Internal documents reveal Samsung’s top priority in 2012 was to “Beat Apple”

Apple isn’t the only one whose internal documents are being released publicly in the ongoing Apple-Samsung trial. An internal Samsung presentation titled “Samsung Business Forecast” gives us a look at the company’s goals and strategy for 2012. Among Samsung’s high-level initiatives, the #1 priority in the year 2012 was “Beating Apple,” according to the presentation. The company said that “everything must be in context of beating Apple,” as the threat from the iPhone marker is “extremely real and urgent.” The Korean giant expected the iPhone 5 to be launched in June 2012 (actual launch: September), and have LTE, social network and cloud integration, and an improved Siri. Samsung’s response to the threat from Apple, as per the slides, appears to be focused mainly on branding rather than the technology or the product. The company increased its Galaxy branding by increasing its ad spend, having continuos brand campaigns and releasing more phones under the “Galaxy” brand. While Apple’s relationship with carriers has always been authoritative, Samsung is shown to be willing to let carriers dictate 80 percent of its roadmap, probably in exchange for greater marketing support from carriers. The company also surveyed Apple customers to understand why they buy Apple products, and accordingly develop “countermeasures.” [Scribd via Recode] Continue reading →

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