Samsung unveils 18 new handsets

Samsung Electronics unveiled no less than 18 new handsets at the Samsung Mobile Roadshow 2008 held at the posh Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati City last Monday.

Based on the company’s new consumer segmentation model, the all-encompassing line-up offers a mobile phone for every lifestyle, as the company seeks to double regional handset sales to capture more than 25 percent of market share in 2008.

“Samsung has complemented our technology and design leadership with in-depth research into the evolving consumer needs,” said Charles Choi, Samsung Philippines’ VP for mobile phones.

“We will embed ourselves into the latest consumer trends and preferences to deliver innovative products tailored for different segments, as we strive to further increase our market share and strengthen our industry position,” he added.

Samsung rose to second position in the global handset market in 2007, selling more than 161 million units, up 42 percent year-on-year and a stunning three times the industry growth rate.

The company aims to cross the 200-million mark this year.

Adopting an integrated approach, Samsung will leverage on multiple platforms to engage consumers, which includes forging external partnerships to deliver new mobile experiences to consumers through new content creation relevant to their lifestyles.

Building on its “Live Loud” integrated music campaign that creates a larger-than-life music platform for the new generation, the company will transform the Samsung Fun Club to offer user-friendly communication applications and compelling lifestyle content.

In particular, it is exploring partnerships with local music labels to enable the entity to launch co-branded customized music lifestyle portals targeted at local music communities.

Samsung’s new consumer segmentation model comprises six categories — Style, Multimedia, Infotainment, Business, Connected and Essential — and is devised based on extensive research into the attitudes, lifestyles and design preferences of 20,000 end-users across five continents and 25 countries.

Its latest mobile phones tailored to each of the six categories are spearheaded by the following handsets, which are either available now or will be by May or June:

• Samsung Soul (Style): “The Sprit of Ultra” and the latest and final addition to Samsung’s premium Ultra Edition line-up, the Soul represents Samsung’s blend of design and features, boasting HSDPA connectivity and a five-megapixel camera in a 12.9-mm thin body.

• SGH-F400 (Multimedia): Samsung’s SGH-F400 music phone offers superior sound quality with ICEpower digital power amplifier technology by renowned audiophile company Bang & Olufsen, as well as impressive built-in hi-fi loud speakers below its unique dual-slider.

• SGH-G810 (Infotainment): Incorporating the best of performance and entertainment features, the five-megapixel SGH-G810 with Symbian v9.2 operating system features Wi-Fi connectivity and comes pre-loaded with GPS navigation, geotagging, Google search, Map and Gmail software.

• SGH-i780 (Business): Samsung’s SGH-i780 smartphone features a full QWERTY keyboard and full touch screen, and is a Window Mobile 6.0 pocket PC device with push e-mail and Optional GPS capabilities, an optical touch screen, two-megapixel camera and HSDPA technology.

• SGH-M620 (Connected): Featuring a large 1.9-inch TFT LCD screen, Samsung’s SGH-M620 offers camera and video recording, FM radio and music player functions. It also supports up to a 2GB Micro SD card.

• SGH-B200 (Essential): Samsung’s SGH-B200 provides FM radio recording capability where users can set recordings as ringtones. The model also features a unique mobile tracker function that enables users to track down their phones in the event that they are lost or stolen.