It is understood that the reason why Samsung Electronics chose New York as the place to launch Galaxy Note 8 is due to ‘release date of a new product’.
“Reason why we launched Galaxy Note 8 in New York instead of IFA, which is held in Germany, is related to release date of Galaxy Note 8.” said Vice-President Lee Young-hee of Samsung Electronics Wireless Business Department.
Usually a product is released three weeks after it is launched and it would have been difficult for Samsung Electronics to release Galaxy Note 8 at the desired time if it were to launch Galaxy Note 8 at IFA.
Starting with South Korea and the U.S. on the 15th of September, Samsung Electronics is going to release Galaxy Note 8 in other countries in an order. If it were to launch Galaxy Note 8 at IFA, which has the opening day on the 1st of September, it would have been difficult for Samsung Electronics to release Galaxy Note 8 according to its desired plan.
“New York is a city that has many positive elements and is a good location for many global media to meet at one place.” said Vice-President Lee. “It is absolutely not true that the reason why we chose New York over Berlin, Germany is because we feared for negative impacts on our sales if we were to launch Galaxy Note 8 at IFA.”
Some predict that another reason why Samsung Electronics chose New York, which is practically the main location for Apple, is because it intends to get a head start on Apple.
Park Avenue Armory, where Samsung Electronics launched Galaxy Note 8, is close to Apple’s biggest store in New York. Samsung Electronics compared pictures that were taken by dual-cameras of Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone 7 Plus at its Unpacked event.
On the other hand, U.S. IT media called 9to5Mac reported that Apple is planning to launch iPhone 8 on the 12 of September.
If Apple are to launch iPhone 8 on this day, a possibility of Apple’s strategy to break up public gaze before Galaxy Note 8 is released cannot be ruled out.
Staff Reporter Choi, Jaepil | jpchoi@etnews.com