LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than $500,000 worth of Louis Vuitton bags were seized in Louisville early Monday morning.
According to a news release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Louisville inspecting a package at UPS Worldport found the bags. An import specialist later confirmed the 204 bags were counterfeit. If the bags were real, they would have been worth $583,440, according to officers.
“As e-commerce grows at an extraordinary rate, our officers are working hard to identify threats and shut down illicit suppliers,” said Thomas Mahn, Port Director, Louisville.
The packages were being shipped from Dubai to a home in Brooklyn, New York.
Then Covid-19 upended the trend. Few are crossing oceans to stay at a Bulgari hotel or dine at a Gucci restaurant right now.
But companies from Giorgio Armani SpA to Capri Holdings Ltd.’s Versace and LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton SE could still turn the strategy of tapping into luxury as a broader lifestyle to their benefit. They could offer extravagant getaways to high spenders happy to pay extra to dine, shop and relax in a safe and secluded environment. Or coax more potential local customers out for exclusive home-town retreats given people aren’t splurging on long-haul airfare. And they could expand their offering with a broader push into health and wellness, where spending was already booming before the pandemic.
LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, is probably the most advanced on this frontier. It acquired Belmond, owner of Venice’s Hotel Cipriani, to complement its exclusive Cheval Blanc hotel chain. Prada SpA owns the historic Milanese pastry shop Marchesi, Ralph Lauren Corp. has chichi bars and Kering SA’s Gucci has opened Osteria restaurants in Florence and Los Angeles with three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura.
The investments were meant to cater to rich globetrotters, particularly from China. But while consumers around the world are prepared to travel domestically, or to nearby countries, demand for luxury lodging catering to international clients and long-haul flights remains severely depressed. It’s not clear when the number of big-spending tourists snapping up Hermes scarves and Chanel handbags will bounce back.
When it does, LVMH will be able to offer its affluent customers everything from breakfast in bed to the dress they wear to dinner. It could throw in a visit to one of it vineyards in France or a distillery in Scotland for a truly personalized experience.
In the meantime, with sales of top-end goods set to fall by as much as 35% this year, luxury adviser Mario Ortelli says stronger brands may get opportunities to acquire assets that wouldn’t otherwise come onto the market. When it comes to hospitality, that could include trophy hotels.
Offering unique culinary experiences could also be a way for groups to pull in a hip local crowd in the U.S. or European markets. Some luxury brand restaurants are adapting to the new reality: Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar in New York is offering home delivery.
While social-distancing measures may mean fewer diners, this is less of a worry for the big luxury groups. Hospitality is more about creating an aura around their collections than making money.
And if fewer Chinese are coming to Europe, there may be opportunities in exporting branded experiences to China. Luxury spending is recovering there as travelers stay home. While Burberry Group Plc hasn’t reopened its Thomas’s café in London yet, there’s one in its new Shenzhen store opened in partnership with Tencent Holdings Ltd. Gucci plans another restaurant in Tokyo, but there is no reason why its Osteria collaboration with Bottura couldn’t be expanded to other Asian cities.
At home or abroad, health and wellness offers another area for experimentation. This could include beauty spas, but also wellness services in flagship stores, such as the vitamin infusions offered by London’s Harrods. With many consumers still nervous about hitting the gym, helping wealthy customers get in shape is worth exploring, particularly given the increasing fusion between fitness and fashion.
There are still risks. Running restaurants, hotels and health spas is very different to selling shoes and handbags. For hotels, it requires a distinctive aesthetic, not to mention pockets deep enough to ride out the current travel slump. Even before the pandemic, a bad stay, meal or skin peel risked alienating those who would buy clothing and jewelry. Now any brand offering services faces the additional peril of its premises becoming a source of infection.
No wonder LVMH has appointed an experienced executive to lead its charge. Andrea Guerra, formerly of Eataly and Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica SA, will soon take up the role of chief executive of LVMH Hospitality Excellence. Partnerships with restaurants, hotel operators or high-end fitness chains are another option. For example, Marriott International Inc. operates the Bulgari hotels.
Either way, expanding into new categories amid the worst luxury downturn in modern history is not for the fainthearted. But the biggest players take a long-term view. Offering extravagant experiences is one area where this approach could pay off.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.
