The Samsung Popup Shop – Feisty or Foolish?

Yesterday, I wrote about the Samsung Music Hub which could be checked out at a popup shop in George Street in Sydney. Today, the general media have covered the fact that this popup shop was also offering ten Samasung Galaxy S II handsets per day until the end of the week for two dollars each. To boot, it’s pretty much next door to an Apple store with at least one person trying to convince people in the line for the iPhone 4S to stand in the Samsung line instead.

I guess one might wonder if such a move is a bit feisty or foolish given the relationship between Samsung and Apple at the present time.

Samsung is already under fire for its Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet with injunctions lodged by Apple preventing its sale in Australia and Germany while Apple is reportedly looking around for other suppliers for the CPUs and displays in its iOS devices.

Part of me thinks that Samsung really has nothing more to lose by waving another red flag at the bull and only customers to gain by being a bit bold and brash about its product. Certainly on paper the Samsung Galaxy S II is probably the pick of the crop of the current Android devices until the Nexus Prime arrives. However, the ecosystem has been the gaping hole plaguing the Android platform since its inception. Samsung now fills in the music side of things now with its Music Hub and Amazon with its seemingly comprehensive offering on its new tablet.

That said, perhaps component manufacturers might find the market more lucrative being a “complete device” manufacturer rather than a component manufacturer. Of course, the risk is then shifted towards successful sales of devices to realise a profit rather than selling components in bulk to other OEMs.

Is Samsung past the point of no return? Well, I don’t think the popup shop by itself would probably be the straw to break the camel’s back but I think we are seeing Samsung progressively come out of its shell in pursuit of a slice of the smartphone market. Their support could use a bit of attention (particularly their speed to release updates) though. That said, I like to see a bit of spirited competition in the market and this looks to be just what the doctor ordered in my opinion.