MAGISTER ADVISORS: “AS SAMSUNG LAUNCHES YET MORE MOBILE DEVICES, MOBILE DEVICE MAKERS ARE SET TO BECOME THE NEXT DELL”

Looking ahead to Samsung’s announcement of new devices in London this evening, Victor Basta, managing director of Magister Advisors, said:

“Value in mobile hardware is eroding rapidly.  The pace with which Samsung is introducing new devices points to the smartphone becoming as much of a commodity as the PC.

This week there are rumours Microsoft walked away from acquisition talks with Nokia, a business that it has already effectively acquired in all but name.

In the first four months of this year alone, Samsung launched an eye-watering average of one new device a week and today it is launching yet more.

Samsung and Nokia are both looking increasingly like Dell and Gateway, introducing a raft of new devices that only accelerate the perception of the phone as a commodity.

There is a panic-fuelled chase for the illusory next big thing.

Complete eco-systems, not device makers, are the real winners; Amazon and Apple have created their own mobile universes and will increasingly stand apart from the rest of the mobile market.”