So the top brass at Samsung Electronics Co., including phone chief D.J. Koh, decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers and capitalize on the opportunity, according to people familiar with the matter. They pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features, another person with direct knowledge said. The Note 7 would have a high-resolution screen that wraps around the edges, iris-recognition security and a more powerful, faster-charging battery. Apple’s taunts that Samsung was a copycat would be silenced for good.
Then it all backfired. Just days after Samsung introduced the Note 7 in August, reports surfaced online that the phone’s batteries were bursting into flame. By the end of the month, there were dozens of fires and Samsung was rushing to understand what went wrong. On Sept. 2, Koh held a grim press conference in Seoul where he announced Samsung would replace all 2.5 million phones shipped so far. What was supposed to be triumph had turned into a fiasco.
Pretty damning report.
At my company, we have over-enthusiastic execs and sales people that promise clients that a job will be done in half the time it would take for teams to do it properly. So what ends up shipping most of the time is a broken mess, with the overarching theme being, ‘Eh… screw it, we’ll fix it in production.’
That’s bad when you do it with software, but a complete disaster if you’re dumb enough to try it with hardware.
WorknMan,
Here here!
This seems to be the norm in software, it’s a race to the bottom with pressure to do it so fast and cheaply the entire project is put in jeopardy.
Welcome to the short-term business model that rules American Business.
“Me make total look good in Excel. Me genius!” [Tim “The Toolman” Taylor laugh…]
Apple haters always miss the cart for the horse —
Apple is about execution and customer satisfaction. Yes marketing is a part of that cycle but slick marketing + no execution does not lead to profit.
You have to make a clear plan and then execute it to keep customers happy.
You have to say no to all sorts of features so you can execute. Better safe than sorry.
When Apple has a hardware issue people jump all over them, perhaps because they set the bar high, or just general brand hatred stuff, name calling, etc..
Plus Apple has been around so long they are and are not all sorts of things.
As a daily desktop/business user, I find them perfect. As a media/creative person they are really starting to piss me off.
That has reversed in the last 20 years.
Really? So how do you explain this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/hissgate-iphone-7-phones-making-weir…
Yes, Apple is pretty good at execution and customer relations. But buyers are not going to sink another few hundred dollars on a phone that is exactly like what they already own, no matter how good your marketing. That’s how new features get added.
And as we all know, every change is just another chance to introduce a new problem.
Edited 2016-09-19 19:09 UTC
That hiss issue has been reported all the way back to the first iPhone! What’s funny is that the 7 is so damn good you have to pull out hissing under load as a way to knock It! Lol what a joke.
4s was supposed to have this issue also. Didn’t turn out to be a problem.
No need to get jumpy. I just happened to have read that article a few seconds before logging into OSNews.
Apple has had plenty of design problems. The bending problems on the 6S; the antenna problem that could be resolved by purchasing a case; the issues people have been having with the touch screen; And the list goes on.
Saying Apple would never ship a defective product is absurd. Not only would they, they have already done it multiple times in the past. Samsung tried to take advantage of the latest blunder and blundered their own release, albeit a much bigger blunder. Nothing more, nothing less.
teco.sb,
Some of those things I’d forgotten about. One of the universal truths is that lemons can happen regardless of what brands we buy. It sucks when it happens to you. While it would be lovely if defects didn’t happen, I try to be a realist about things, and I put a lot of weight on a company’s willingness to try and make it right afterwards. Sadly, many companies have become rotten and don’t give a damn. The worst is when they try to fight customers warranties over their own defective products.
I used to think consumer protection agencies like the BBB were the answer, but turns out they are corrupt and are literally being bought by the companies with complaints. I even learned first hand that the complaint numbers, which are supposed to be displayed by the BBB publicly, are being manipulated. It renders the entire basis for using the BBB as a resource for determining business reputation to be completely flawed.
From what I hear from others in the EU, having automatic warranties by law might be a better answer. Is anyone able to weigh in on how well that works in practice?
Yeah but I owned many of the products that you list as having defects, and they worked fine for me. And everyone else I knew. There was no recall. I think much is made about apple problems because they raise the bar higher, and they brag about their reliability and design more than the other companies.
People kind of expect every few Samsungs or LG’s to just suck, they trade them in and get something else. People hold Apple to a higher standard, and pay more for that standard.
Fwiw, I’ve never once heard my any of my iPhones hiss even under heavy load, nor generate any other electronic noise for that matter. Plenty of other devices I’ve had have had this issue, but my iDevices and Macbook Air have been free of it.
ezraz,
Is this pre-emptive posting referring to me in the last article? If so, what exactly did you object to?
I don’t generally have a problem with apple hardware, and I’ve said it on osnews before. Sometimes there’s too much hype, and sometimes even the occasion fail (IOS6 anyone
), but if you are willing to pay, then apple hardware is often pretty good. What I do come down hard against apple for is being so proprietary and locked down. Those go against everything I stand for, but I understand that not everyone cares about that.
Edited 2016-09-19 19:44 UTC
Still at the gossip level. But all the ingredients of a fine saga. Enjoyable lecture [Consumer side. Business as usual, for the Industry].
“…The initial conclusions indicated an error in production that put pressure on plates within the battery cells. That in turn brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat that caused the battery to explode…”
Apparently, We all are already using -UNDROPPABLE Li-ion batteries.
In the ” “After extensive testing…”
[Samsung has World Quality Engineering. If taking this gossip Then this bump is more related to Competitive Timing Panic].
Edited 2016-09-19 20:20 UTC
I’m a little suspect of this report. I really doubt that Samsung would have designed the phone in such a way that it was unable to safely hold its battery. And, if that was the problem, I can’t see them replacing them with another Note 7 with the same issue. At this point the rush to beat the iPhone is over, and they sure don’t want to have more explosions and another billion dollar recall on their hands.
In general, companies will act in their best interests, even if that conflicts with the best interests of their customers. I get that. But, in this case the best interests of Samsung are not to have another explosion and not to have to go through another recall.
I just picked up my replacement Note 7 last night, and the IMEI checks out as “good” on their recall page, so I’m pretty confident that they’ve probably gotten this under control. Now, it’s just a matter of time until all of the replacements get into the hands of the people who bought Note 7s.
I’m sure there are going to be people who refuse to turn in their original Note, but I’m really expecting carriers to start blocking the “bad” IMEIs from their network once there’s been sufficient time for people to exchange.
Edit:
As it investigates, Samsung has stopped buying batteries for the Note 7 from the SDI affiliate. It shifted purchases to Amperex Technology Ltd., a unit of Japan’s TDK Corp
Interestingly enough, the battery_type file in /sys on my new non-flammable phone says “SDI, SDI”
Edited 2016-09-20 15:54 UTC
Initial reviews are flattering to the Note7. This is an issue delimited to security.
My wife uses Samsung phones. Don’t think she’ll stop doing so. [And no, Her slightly older unit doesn’t heat up, at all. Neither she’s a phone ‘dropper’].
Edited 2016-09-20 21:59 UTC
Contributors here were on the point about exploiting Update Loop to facilitate Recall Status Acknowledgement.
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-samsung-recalled.html
“”If there are 10 million units, all 10 million will be reviewed,” said Nam Taek-joo, the official at the government agency responsible for product safety and recalls.”
If becoming Industry Standard, I will be buying all our replacement batteries from Korean Manufacturers.
Willing to think that this Wonderful Outcome was helped by a participating Internet Community.
Resource at: http://phys.org/news/2016-09-south-korea-galaxy-batteries.html