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As I have posted here a number of times, Samsung NC10 has been largely ignored by the media in America where I am posting. It has been sold out in stores and online as well, or some have had to wait longer. Still, the American media has not taken notice of this amazing netbook. Since I work in advertising and do some PR as well, I wonder what Samsung is not doing to promote this product. It’s been months since this model was released and you can only get ecstatic reviews from buyers of the unit, not the reviewers. I stumbled on this unbiased review of the Consumer Reports (a mag that doesn’t accept any ads, therefore it’s considered legit), and they still didn’t review the netbook. Hmmm, this is highly unusual.
Here’s the link to the Consumer Reports piece about six netbooks rated, excerpted by Yahoo. Of course, the title means it simply reviewed the netbooks they got their hands on and that they might not have gotten hold of Samsung NC10:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/173/six-windows-netbooks-rated/
I was leafing through the U.S edition of PC world magazine here in London today and surprise of surprises … in a review of best netbooks …not even a passing mention of the Samsung NC10 !!!!
That is hard to fathom. Given that where it has been reviewed it has recieved nothing but glowing reports and is generally considered top of the class (not for long – but for now!).
I suppose it can be damaging to your reputation if you cannot meet the demand of a product and it appears that there are supply issues. Maybe they are intentiaonlly holding back until the supply chain is ramped up a gear.
This site is getting much more UK traffic than US traffic. I suppose Google might rank this site better in Google.co.uk as it has a UK IP but in general it is pretty independent of country. Given that the US population if 4x bigger I would have though traffic from there would be higher.
It’s hard to compare non-English speaking countries because the language issue is always going to be a factor but if you add up all the other traffic locations it looks similar to the total US traffic!
Strategic error or insightful planning?
I think people need to realize that the release in the US was less than a month ago – if even two weeks for most distributors! Right now Samsung doesn’t have the head start (ASUS) or the brand recognition for computers (Dell, HP, MSI) so the only way for it to get out is word of mouth and B&M retailers. Also, most magazine’s are written several months in advance – probably the reason why we’re not seeing anything “right now.”
That’s the problem with print media, it just can’t keep up with the web in terms of speed.
The PC magazines here have no references to the Samsung yet, but the web has already hailed the NC10 as ‘best of breed’ currently.
No doubt the printed media will catch up in a month or two.
M
I wonder if the lack of stock is a factor in this – if Samsung are getting more demand for their products than they can supply, there’s no need for promotion at this time. They may even have asked the press not to mention the NC10, and have almost certainly not sent any units out for review.
I suspect Samsung really weren’t expecting it to sell so well and it’s thrown them for a loop. I wouldn’t be surprised if stock that was meant for the US has gone to other countries with bigger backlogs. I’m sure, however, that they are keen to take a piece of the US market pie and will do so as soon as they are able to meet demand.
An odd post for my very first, but since my Samsung NC10 is all set to arrive tomorrow, you’ll have a reliable UK review very shortly. It’s for a very respectable tech website, and I’ve a wealth of reviewing experience so it will certainly be one you can trust 🙂 I won’t mention the site, nor post a link if that’s a big no-no for this particular forum! Don’t want to get off on the wrong foot as I expect I’ll be dropping in fairly often.
It is a little odd that such a cracking netbook has somehow been missed by the mass media. News stories announcing the introduction of the NC10 are plentiful, yet firm reviews are quite rare indeed.
[quote1228424218=Sandy_UK]
I was leafing through the U.S edition of PC world magazine here in London today and surprise of surprises … in a review of best netbooks …not even a passing mention of the Samsung NC10 !!!!
[/quote1228424218]I saw that article…there was an inset on one page for Samsung ultraportables, and there the author mentioned that though they had wanted to review the NC10, but they didn’t get a unit shipped to them in time. I’ve been to PCW’s website several times since then (including just yesterday) and still there’s no review.
Ah, well…more NC10s for us, then. 🙂 Seriously, though, I want Samsung to succeed with this product. It is a bit troubling that there is so little coverage. At least on my side of the pond (America), the media are extremely political (and extremely one-sided, but that’s not for this forum)–maybe Samsung displeased some partisans somewhere?
I dunno. I think it’s up to us users to write reviews, write blogs, and form communities, and maybe the media will take note of our passion and throw us a bone.
