When the iPad launched in 2010, Apple competitors were taken by surprise. They were still dealing with the iPhone revolution and Apple re-invented another product category that no one was concentrating on. The handheld industry was never the same again.
Samsung was the first one to respond with a underpowered and poorly optimized 7″ Samsung Galaxy Tab. It bombed for all practical purposes with poor reviews all around. However Samsung had sales numbers to throw at the public that made us feel that the Tab was successful. They reported sales of 2 million Galaxy Tab tablets while the true figures released during recent patent trials in US courts was at around 1 million units. These figures as as per Samsung’s own internal documents.
Apple Insider reports how market research companies took Samsung’s figures and discredited Apple’s claims of having a 90% market share when it comes to tablets. What’s even more shameful is that Samsung dodged the question during their own earnings call in 2011 and misguided their investors. A media statement to show fake sales figures for poor products is what the mobile industry has stooped too. For Samsung, this of course is nothing new with rigged devices to show better benchmarks and fake comments against competitors being the recent past that we uncovered.
Samsung has its legal battle against Apple in the recent patent suit, but should customers and media trust the company with any of its public sales numbers or for that matter any promise they make?