on a transcript provided by Samsung, but rather than point fingers we’ll just smile ruefully, shake our heads, and go back to writing posts about robots and things. And the Galaxy Tab? Well, sales may be moving right along, but it looks like returns are progressing quite smoothly as well.

Continue reading Samsung’s Lee Young-hee was misunderstood, Galaxy Tab sales are ‘smooth’ not ‘small’

Samsung’s Lee Young-hee was misunderstood, Galaxy Tab sales are ‘smooth’ not ‘small’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung experiencing a 16 percent return rate on the Galaxy Tab?

Just a few days back, Samsung announced it had moved around 2 million Galaxy Tabs in the latter part of 2010. According to new data released by ITG Investment Research using tracked point-of-sale info, however, the story is a little more complicated. The company tracked about 6,000 retail stores in the United States from the November date of release of the tab through January 15th, and the return rate hovered around 13 percent, rising even further — to about 16 percent — with holiday sales returns. Now, rates of return estimates are just that — estimates — but 6,000 locations is nothing to shrug off. We’ll have to wait and see longer term what this means for the Tab’s legacy, but let us know your thoughts in the comments: have you returned a Galaxy Tab, or are you still in love?

Samsung experiencing a 16 percent return rate on the Galaxy Tab? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung says Galaxy Tab sales to consumers actually ‘quite small’

When is a tablet sold not actually a tablet sold? When it’s a Galaxy Tab, apparently. As The Wall Street Journal reports, those two million Galaxy Tabs that Samsung reported it had “sold” in the fourth quarter of last year were apparently not actual sales to consumers, but simply sales to distributors (which is a different matter altogether). Even more surprisingly, Samsung’s Lee Young-hee further explained on an earnings call on Friday that so-called “sell-out” sales to customers were actually “quite small,” but she wouldn’t provide a specific number. Somewhat confusingly, however, she also later noted that while “sell-out wasn’t as fast as we expected,” Samsung still believes that sales to consumers were “quite OK,” and that it is “quite optimistic” about 2011.

Samsung says Galaxy Tab sales to consumers actually ‘quite small’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Tabulates 2 million slates, 80 million phones sold in Q4 2010, breaks revenue records

Score one for Samsung in its eternal struggle against South Korean nemesis LG. Whereas the Life’s Good crew were licking their Q4 2010 wounds yesterday, Samsung’s had the pleasure of announcing that the final quarter of last year helped it bust through all its previous fiscal records: total revenue ($139b), net income ($14b), and operating profit ($15.5b) all reached all-time highs. The fourth quarter’s contribution was $2.7b in operating profit, 80.7 million mobile devices sold, 12.72 million flat panel TVs shipped, and two million Galaxy Tabs distributed to Android lovers yearning for some Froyo. That last number’s pretty important as it shows the Tab’s sales have almost doubled over the last month of the quarter — it reached one million sales in early December — indicating that there is indeed a hunger for slate-based computing. Oh, and if you’re wondering what Samsung’s planning for the future, there’s a reminder that a device with a Super AMOLED Plus screen and a dual-core processor is coming to replace the Galaxy S in the first half of 2011. Good to know.

[Thanks, Tascien]

Continue reading Samsung Tabulates 2 million slates, 80 million phones sold in Q4 2010, breaks revenue records

Samsung Tabulates 2 million slates, 80 million phones sold in Q4 2010, breaks revenue records originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s ‘PC’ shipments grow by 241 percent in iPad-inclusive Canalys stats

Canalys is a pretty well respected global stat-keeper and now it seems to be relying on that reputation to push through a pretty controversial message: tablets, such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, are PCs. “Accept new market realities,” urges its polemic press release, before laying out global quarterly shipments that peg Apple as the world’s third most prolific PC vendor (without tablets, Apple doens’t even break the top 5 according to IDC and Gartner). The company that was laboring with a mere 3.8 percent market share in 2009 has shot up to 10.8 with the aid of its 10-inch touchscreen device. Canalys’ stance will inevitably be controversial, but then it’s kind of hard to deny that machines like Samsung’s Sliding PC and ASUS’ Eee Slate make the distinguishing lines between tablets and netbooks look like a particularly technical form of bokeh.

Continue reading Apple’s ‘PC’ shipments grow by 241 percent in iPad-inclusive Canalys stats

Apple’s ‘PC’ shipments grow by 241 percent in iPad-inclusive Canalys stats originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile expected to cut Galaxy Tab pricing to $249.99 (update: drop is official!)

After initiating the first on-contract Galaxy Tab price cascade back in December that quickly led Sprint to respond, T-Mobile may chop subsidy prices again today for the 7-inch tablet to just under $250 (after a pesky $50 mail-in rebate). Together, that’s only $62 more than the bargain bin CherryPad, which should infuriate early adopters who paid double that only a few months ago, not to mention sober up Samsung. However, when you consider that pseudo-4G tablets like the Dell Streak 7 and LG G-Slate will join Magenta’s lineup soon, it is a viable strategy for extending the Tab’s consumer appeal in this viciously competitive Android tablet world we live in. Then again, if the dual-core processors teased for the Tab’s successor actually pan out, we doubt Samsung will need any assistance getting back to its smug position on top of the Android heap. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on T-Mobile’s site today and be sure to update should the price change actually materialize.

