For as successful a company as Samsung’s been in the smartphone and tablet worlds, it’s difficult to describe it as an innovator. It didn’t have the first dual-core phone, the first quad-core phone, the first 720p screen, nor the first 1080p screen. Despite lagging just behind the curve, its phones have been hugely successful, and it dominates the smartphone market. Executive Vice President Kim Hyun-suk recently spoke to The New York Times, explaining why Samsung doesn’t need to be first in order to be the most successful.

Unlike companies like Apple, which make a big deal about going their own way, Samsung isn’t ashamed to follow in the footsteps of others. Kim Hyun-suk makes this clear, saying that Samsung keeps a close eye on the market at large to see what’s working, and then innovates inside of that space already carved-out by other companies. “The market is a driver, so we don’t intend to drive the market in a certain direction,” he explained.

That certainly seems to be a strategy that works well for Samsung, but we’re not sure it’s necessarily gospel for the company; the Galaxy Note, for instance, was definitely a step outside the direction the market was heading, and proved to be a big hit. Then again, for every move like that there are plenty of others, like Samsung’s delayed interest in wireless charging, that tend to back up Kim Hyun-suk’s statements.

Source: New York Times
Via: BGR