[quote1228425363=backdrifte]
An odd post for my very first, but since my Samsung NC10 is all set to arrive tomorrow, you’ll have a reliable UK review very shortly. It’s for a very respectable tech website, and I’ve a wealth of reviewing experience so it will certainly be one you can trust 🙂 I won’t mention the site, nor post a link if that’s a big no-no for this particular forum! Don’t want to get off on the wrong foot as I expect I’ll be dropping in fairly often.It is a little odd that such a cracking netbook has somehow been missed by the mass media. News stories announcing the introduction of the NC10 are plentiful, yet firm reviews are quite rare indeed.
[/quote1228425363]That’s great news, I’ll look forward to reading your review! You’re more than welcome to share the link here when it’s ready.
Welcome to the forum BTW. 🙂
[quote1228425106=Becky]
I wonder if the lack of stock is a factor in this – if Samsung are getting more demand for their products than they can supply, there’s no need for promotion at this time. They may even have asked the press not to mention the NC10, and have almost certainly not sent any units out for review.I suspect Samsung really weren’t expecting it to sell so well and it’s thrown them for a loop. I wouldn’t be surprised if stock that was meant for the US has gone to other countries with bigger backlogs. I’m sure, however, that they are keen to take a piece of the US market pie and will do so as soon as they are able to meet demand.
[/quote1228425106]As you may know, Samsung is just now entering the US market. I’m too young to remember if they ever had a presence here in the past or if this is the first time they’ve ever made an effort, but their components have been available here for a long time and are popular with OEMs. You may very well be right in that Samsung didn’t expect such a strong US response–after all, they released the NC10 in Europe several months before it was in stock here.
What’s astounding is the way these things have sold in the US without any major reviews anywhere (at its peak, the blue NC10 was #4 in Computers on the US Amazon site, and it has sold out about three times already). The name definitely helps–Samsung has had runaway success with its line of LCD HDTVs here, which get high marks from pretty much everybody who has reviewed one. Many Americans have probably not even heard of Acer or Asus (ironically), but would recognize the name Samsung immediately.
We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.
EDIT: Yowza! Why did Amazon autolink?(!) New forum feature, jez?
To echo Squonk, Samsung did not sell notebooks of any kind here before very recently. They are known for TVs, appliances, etc.
They do have market penetration for monitors, but thats it.
So the avg. American has no clue that Samsung even makes Laptops.
[quote1228429935=Becky]
That’s great news, I’ll look forward to reading your review! You’re more than welcome to share the link here when it’s ready.
Welcome to the forum BTW. 🙂
[/quote1228429935]
Thanks Becky, I’ll be sure to post a link soon as it’s live. Hopefully by the middle of next week, as Amazon claim that my NC10 is now on it’s merry way. Sadly via City Link, but beggers can’t be choosers!
[quote1228431822=dougp]
I think people need to realize that the release in the US was less than a month ago – if even two weeks for most distributors! Right now Samsung doesn’t have the head start (ASUS) or the brand recognition for computers (Dell, HP, MSI) so the only way for it to get out is word of mouth and B&M retailers. Also, most magazine’s are written several months in advance – probably the reason why we’re not seeing anything “right now.”
[/quote1228431822]I think it’s key for Samsung to get early in the mindset of American consumers, as it could also spell its long term success here.
[quote1228453297=dougp]
I think people need to realize that the release in the US was less than a month ago – if even two weeks for most distributors! Right now Samsung doesn’t have the head start (ASUS) or the brand recognition for computers (Dell, HP, MSI) so the only way for it to get out is word of mouth and B&M retailers. Also, most magazine’s are written several months in advance – probably the reason why we’re not seeing anything “right now.”
[/quote1228453297]It’s actually more than a month already since this was released, based on the press release in the official samsung site, dated Oct. 14. Normally, reviewers get to review the netbook much, much earlier than that even. See link
Also, most print mags have updated news in their online editions. You would also have to consider that the daily newspapers have not mentioned Samsung NC10. Meanwhile, US buyers are doing the reviewing in place of the critics who have largely voted on the Asus if not the MSI Wind.
[MOD EDIT] Shortened link as it broke the forum. 🙂 ~Becky
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