The main focus of tomorrow's event will be the Galaxy Z Fold 2. The device serves as the sequel to last year's Galaxy Fold, which featured a large 7.3-inch display that folded like a book. The Z Fold 2 is expected to include a handful of improvements such as a redesigned hinge, a better front-facing display and 5G.
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The event takes place in lieu of Samsung's usual presence at IFA 2020. Though Samsung has been hosting Unpacked events for its own product launches for years, it still made a large showing at IFA. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, however, Samsung withdrew its participation completely and the September trade show will be scaled down and closed to the public.
Close up with the Galaxy Fold's original screen, notch and hinge
In what seems to be an accidental leak, a product page for the highly-awaited Samsung 980 PRO SSD was posted and later taken down from Samsung's website for Singapore. The 980 PRO was first previewed in January at CES as their first consumer SSD to support PCIe 4.0, but with very little technical information. No release date was announced but Samsung's PR said to expect more information in Q2.
The timing of this leak is unsurprising: if Samsung was planning for a Q2 or early Q3 release before COVID-19 hit, it makes sense for them to be preparing for a release in the near future. However, this leak brings a few surprise about what kind of product the 980 PRO will be. Since this wasn't an official, coordinated announcement, the specifications revealed may not be final and we still have no indication of pricing or launch date. But the big surprise is that the 980 PRO will apparently be using TLC NAND, a first for Samsung's PRO models. Samsung has been the last holdout offering high-end MLC-based SSDs while the rest of the SSD industry has moved on to TLC (and QLC), for both consumer and enterprise markets. Samsung provided an early indication that they may finally be abandoning MLC NAND in early 2019 when the TLC-based 970 EVO was replaced with the 970 EVO Plus, a refresh that switched from 64L to 92L TLC. There was never any sign of a corresponding 970 PRO Plus model in the works.
The switch from MLC to TLC means the rated write endurance of the 980 PRO will be half that of the 970 PRO and equivalent to the TLC-based 970 EVO and EVO Plus. The upside is that the 980 PRO may be more competitively priced against other high-end consumer NVMe SSDs. It's also quite possible that Samsung needed to introduce SLC caching in order to hit the 5GB/s write speeds they're promising for the 980 PRO.
Samsung High-End NVMe SSD Comparison
Model
980 PRO
970 PRO
970 EVO Plus
Capacities
250 GB
500 GB
1000 GB
512 GB
1024 GB
250 GB
500 GB
1000 GB
2000 GB
Interface
PCIe 4 x4
NVMe 1.3
PCIe 3 x4
NVMe 1.3
PCIe 3 x4
NVMe 1.3
Form Factor
M.2 2280 Single-sided
Controller
Samsung Elpis
Samsung Phoenix
Samsung Phoenix
NAND
3D TLC
64L MLC
92L TLC
SLC Write Caching
Yes
No
Yes
Specifications below are for 1TB models specifically
Sequential Read
7000 MB/s
3500 MB/s
3500 MB/s
Sequential Write
5000 MB/s (SLC)
2000 MB/s (TLC)
2700 MB/s
3300 MB/s (SLC)
1700 MB/s (TLC)
Random Read
(4kB)
QD1
22k IOPS
15k IOPS
19k IOPS
Max
1M IOPS
500k IOPS
600k IOPS
Random Write
(4kB)
QD1
60k IOPS
55k IOPS
60k IOPS
Max
1M IOPS
500k IOPS
550k IOPS (SLC)
400k IOPS (TLC)
Active Power
6.2 W (Average)
8.9 W (Burst)
5.2 W (Read)
5.7 W (Write)
5.5 W (Read)
6.0 W (Write)
Write Endurance
600 TB
0.3 DWPD
1200 TB
0.66 DWPD
600 TB
0.3 DWPD
Warranty
5 years
5 years
5 years
Launch Date
2020?
May 2018
January 2019
Launch MSRP
TBD
$629.99
(62¢/GB)
$249.99
(25¢/GB)
The product page for the 980 PRO indicated that sequential read speed is now planned to be 7 GB/s, an improvement over the 6.5 GB/s listed earlier this year at CES. We also get our first look at random IO specifications, with the 1TB model hitting a maximum of 1M IOPS for either reads or writes. Performance at a queue depth of 1 is slightly improved over the 970 PRO and 970 EVO Plus, and post-cache sequential write speeds are also up from the 970 EVO Plus. This points to the 980 PRO as likely using Samsung's 1xx-layer 3D TLC rather than the 92L used in the 970 EVO Plus.
