The Galaxy Note 7 has been an absolute disaster for Samsung. I won’t bother retelling the entire saga but in short, in order for them to beat the iPhone 7 to market, Samsung rushed production of the Note 7 which has been plagued by exploding batteries – something that was supposed to be fixed after the initial batch was recalled and replacement models were sent – but that didn’t quite pan out either as those units were also prone to fire. Tim Hardwick writing for MacRumors:

 According to analysts, the Note 7 recall could cost Samsung as many as 19 million lost unit sales, or as much as $17 billion, if it permanently stops selling the smartphone for a second time, following multiple reports of replacement handsets setting on fire. 

But that’s not all – according to Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research:

 This has probably killed the Note 7 brand name. By the time they fix the problem they have to go through recertification and re-qualification and by the time that happens, they’re going up against the [Galaxy] S8 launch. 

Ouch. And as the Wall Street Journal notes:

 We can confirm the report that Samsung has permanently discontinued the production of Galaxy Note 7. 

While the Galaxy series have squarely competed with the iPhone, other Android OEM’s have only fooled themselves to think they’ve been competing for the same market. Instead, most Android OEM makers have been competing against each other or more specifically, against Samsung. The truth is that the average person who wants an LG, Huawei, or Xperia handset isn’t considering picking up an iPhone and is already committed to Android, be it because it’s their OS of preference, availability, or price.

To make matters worse for them, in mobile, Apple controls nearly 70% of the profits while Samsung has taken around 25%, leaving just scraps for all the other Android OEM makers (one of the reasons why it is confusing when companies like HTC are so adamant about making phones when there is almost no profits left for them – but that’s another tale). But all of this begs one question.

With Samsung now out of the picture and without a flagship phone till next year, where the hell is Sony Mobile and their marketing? I’ve never been a fan of Samsung’s anti-iPhone tactics and in fact, I never favor marketing that needs to drag a competitor down or ‘poke fun at them’ in order to make gains or make themselves look good. For Samsung, it’s a matter of karma and clearly it’s a bitch.

So when I say where is Sony’s marketing, I don’t mean marketing at the expense of Samsung and mean marketing in the sense that there is a clear hole in the Android ecosystem – a vacuum that needs to be filled. While names like LG, HTC, and hell Pixel might mean something to you and I, for the mass majority of consumers, they don’t mean as much. A name that does however invoke some kind of emotion, trust, and/or recognition is Sony.

What better time for Sony to step up and announce to the world the Xperia XZ and tout its waterproof design, or high-end camera? What better time to show off the Xperia XA Ultra, a phablet phone with a price much lower than what the Note 7 was? Neither of those phones were designed to compete directly with the Note 7 but that’s ok. I highly doubt consumers wanted everything Samsung offered and so much of what the Note 7 had with its “retina eye scanner” to unlock the device was just a gimmick. Remember that previously Samsung tried to control the pause/play feature with similar technology.

Sony already has a lineup of good devices, some flagship, others a bit more budget-oriented, so why not step into the spotlight and tell the world about them? Ideally, this would be done through a marketing blitz on TV in the way Samsung and Apple do, but heck, I’d be happy for Sony to just run some ads on Facebook. Really, just anything.

If Sony is truly serious about their mobile division and wants it to succeed, they will never find a better time to step in and fill the huge gap that’s left with Samsung out of the picture.

Discuss:

If you were Sony, how would you use this time to your advantage?