Samsung Launches Smartphones for BizBees in Europe

Well, aren't you a busy bee, running in between meetings and firing innumerable emails to your clients? Samsung knows that you work hard for your money and that's why they've got a brand that acknowledges your very existence. If you live and work in Europe, that is. To better cater to business and enterprise customers, Samsung is set to create a new business smartphone brand in Europe called BizBee. As you can imagine, this name is derived from the age-old "busy bee" term, as well as "biz" meaning business. Pretty clever? That's debatable. The BizBee brand is targeted toward the busy executive, "who requires a business mobile that offers optimum performance, 24/7, from any location." The branding is meant to drive more attention toward the business-end of Samsung's business, because I guess most people associate the cell phone brand with slim music phones and fashionable handsets. All phones that will fall under the BizBee umbrella will need to satisfy certain business-oriented criteria, like all-in-one connectivity, heavy email integration, and a full QWERTY keyboard. The Samsung i780 (also known as the Epix) will be the first advertised BizBee phone. Samsung plans on using the slogan "This is my office" in 10 European countries. I'm not so sure that the BizBee name is such a bright idea, seeing how there is already another heavily business-oriented brand that is known as BB (BlackBerry). Via intomobile.com

Samsung Goes Classy with F480 Hugo Boss Phone

Despite the economic crunch and everyone tightening their grasps on their wallets, Samsung is still attending to the higher-end of the market with some rather exclusive handsets. In the past, we've seen phones like the LG Prada and the Samsung Armani. Now, we're turning to yet another design house to find the Samsung F480 Hugo Boss Phone. The actual features and specifications on this designer handset are much the same as its non-designer counterpart. It's still a Samsung F480 under the hood, but it comes along with some Hugo Boss fashion laid over top of it. An extreme makeover goes a long way in taking something from hamburger steak to filet mignon. The core features found in the Hugo Boss Samsung phone include a large 2.8-inch touchscreen display, an incredible 5 megapixel camera, full HSDPA support for high-speed wireless data, Bluetooth, and an integrated media player. The TouchWiz user interface has been included as well, but Hugo Boss probably added its own dash of style as well. Surprisingly, the Hugo Boss Samsung F480 doesn't carry that much of a premium over the non Hugo Boss phone. It'll retail for 479 Euro, which isn't exactly cheap, but you can probably find some Hugo Boss clothing that costs a lot more than that. Via intomobile.com

Choi Moves Samsung's Mobile Biz In New Direction

This is a year of cataclysmic shake-ups at Samsung Group, South Korea's No. 1 chaebol, or family-controlled conglomerate. Its chairman of two decades, Lee Kun-hee, and other senior executives, including Lee's son and heir apparent, resigned amid a scandal that seized nationwide atttention. But more quietly behind the scenes, business strategy and culture at Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of corporate Korea, is shifting, too.

Take Samsung's cell phone business. The brand was known for pouring in loads of money and overworking engineers to crank out a plethora of high-end models. Since taking over the telecoms division last January, Choi Gee-sung, 57, has pushed the company to pump out low-end phones, investing in marketing and grabbing market share in emerging markets. This may prove a savvy, well-timed strategy, given the challenges of a global economic downturn.

Under predecessor Lee Ki-tae, Samsung Electronics (other-otc: SSNLF - news - people ) focused on pricey phones and crammed features onto them. Samsung was "focusing too much on cutting-edge technology, putting a lot of functions on the phone," said Peter Yu, a Seoul-based analyst for BNP Paribas. "Samsung phones were getting fatter and uglier," while competitors released sleeker, smaller phones.

But Choi, who previously ran Samsung's digital media business, was interested in something cheaper. "He has been trying to expand Samsung's handset business from high-end to low-end," said Seoul-based analyst Lee Min-hee at Dongbu Securities. Low-end phones, those retailing for less than $100, have become the biggest segment of Samsung's handset shipments, accounting for 40% of 46.4 million units sold in the second quarter, according to Yu.

The new focus has meant revamping three business strategies. First, low-end phones require lower-cost production. The company needs to produce more cheaply, which entails shifting production to China or Vietnam--despite South Korea's global reputation for economic nationalism. "Samsung is trying to increase its outsourcing of supply from local to overseas," Lee Min-hee said. Samsung does not disclose percentages of cell phone parts sourced to domestic versus overseas suppliers. "It's inevitable to relocate to China. It's the floor, the worldwide floor," Lee said, adding that other cell phone makers like Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) and Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) have done the same.

Second, it must sell much more of each model, to make up for the lower profit margins. Samsung "previously had too many models," said Yu. Now "they're selling far more volume per model." This entails investing heavily in marketing rather than competing on phone features. "Previously, the mentality was 'we make a good product,'" so Samsung let the phone speak for itself, Yu remarked. But Choi is "more of a marketing-driven kind of guy. Now they're really pushing out a product."

Finally, the company is trying to focus on emerging markets, where many people still do not have phones and can only afford low-end models. "Take China, for example, where an estimated 500 million people still do not own a phone. It's a similar story in India. Samsung has been taking share in both countries," noted Robert Lea, a Seoul-based semiconductor analyst for UBS.

The reorientation is a sound bet, given the likelihood of a global economic slowdown. "High-end phones are tougher these days," Yu said, adding that competitors like Motorola are moving aggressively into low-end phones for emerging markets as well.