Power consumption from the 980 PRO is unsurprisingly higher than its predecessors, with the spec sheet showing 6.2W average and 8.9W in "burst mode". Samsung's high-end NVMe SSDs have already been fairly power-hungry, and making use of PCIe 4.0 speeds requires even more power. However, the 980 PRO should bring a substantial improvement in efficiency, because peak performance is doubling but power draw is not increasing by anywhere near that much. Samsung is likely following the same strategy as most other SSD controller designers by moving to a much newer fabrication process as part of the PCIe 4.0 transition.
The capacity options for the 980 PRO are a bit odd. The 970 PRO was offered in 512GB and 1TB capacities, and a 2TB capacity was hinted at but never made it to market. The lack of a 256GB option made some sense as that low capacity would likely not have been able to offer "PRO"-level performance. The 980 PRO moves to Samsung's typical TLC capacities: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, but still omits the 2TB option that has been available from the EVOs. It seems likely that a 2TB 980 PRO model would be released at a later date.
Moving the 980 PRO to TLC NAND raises big questions for what to expect from a 980 EVO. Moving it to QLC NAND might be a bit premature, and would definitely be a big step down for that product line even if it added PCIe 4.0 support. My expectation is that any 980 EVO would more likely be a lower-performance, lower-power mainstream TLC drive, possibly without PCIe 4.0 support. Or to put it another way, an answer to the SK hynix Gold P31, which we think represents the direction the mainstream NVMe market segment is moving towards.
Literally everything you need to know about the Galaxy S20
The Samsung Galaxy S20 is here, and with exciting upgrades in just about every area compared to the S10, it stands to be one of the best phones of the year. Whether you want to learn more about its design, specs, or price, here's absolutely everything you need to know.
Render of the Huawei Kirin 990. Image: Huawei Technologies
Trade tensions between the United States and China, compounded by the former's sanctions on Huawei Technolgies Inc. have increased over the past few months. The latest development in the arena came when the United States Department of Commerce tightened its noose around the company's ability to secure semiconductors manufactured using software and equipment originating inside the U.S. and added dozens of Huawei's affiliates located all over the globe to its infamous Entity List.
These ensure that any hope that Huawei has for securing access to leading-edge semiconductors that are vital for the company to keep up with its peers in the smartphone world is based on whether the Commerce Department chooses to grant third-party suppliers with licenses. With Taiwanese company MediaTek already having applied for this permission, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is back today with his comments about the entire affair – and Kuo's take isn't for the light-hearted.
Huawei's Best-Case Scenario In Post-Sanctions Era Is To Lose Smartphone Market Share Believes Kuo
In his analysts, Kuo highlights two scenarios that Huawei should face in the aftermath of the U.S. government's latest sanctions. According to him, regardless of the company's ability to secure chips for its smartphones after September 15th, when the sanctions take effect, Huawei has two scenarios ahead of it.
In the best case, the company will end up losing market share, especially in China to its competitors who are able to provide consumers with the latest processors in their smartphones. In the worst case, Kuo believes that Huawei might be forced to exit the smartphone world altogether as it struggles to procure advanced components for its devices.
In the first case, Kuo believes that a transfer of market share, especially in China, from Huawei to its competitors will also slow down the trend of technological upgrades in the country's smartphone market.
This will be due to the fact that since Huawei will be unable to equip its phones with the latest hardware, its competitors will find little incentive to keep up with the trend of upgrades in the smartphone world believes the analyst. However, it's a line of argument that makes little sense especially since Cupertino tech giant Apple Inc's iPhones and processors and modems manufactured by Qualcomm Incorporated also have a presence in the Chinese market.
Qualcomm's processors, which are also manufactured through the same 'nodes' as Huawei's chips are, have often outperformed the latter's products in benchmarks - which are tests designed to evaluate a gadget's performance. In the wake of the latest American sanctions, MediaTek has been reported to be the strongest candidate for providing Huawei with the critical components, yet even if the company does secure access to the Helio processor lineup, it is still likely to struggle when competing with Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors.
In addition to Apple's iPhone, smartphones from most companies owned by the BBK Group (Oppo, Realme, OnePlus and Vivo) use Qualcomm's processors and are available for purchase in China. MediaTek also sells its devices in the country, and should the company secure approval for providing Huawei with its processors, then Huawei will have to ensure that its smartphones have other key differentiating factors that make them a worthy purchase over similarly spec'd MediaTek smartphones.
