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Samsung is Hoping To Rekindle Note Brand Name Next Year (techcrunch.com)
Samsung is stepping up its brand damage limitation efforts in the wake of the flaming battery disaster of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone by offering owners of the recalled device in South Korea the ability to upgrade to a Galaxy S8 or Note 8 device next year if they trade in their Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 now. TechCrunch adds:The offer implies Samsung is not in fact intending to retire the Note brand name for good, despite it now being associated with smoldering batteries and exploding smartphones. A cause for the battery overheating problem, which affected some replacement Note 7 devices as well as a number of original devices, has yet to be conclusively identified by the company. Users in its home country who opt for the upgrade program will only need to pay half the price of a Galaxy S7 in order to exchange to an S8 or Note 8 next year -- so they're being offered next year's flagship Samsung phablet at around half price. The company is presumably hoping brand loyalty to the Note can begin at home, although it's possible it might extent the offer to other markets.
The name "Note" is strongly linked to the burning batteries, even more than "Samsung". So they're trying to make everyone forget about the battery disaster by using again the name "Note" on a new - hopefully not burning - phone? That's a big mistake. They should swallow the bad year 2016 and start with a complete new brand name next year.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Indeed. But, more to the point, it will take a Herculean effort to untarnish the Galaxy Notes name. I do not think Samsung will succeed.