Yes, Samsung is great at taking Apple design and making it far better than the original.
But they seem to need their inspiration first.
Check out this article I wrote a while ago.
Four Reasons Why the iPad is Outselling the SurfaceWhat is innovation? Why has Apple been considered the leader of innovation? It is no secret. Steve Jobs said it himself: "good artist copy, great artists steal". That mentality has been practiced both by Apple and Microsoft over the past few decades. Microsoft was the first one to introduce the tablet computer almost ten years before Apple introduced the iPad. Did Apple copy that idea? Yes. But, they improved it and it quickly became one of Apple's biggest successes. Microsoft also wanted a bite out of that apple of success so they introduced the Surface.
The Microsoft Surface is an improved iPad in almost every way. It does almost everything the iPad does, but better. So why did the Surface fall flat on its face? In one word: Marketing.
Microsoft spent almost a billion dollars on advertisement for the Surface. Billion. With that much spent on advertisement and endorsements, you would think anything can be sold. I have been plastered with Surface ads for a while now and I am sure you have been as well. They did a few things wrong though. The biggest issue is the fact that the product itself was confusing.
The Microsoft Surface RT was supposed to be a direct competitor with the iPad. The Surface Pro on the other hand was made to challenge the entire personal computing industry.
Here are four things Microsoft could have copied from Apple to become the market leader.
Design:Design wise, the Surface is revolutionary. They have a design that can easily compete and beat the iPad. But here is where the confusion starts. The Surface RT and Surface Pro have the same design while they are two completely different products. Apple has the iPad and has the MacBook. There is no conflict in design there. Those designs do not compete with each other but complement each other. With the two designs so similar, the consumer dies not really identify the product and is just left confused. If Microsoft found a way to make two different, albeit both revolutionary designs, one for the RT and one for the Pro, consumers would buy both, not neither of them.
Name:This is where Microsoft really screwed up with Windows 8 in general. There is Windows 8 and Windows RT. Which is what, how is who, where is when, what? Windows 8 and Windows RT are completely different products. In the instance Apple did not name their products perfectly either. They have IOS and OSX. But, does the iPad or iPhone look remotely similar to the MacBook? There is no confusion there as Apple only uses its own hardware for its software and they design the products accordingly. But Microsoft leases its software to hardware manufacturers and that is where the confusion becomes even more unreasonable. Now every product that is introduced with Microsoft’s software, consumers will be confused. Consumers will not know if a product is the full Windows 8 or the “lite” version, Windows RT. They will not know the difference between the two. Instead of having a name that hurts the sales Microsoft should’ve named the two completely different.
Pricing: The pricing of the Surface was perfect. It is high enough to be considered a “premium product” and low enough to compete against Apple. But here is where they made another mistake. Microsoft put the Surface on sale to deplete their stock. Recently, Microsoft has announced that the sale prices are permanent. I understand that they cannot be stuck with stock of products, but they still cannot lower the price. Now, instead of Microsoft offering premium devices to compete against Apple, it is offering products at the worst possible price; too low to be considered premium and too high to be called entry-level. Microsoft should have simply bit the bullet and let the price stay high so the Surface will always be known as a premium product. This way, the next generations of hardware from Microsoft will still be known as premium and they will be able to sell products will considerable margins.
Expectations: Microsoft produced way too many Surfaces before the launch. They were expecting the huge marketing campaign to pay off. But it did not. Microsoft introduced a new type of product to a market that has not been proven yet. Lack of supply means supply of demand. If they ran out of products it would have made a stronger interest in the market and a stronger demand. What they could’ve done to boost interest in their brand is simple. On the launch date offer the Surface at production cost. Make it known that they are losing money off the product just to get it into your hands. There would have been lines of people waiting to buy the Surface. They would’ve run out. The whole world will be desperate to get their hands on one. Microsoft wouldn’t have had an oversupply issue.
Now Microsoft is in a big mess. All of the new products from Microsoft have not sold as well as they were expected to. They have lost their CEO. Their stocks are not going anywhere. Microsoft needs a new CEO right now and they need a real visionary.
Someone like me.