As part of its efforts to develop in-house chip manufacturing, Huawei has been rumored to be looking into plans for setting up its own fabrication lines – rumors which company officials have denied. It has also stepped up efforts to recruit Chinese university graduates to beef up its research and development as it looks to operate at multiple fronts for mitigating the impact on its operations from the sanctions.
I became a professional writer and editor shortly after graduation. My degrees are in biomedical sciences; however, they led to some experience in the biotech area, which convinced me of its potential to revolutionize our health, environment and lives in general. This developed into an all-consuming interest in more aspects of tech over time: I can never write enough on the latest electronics, gadgets and innovations. My other interests include imaging, astronomy, and streaming all the things. Oh, and coffee.
After a fair bit of trail-inspired experimentation, Pharrell and adidas are ready to bring back the original model of the NMD HU complete with its classic BOOST sole. An awaited return to form, the silhouette’s comeback is spearheaded by a simple, versatile colorway whose palette leads primarily with black shades. BOOST soles, the molded cages along the side, and even the upper are coated in the same neutral, though the same cannot be said for the laces whose white coloring heavily contrasts as it covers most of the tongue. Subtle hits of silver then accent throughout the string, matching that of the toe box embroidery whose Asian characters likely continue Pharrell’s characteristic penchant for existentialism. Grab a quick look at these here and expect to see further release info and image very soon.
In other news, the adidas Response X brings back a beloved archive runner.
Kristen Stewart ventured out for a coffee with a familiar friend this weekend.
The “Twilight” actress stepped out in Los Angeles on Sunday for a Starbucks run with fellow actress Emma Roberts. Stewart opted for a casual athleisure-chic look for the occasion, repping Adidas with triple-striped leggings; the black and white pair can be found for $60 at Adidas.com. She accented the bottoms with a classic white tee and a chunky chain necklace.
Kristen Stewart out and about in Los Angeles, Aug. 30.
CREDIT: Marksman/Snorlax/MEGA
A closer view of Kristen Stewart’s Adidas sneakers.
CREDIT: Marksman/Snorlax/MEGA
The Three Stripes continued down to Stewart’s choice of footwear for the outing. The “Charlie’s Angels” star decided on a pair of the brand’s Gazelle sneakers, a low-top silhouette recognizable from its contrasting stripes, tongue and heel counter across smooth suede uppers. The black and white colorway comes accented with gold foiling and a retail price of $80 on the brand’s website.
Related
Adidas Gazelle sneakers.
CREDIT: Courtesy of Adidas
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Joining Stewart on the coffee run was her friend, actress Emma Roberts. The “Unfabulous” alumna went for a dressier vibe for the hangout, covering up her growing baby bump with an oversize gray blazer and leggings; Roberts announced last night that she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Garrett Hedlund.
The 29-year-old finished off her outfit with black and white checkered sneakers and a crossbody leather bag.
Emma Roberts (L) with Kristen Stewart out and about in Los Angeles, Aug. 30.
CREDIT: Marksman/Snorlax/MEGA
Both of the stars’ outfits serve as examples of the growing athleisure trends within celebrity style. Amidst the current climate, stars like Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon and more constantly choose leggings and crop tops over jeans and sweaters for their daily style. The relaxed trend offers comfortability as well as ease of mobility.
As for Stewart herself, the American star’s style can be considered a twist on punky edge, oftentimes opting for darker pieces from brands such as Dr. Martens, Vans, Malone Souliers and Thom Browne amongst other major labels. Dipping her toes into the high fashion world, she signed on as an ambassador for Chanel beauty in 2016 and has since appeared in a series of ad campaigns for the brand on top of continuously sitting front row at all the label’s runway shows.
The Nike Dunk Low Disrupt, a new silhouette that bridges retro styles with the currently popular Dunk Low, takes existing forms and applies a filter of distortion. While the general shape and accents are still there, the specific paneling, sole, and details adjacent shine a new light on the staple model by way of a number of familiar colorways — the newest to reveal being a tonal mixture of what is presumed to be Dusty Pink. This shade works its way into nearly all of the upper’s fixtures, including the leather overlays and mesh base. Swooshes layer underneath in complementing shade, matching the lace, tongue, and lining as well. The bottom, then, contrasts with a neutral white midsole and dark gum bottom. Catch these in detail here and expect a release to arrive soon on Nike.com.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Before the novel coronavirus hit, the world’s bling behemoths were pulling out the stops to sell “experiences” where their jet-setting customers could indulge in opulent lodging and dining, all while posting photos of themselves on Instagram. Between 2010 and 2019 demand for experience-based luxury, including fine wines and gourmet food, outstripped that for personal goods, such as watches and handbags.
