I was under the impression that these were selling well. Shrug.
Link
Samsung Electronics Co.s Galaxy Tab, the companys answer to Apple Inc.s iPad, isnt selling as well as the company has let on.
In early December, Samsung announced it had sold 1 million, declaring that sales were going faster than expected. Then, in early January, Samsung announced sales of 2 million.
But during the companys quarterly earnings call on Friday, a Samsung executive revealed those figures dont represent actual sales to consumers. Instead, they are the number of Galaxy Tab devices that Samsung has shipped to wireless companies and retailers around the world since products formal introduction in late September.
Pressed by an analyst at an investment bank, the Samsung executive, Lee Young-hee, acknowledged that sales to consumers were quite small, though she didnt give a specific number.
In her comments, she used the terms sell-in to reflect Samsungs sales to distributors and sell-out to reflect the distributors sales to consumers.
Ms. Lees response to the analyst:
Well, your question was on sell-in and sell-out. As you heard, our sell-in was quite aggressive and this first quarterly result was quite, you know, fourth-quarter unit [figure] was around two million. Then, in terms of sell-out, we also believe it was quite small. We believe, as the introduction of new device, it was required to have consumers invest in the device. So therefore, even though sell-out wasnt as fast as we expected, we still believe sell-out was quite OK.
She added Samsung was quite optimistic about 2011 sales but wouldnt provide a forecast. As you know, the tablet is relatively new and we need to see how the market develops before we give any firm numbers, Ms. Lee said.
The comments got little attention in press coverage of Samsungs earnings report.
A Samsung spokesman in an email said Monday that most media accounts treat Galaxy Tab as a noteworthy accomplishment. He added, I believe the company, overall, is on the same page.
Link