Update: A recent peek at T-Mobile’s site shows the price drop is now official. If you’re in the UK and prefer buying the Tab unsubsidized, Amazon and Tesco have also chopped their prices to a palatable £341.24 ($542) and £359.20 ($571), respectively. Thanks, Raphael and Rupert!

T-Mobile expected to cut Galaxy Tab pricing to $249.99 (update: drop is official!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Galaxy Tab gets 1.2GHz overclock, very scary warning

Galaxy Tab gets 1.2GHz overclock, very scary warning

It’s here, what looks to be the world’s first attempt at overclocking a Samsung Galaxy Tab. User Bauxite at the always happening xda-developers forums has posted the way to boosting Samsung’s hunk of burning Android up to 1.2GHz — along with some seriously stern warnings:

THIS KERNEL MAY NOT WORK ON YOUR DEVICE, MIGHT DESTROY YOUR DEVICE, MIGHT PUNCH YOUR CHILDREN, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY THIS KERNEL, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

Initial user reports are generally positive but, given the risk and the complexity here we think we’ll be staying at the stock 1GHz speed. For now, anyway.

[Thanks, Alain]

Galaxy Tab gets 1.2GHz overclock, very scary warning originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video)

SwiftKey for Android was one of the breakout stars in the virtual keyboard business last year, thanks to a unique predictive phrase system that learns how you talk (or write, as it were) and recommends entire words based on your personal style. It sounds weird, but it’s surprisingly helpful — and even if you don’t use the phrase prediction aspect at all, it’s simply a well laid-out, easy-to-use keyboard. The company has big plans for 2011 with talks of OEM deals in the pipeline, UI and functionality tweaks, new utilities for learning your writing habits by ingesting RSS feeds, Facebook posts, Gmail, and other sources… oh, and this: a new app customized for use on Android tablets.

Text entry on tablets is a challenge that manufacturers and software vendors have been trying to solve for a long, long time, and one look in a busy airport with dozens of people trying to type on iPads carefully-balanced on their laps will tell you that we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re not sure how SwiftKey’s new version will work on 10-inch tablets (take the Xoom, for instance), but we had a chance to check it out on a Galaxy Tab — and we have to say that it’s probably the best landscape virtual keyboard we’ve used on a 7-inch tablet so far. Swype and other tracing keyboards seem out of place on a screen this big, but SwiftKey takes advantage of the fact that your thumbs are so far apart by splitting your QWERTY into two parts and placing the lesser-used numbers in the center.

The keyboard isn’t ready for prime time just yet — SwiftKey still bills it as a prototype — but we imagine it’ll be available before too long. Follow the break for a hands-on video!

Continue reading Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video)

Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint drops Galaxy Tab down to $300, undercuts everyone but US Cellular

What now, Verizon? Just a few days after Big Red lowered the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab to $500 off-contract, Sprint’s version has shed $100 — which means you can now score it for $300 on a two-year deal. As long as you’re willing to put your name on the dotted line, that now means that Sprint can put you into a Tab for less money than anyone but regional carrier US Cellular, which offers it for a bargain-basement $200. Interestingly, Sprint’s shift comes on the heels of an LTE-tweaked version of the Tab for Verizon with a faster processor and better camera, suggesting that a WiMAX model could definitely be in the works these guys — which might be what this “industry first” event is all about early next month. Pure speculation on our part, but it’d make some sense.

Update: US Cellular wrote in to let us know that the $200 promotion on its version of the Tab has actually expired — now, you get two for the price of one at $399 after a $100 mail-in rebate. In other words, if you just want a single Tab, Sprint’s the best deal in town right now.

Sprint drops Galaxy Tab down to $300, undercuts everyone but US Cellular originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint ID for Samsung Galaxy Tab hands-on

Launched back in October, Sprint ID is the carrier’s service for deeply skinning your Android device with a curated selection of wallpapers, ringtones, and apps — think of it as phone customization for people who don’t have the time (or patience) to find and install stuff they like. Currently available on three models — the LG Optimus S, Sanyo Zio, and Samsung Transform — we’d heard that the service would eventually be spreading to other phones and also to the Galaxy Tab, leading to the obvious question: how do the ID packs scale to the larger form factor and higher screen resolution?

Well, the short answer is that they don’t — at least, not yet. At a Sprint event last evening we had a chance to play with a Tab that had received the Sprint ID firmware update early, and existing packs designed for phones that we tried produced a variety of results ranging from force close messages to weird-looking home screens. That’s not to say that the packs can’t be designed to support the Tab, of course — the one for Sprint employees that was pre-installed and designed specifically to take advantage of the extra screen real estate looks great — but the packs out there now don’t seem to play nice. This might explain why the update hasn’t been released yet, because Sprint either needs to make sure every pack works with every ID-enabled product or set up the pack store to block Tab owners from downloading incompatible packs. Check out the gallery!

Sprint ID for Samsung Galaxy Tab hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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