Then Covid-19 upended the trend. Few are crossing oceans to stay at a Bulgari hotel or dine at a Gucci restaurant right now.
But companies from Giorgio Armani SpA to Capri Holdings Ltd.’s Versace and LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton SE could still turn the strategy of tapping into luxury as a broader lifestyle to their benefit. They could offer extravagant getaways to high spenders happy to pay extra to dine, shop and relax in a safe and secluded environment. Or coax more potential local customers out for exclusive home-town retreats given people aren’t splurging on long-haul airfare. And they could expand their offering with a broader push into health and wellness, where spending was already booming before the pandemic.
LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, is probably the most advanced on this frontier. It acquired Belmond, owner of Venice’s Hotel Cipriani, to complement its exclusive Cheval Blanc hotel chain. Prada SpA owns the historic Milanese pastry shop Marchesi, Ralph Lauren Corp. has chichi bars and Kering SA’s Gucci has opened Osteria restaurants in Florence and Los Angeles with three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura.
The investments were meant to cater to rich globetrotters, particularly from China. But while consumers around the world are prepared to travel domestically, or to nearby countries, demand for luxury lodging catering to international clients and long-haul flights remains severely depressed. It’s not clear when the number of big-spending tourists snapping up Hermes scarves and Chanel handbags will bounce back.
When it does, LVMH will be able to offer its affluent customers everything from breakfast in bed to the dress they wear to dinner. It could throw in a visit to one of it vineyards in France or a distillery in Scotland for a truly personalized experience.
In the meantime, with sales of top-end goods set to fall by as much as 35% this year, luxury adviser Mario Ortelli says stronger brands may get opportunities to acquire assets that wouldn’t otherwise come onto the market. When it comes to hospitality, that could include trophy hotels.
Offering unique culinary experiences could also be a way for groups to pull in a hip local crowd in the U.S. or European markets. Some luxury brand restaurants are adapting to the new reality: Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar in New York is offering home delivery.
While social-distancing measures may mean fewer diners, this is less of a worry for the big luxury groups. Hospitality is more about creating an aura around their collections than making money.
And if fewer Chinese are coming to Europe, there may be opportunities in exporting branded experiences to China. Luxury spending is recovering there as travelers stay home. While Burberry Group Plc hasn’t reopened its Thomas’s café in London yet, there’s one in its new Shenzhen store opened in partnership with Tencent Holdings Ltd. Gucci plans another restaurant in Tokyo, but there is no reason why its Osteria collaboration with Bottura couldn’t be expanded to other Asian cities.
At home or abroad, health and wellness offers another area for experimentation. This could include beauty spas, but also wellness services in flagship stores, such as the vitamin infusions offered by London’s Harrods. With many consumers still nervous about hitting the gym, helping wealthy customers get in shape is worth exploring, particularly given the increasing fusion between fitness and fashion.
There are still risks. Running restaurants, hotels and health spas is very different to selling shoes and handbags. For hotels, it requires a distinctive aesthetic, not to mention pockets deep enough to ride out the current travel slump. Even before the pandemic, a bad stay, meal or skin peel risked alienating those who would buy clothing and jewelry. Now any brand offering services faces the additional peril of its premises becoming a source of infection.
No wonder LVMH has appointed an experienced executive to lead its charge. Andrea Guerra, formerly of Eataly and Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica SA, will soon take up the role of chief executive of LVMH Hospitality Excellence. Partnerships with restaurants, hotel operators or high-end fitness chains are another option. For example, Marriott International Inc. operates the Bulgari hotels.
Either way, expanding into new categories amid the worst luxury downturn in modern history is not for the fainthearted. But the biggest players take a long-term view. Offering extravagant experiences is one area where this approach could pay off.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She previously worked at the Financial Times.
Louis Vuitton's collaboration between their menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh and Bape and Human Made Founder Nigo, called LV2, has made its way to New York's SoHo neighborhood. The collection has taken up a temporary residency at Louis Vuitton's location at 116 Greene Street and will remain there through mid-October. Products available include the ready-to-wear, leather goods, footwear, and accessories.
