Newsletter
Last night at midnight, Apple launched a completely new hardware category for the first time in a very long time. That new hardware category is smartwatches, a category that other technology giants, such as Samsung, have already dived into. Speaking of Samsung, the Korean company has recently made some pretty surprising comments pertaining to Apple’s newly released Apple Watch.
Just before the Apple Watch officially launched, a Samsung executive told CNBC that the company was “delighted” about Apple releasing a smartwatch. Later, the vice-president of mobile Europe at Samsung is quoted saying the following, “Great competitors offer great things to consumers and the fact that there are so many great competitors in this space mean that there is absolutely a market. I mean, that’s what it tells you.” Samsung obviously sees Apple’s entry into the smartwatch market as great competition that will inspire innovation from existing and future smartwatch manufacturers.
Of course, at the same time Samsung is attempting to steal a little of Apple’s headlines as they also happen to be releasing their latest flagship smartphone. Today not only marks the launch of the Apple Watch, but of the Samsung Galaxy S6 as well. Despite this, it didn’t stop a significant amount of people from waiting outside Apple stores to get a first look at the Apple Watches. Although, there were no long lines or mad rushes of people like normal Apple product launches.
It’s great to see that Samsung is welcoming competition such as the Apple Watch as opposed to attacking. Samsung has a very good point about the Apple Watch creating good competition that will create better smartwatches and in turn, benefit consumers. The smartwatch market is still relatively small and definitely new, but more and more big and small companies are getting involved. Companies like Samsung and Google were the ones to pave the way but now we need more big players to stimulate the smartwatch market. There is no doubt that Apple is a big new player in the smartwatch game and now the exciting part becomes waiting to see which big player decides to get involved next.