LV2 marks Virgl Abloh's first collaboration for Louis Vuitton. The collection was originally unveiled in December 2019 and became available this past June. In addition to being available at the SoHo location, it will also be available on louisvuitton.com.
Louis Vuitton also experimented with the pop-up format for Abloh's Louis Vuitton collections last year with a pop-up shop on the Lower East Side. The pop-up format proved wildly popular (and very instagrammable) attracting a waiting line of visitors and customers.
Pop-up shops are expected to be the future of retail as retailers have become more hesitant to sign long-term leases. Pop-ups also offer a more experiential approach to retail, which shoppers have come to expect rather than just looking at things they can just order from home.
Samsung has opened up preorders for the Galaxy M51 in Germany, officially confirming that its latest midrange phone has an absolutely massive 7,000mAh battery. It costs €360.01 (about $429), and Samsung’s site says that it expects the phone to start shipping on September 11th. There’s no sign of preorder pages on Samsung’s other regional stores just yet, but a release in India seems likely given that Samsung teased the phone there last week.
At 7,000mAh, it isn’t the biggest phone battery we’ve ever seen. Last year, for example, Avenir Telecom showed off an Energizer-branded smartphone containing a bulbous 18,000mAh battery. But it’s almost unheard of in devices from mass-market manufacturers like Samsung, and we’ll be interested to see what effect it has on the overall size and weight of the handset when it releases.
Aside from its battery, the Galaxy M51 has a more typical set of specs for a phone of its price. It has a 6.7-inch OLED screen with a central hole-punch notch for its 32-megapixel selfie camera. Around the back there are four rear-facing cameras, a 64-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide with a 123-degree field of view, and 5-megapixel macro and depth-sensing cameras. It’s got 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and Samsung says it’s powered by an “octa-core processor,” which GSMArena notes is thought to be a Snapdragon 730.
At €360.01, the Galaxy M51 has a very similar asking price to the Galaxy A51 in Germany, but it sounds like it might be the better option if you absolutely need every hour of battery life.
Samsung is continuing to drive strong revenue growth through its U.S. mobility channel program as the company expands its work with partners and releases business-friendly devices at a steady clip, Samsung’s mobile channel chief told CRN.
The latest Samsung devices to launch with big potential for mobility solution providers are the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra, which feature a wide range of features aimed at workers.
Mike Coleman, vice president and mobility channel chief at Samsung Electronics America, spoke recently with CRN about the growth of the company’s channel efforts, key verticals for Samsung’s B2B devices and key business capabilities of the Galaxy Note 20.
“It’s one of many B2B tools that are part of the lineup now,” Coleman said. “The Note 20 is becoming more and more business-centric.”
What follows are five key comments from the interview with Coleman.
B2B Growth
“We are on track to just about double the business again this year--despite all of the COVID-related challenges. The business is really doing well. We came off of a really strong first half, and our second half is shaping up to be very promising. Our pipeline looks really good.
I think there’s a tremendous opportunity for partners that may or may not have focused on a mobility strategy. And when I say mobility, that can be a laptop, a Chromebook, a tablet, a wearable, a phone--a device that solves a problem. It is not simply a personal device, it’s really a tool for work.”
Channel Expansion
“We have also increased the size of the [U.S. mobility channel] team about 30 percent. We keep adding people to the team. We’re going after deeper coverage for the NSPs as we call them--CDW, Insight, Connection and such. We’re adding more folks to distribution--because as our business grows, we need more and more focus on the distro, Tier 1 side. And then we’re also expanding the geo coverage, for the geographically dispersed partners. So it’s really exciting, where we’re actually growing on all fronts.”
Key Verticals
“We’ve seen some very large wins in healthcare, transportation, logistics, education. The Chromebook business is off the charts in terms of growth. That business is a rocket for us. And that’s obviously education-focused. We’ve seen good solutioning on transport fleet management. Everybody’s at home, but they’re ordering stuff. So the trucking and transportation business has been growing rapidly, and we’ve partnered with quite a few different resellers in that space to equip fleets with the Galaxy Tab Active2, for example--with the ruggedized tablets and solutioning for ELD tracking. We’ve had some really big wins with some healthcare providers on the phones to track diabetes or blood pressure or things of that nature--where we’re able to use the devices in partnership with resellers and ISVs to manage healthcare applications.”
Galaxy Note 20 For Business
“If it’s going to be used as a business device, it has to have an amazing battery and have really good performance. So we’ve done that. We’ve loaded it with the Knox security features so that remote employees are protected. The S Pen is really cool now--the latency is significantly reduced. We’ve synced up with Microsoft and Cisco--we’ve optimized it for Microsoft 365 / Teams and for Webex.
DeX has been a big point of interest for a lot of resellers, because now you can [more easily] transition between mobile and desktop. So for example, you can connect the Note 20 to a monitor or even a Smart TV--which is really interesting, because every boardroom now has Smart TVs. So you can wirelessly connect and present--when we go back to the office--or even using your TV at home, you can use that as a monitor, if you wanted to. It’s obviously 5G equipped and enabled. And so those are some of the things we’re finding companies are really interested in, in terms of equipping their employees with a device for business use.”
Recruiting Partners
“We’re looking to recruit new partners, which we’ve continued to do. We’re working closely with our distributors to identify partners that have an interest in mobility. So we’re actively recruiting new resellers--and we’re obviously working with resellers that have been with us for quite some time to help them deliver more solutions, and to generate more revenue and more profit.”
The most recent top of the line smartphone release from Samsung has an opening list price of $1,300 and most reviews, mine included, could be summed up in a few words. Great phone, but so expensive? Now, during a pandemic, when millions have been thrown out of work?
This really comes to home when you consider that there are three fantastic smartphones out now for $400 or less: The Samsung Galaxy A51 and Apple iPhone SE will cost you $399, while the Google Pixel 4A is just $350.
And they are clearly the best bargain-priced phones I've ever seen. Unless you need the latest camera technology with multiple lenses, there is no reason for most consumers to spend more on a phone. You won't be missing out.
All are worth your attention if you're looking for a replacement phone, or a new model for the kids. Meanwhile, new phones are scheduled to be released in a few weeks from Google (a new Pixel) and Apple (several models of iPhones) and are expected to cost way more than $400. So how do the budget phones compare?
Samsung Galaxy A51
The biggest of the phones is a $399 bargain, with a beautiful 6.5-inch screen the size of the $1,099 iPhone Pro Max, and even larger than the $999 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S20. . You get a second lens with the camera, which the rivals don't have. And while that's a plus, Samsung tends to over-saturate your photos, so if that's a problem, and you want to remain in the Android family, you'll want to look at the Pixel 4A.
Google Pixel 4A
The best bargain in smartphone land, at $349, the Google phone is an Android flagship with a 5.8-inch screen, fast processor, and a terrific one-lens camera that can take some pretty amazing night photos in the dark. Plus there are add-ons like the ability to add live captions to both homemade videos and ones you watch on YouTube, and an instant transcription service using Google's voice recording app. The Pixel 4A is clearly the best Pixel phone Google has made, one so good, I think if the line had launched with this model, Google would have been able to turn Pixel into a mass market brand. Google's market share is under 1%, while most phones sold in the United States are from Apple and Samsung.
Apple iPhone SE
This is the Apple phone for those who didn't like bigger phones, with a 4.7-inch screen, and yearn for the classic iPhone, one with a Home button for navigation, Touch ID instead of Face ID, and a headphone jack. Apple's nod to modernity is a powerful A13 processor, the same one that's in the current top of the line iPhones. It's classic in every sense, but as powerful as the latest iPhone. If you prefer living in an iPhone world to Android, this is the phone for you.
None of these phones are compatible with the new, faster 5G networks. However, know that in our tests, true national 5G service that isn't spotty or as fast as advertised is still at least a year away, if not longer. So you won't be missing anything now by waiting.
Decisions, decisions
Which one is best for you? It depends whether you prefer Android or iPhone. I'd choose the Pixel 4A over the Galaxy because I'm not a fan of Samsung bloatware or the somewhat over-saturation of photos, (notice how the oranges below are "orange orange" in the words of the old Trix rabbit, compared to just orange on the Pixel and iPhone) but these are minor quibbles. I could easily live with either.
On a specs basic, you'd have to go with the A51, for the bigger screen and second camera lens. But if money's tight, the Pixel 4A is fantastic. As is the SE. You couldn't go wrong with any of these phones.
Readers: if you had to take one of these phones to a desert island, which one would you select?
Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter
