Recall of Note 7 did not hurt Samsung's brand

Samsung has completely recalled its Galaxy Note 7 and stoped production due to risks of catching fire. As a consequence the company lost more than $19n of stock value. At the time of the recall, analysts worried about negative consequences on the firm’s credibility and trust. The concerns were not unjustified considering the gravity of the issue and what other companies were doing at the time of the recall. Actually there wer two rounds of recalls; in the first, which officially started on September 15, Samsung replaced faulty Note 7 with new handsets. The second recall, issued on October 10, was final and production of the Note 7 stopped. The dates are of these actions are interesting as Apple announced its new iPhone models, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on September 7, about a week before the first recall. Also, Google announced its new phones around these days; on October 4 the company presented its Google Pixel phones. With that in mind it is safe to assume that Samsung will not only incur costs from lost sales and recycling of the phones, but also due to damaged reputation. A recent poll, however, indicates otherwise. The poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos revealed two things: Current Samsung smartphone owners are as loyal to their

Recall of Note 7 did not hurt Samsung’s brand

Samsung has completely recalled its Galaxy Note 7 and stoped production due to risks of catching fire. As a consequence the company lost more than $19n of stock value. At the time of the recall, analysts worried about negative consequences on the firm’s credibility and trust. The concerns were not unjustified considering the gravity of the issue and what other companies were doing at the time of the recall. Actually there wer two rounds of recalls; in the first, which officially started on September 15, Samsung replaced faulty Note 7 with new handsets. The second recall, issued on October 10, was final and production of the Note 7 stopped. The dates are of these actions are interesting as Apple announced its new iPhone models, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on September 7, about a week before the first recall. Also, Google announced its new phones around these days; on October 4 the company presented its Google Pixel phones. With that in mind it is safe to assume that Samsung will not only incur costs from lost sales and recycling of the phones, but also due to damaged reputation. A recent poll, however, indicates otherwise. The poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos revealed two things: Current Samsung smartphone owners are as loyal to their

What makes hearables so interesting?

I think that hearables are a great piece of wearable tech and here are three reasons why I think that: Wireless is more comfortable than wired This one is obvious. Hearables are usually wireless which makes them easy to use and wear: You take them out and put them into your ears — no untangling of cables no fight between cables and clothing. You take them out of your ears and put them back – no rolling up of cables. And no, they do not fall out – at least not mine (The Dash by Bragi) and I was traveling, walking and exercising (running and biking) with them. My wired headphones fell out more often. Versatility and independence There are of course hearables with only one particular use case like the Pilot (on the fly translation of spoken language), but there is also a wide variety of universally usable hearables like the Gear Icon X by Samsung which you can use for sports (it has fitness tracking functions) and everyday activities like „phone-less“ call-handling (they have integrated controls to answer calls without taking out your smartphone). Using The Dash by Bragi (Source) for swimming or everyday use Admittedly, you can get this versatility with

What are actually hearables?

Hearables – smart headphones you can wear The word hearables is a combination of “wearables” and “headphones”.  One thing that differentiates them from “normal” headphones is how you use them.  What, in turn, makes them smart are the smart features they posses.  Some of these features are (biometric) tracking and selective ambient noise control. Another thing that differentiates them is how you Wireless, self-sustained, touch, gestures and charging cases Hearables are usually wireless and have built-in storage and different sensors. With that built-in storage and sensors you can use hearables independently from any end device. In that case their functionality is, of course, limited. For instance, you cannot take any calls. In order to do so you have to connect them to a Bluetooth-enabled end device (like a smartphone or table). Regardless of how you use them they have have built in controls for operating them. Depending on the model you have either touch controls or buttons. The Dash by Bragi, for example, also supports head gestures like nodding. Due to their size and features the battery life is rather short (some have usage time of about three hours) they usually come with a charging case. Samsung Gear Icon X in its charging case (Source) These built-in sensors can

List of already available hearables

As of now four hearables from four different companies are available. A whole lot more is, announced, you can find a list of tose here. The once you can already buy you can already by are listed below. The Dash by Bragi The German company Bragi has actually two hearables in tis portfolio; The Dash and The Headphone. (The Headphone is not yet available, so you can information on it in the “soon to be available list” here.) The Dash by Bragi (Source) The Dash has a battery life of 3 hours which can be expanded through the included charging case, 4GB internal storage and touch controls. These hearables have a nice set of features that makes them interesting for sports: They are waterproof, have biometric sensors for things such as heart rate, steps and duration. If you are not doing any sports you can mute environmental noise and handle phone calls through the earpiece. They also support head gesture control such as nodding. I have talked about my personal experience with the Dash here. You can by it for about $300 in white or black. Gear Icon X by Samsung The Gear Icon X by Samsung (Source) The Icon X is similar to Bragi’s The Dash;

Peter Drucker's five deadly sins in 2016

(Peter Drucker) In 1993 Peter Drucker published a column titled The Five Deadly Business Sins, a copy for download is available here. Here, I want to shortly summarize them and see how they relate to what is going on in our current business world. 1. Premium pricing and high profit margins Drucker criticizes that companies falsely assume that high profit margins equal maximum profits. The profit equation of course suggests otherwise: Total profit equals profit margin multiplied by amount of goods or services sold. Additionally he argues that premium pricing always creates a market for lower-end competitors. He gave two example for this sin: Xerox and GM. Xerox, over-engineered its copier and, therefore, raised its prices into the premium segment creating high profit margins for Xerox. However, as consumers only needed a basic version, Xerox lost significant market share to Canon who entered the market which such a basic copier. Further, Drucker argues that the U.S. automobile industry (including GM) lost market share due to its fixation on „big cars“ as opposed to Volkswagen and Japanese competitors with their small, fuel-efficient cars. U.S. competitors followed their competitors, but not soon enough, due to the low per car profit margins. This

Peter Drucker’s five deadly sins in 2016

(Peter Drucker) In 1993 Peter Drucker published a column titled The Five Deadly Business Sins, a copy for download is available here. Here, I want to shortly summarize them and see how they relate to what is going on in our current business world. 1. Premium pricing and high profit margins Drucker criticizes that companies falsely assume that high profit margins equal maximum profits. The profit equation of course suggests otherwise: Total profit equals profit margin multiplied by amount of goods or services sold. Additionally he argues that premium pricing always creates a market for lower-end competitors. He gave two example for this sin: Xerox and GM. Xerox, over-engineered its copier and, therefore, raised its prices into the premium segment creating high profit margins for Xerox. However, as consumers only needed a basic version, Xerox lost significant market share to Canon who entered the market which such a basic copier. Further, Drucker argues that the U.S. automobile industry (including GM) lost market share due to its fixation on „big cars“ as opposed to Volkswagen and Japanese competitors with their small, fuel-efficient cars. U.S. competitors followed their competitors, but not soon enough, due to the low per car profit margins. This

[Updated] List of announced hearables

Human by Human Human headphones (Source) The “human” hearables are one of the most unique or rather “human” looking hearables that I have seen so far. Their design is inspired by the human ear, should sell at $400 and be available in July 2017. On indiegogo the company collected $518,525 with an intended goal of $150.000. In regards to software features they have a audio sharing (share the music you are listing on your phone with others wearing the “Human”), ambient noise control, live language translation and bio-metric monitoring. What makes them stand out (besides their design) is that they can also server as loudspeakers when attached to each other and their sleep-feature which will “lull” you into sleeping, track you sleep cycles and awaken you. Also, they claim to have a 12+ hour battery life. Air by Crazybaby The Air by Crazybaby in the charging pod (Source) The Air hearables are still founding on indiegogo and have surpassed its goal of $50,000 by quite a bit,  standing currently at $1,495,152 with 12 days left. They are supposed to launch in January 2017 for $159.  What makes them unique is that they are the world’s first carbon nanotube hearables. Besides that, they come with a charing pod, are water

Smart earphones (hearables) are the new smart watches

I have had my Bragi The Dash headphones for about one week now. Although I think that the The Dash is rather a product with much room for improvement, smart, wireless headphones, in general, however, are going to play a big role in the future of wearables. Connected home systems like Alexa, Google Home or even Siri and the fact that that 20% of Google’s queries are voice-based show which role audio is going to play in our lives. Smart earphones with a built-in microphone can be used to activate Siri, Google Now, Cortana (or whatever else mobile assistant you have), answer phone calls, search the web etc. Further, there is no limitation to screen size or even the need to pause and use the rather small display of a smartwatch. Through motion sensors and direct “integration” into one’s body the dash enables a far more natural usage of gestures. Smart earphones like, for example, the Dash can recognize (at least in theory) when you nod your head and use it as a confirmation, a “yes” that you would else have to press on your smartphones. Firstly, this is far more natural the pressing a button and secondly, undoubtedly, easier. Sources of header images:

Oculus: Zukunft und Gegenwart von VR

Vor ca. 10 Tagen hat Oculus im Rahmen der Oculus Connect 3 keynote über die Zukunft VR gesprochen und neue Produkte und Software präsentiert (Link zur Aufzeichnung auf YouTube). Während der keynote hat Mark Zuckerberg (CEO von Facebook, jener Firma die Oculus 2014 übernommen hat) teil die VR-Industrie in drei Teile ein (siehe Bild): Die aktuelle Phase: Dominiert von mobilen und PC-gebunden VR-headsets, dazugehörigen Bedienelementen (z.B.: dem oculus touch Controller) und ca. 1 Millionen monatlichen VR Nutzern (nicht nur Oculus VR) Die VR-Industrie in 10-15 Jahren: Hier wurde lediglich ein Ziel von 1 Milliarde Nutzer (ohne Angabe ob monatliche/tägliche Nutzer) genannt und eine klassische Brille mit eingeblendeten Inhalten gezeigt. Die Brille erinnert stark and Google Glass und bewegt sich folglich in Richtung Augmented Reality (AR) Die “nächste” Phase: Laut Zuckerberg besitzen wir noch nicht die leistungsstärksten Geräte, jedoch sind diese mittlerweile stark genug um nutzbare Inhalte zu produzieren. Der Fokus auf dem Weg in die dritte Phase soll folglich durch Fokus auf Software und Content erfolgen. Im Rahmen der Keynote wurde also viel über diesen Content und die Software gesprochen. Unten habe ich einige wichtige und interessante Projekte zusammengefasst. Im allgemeinen teilt Oculus ihre VR use cases in (inter)aktiv (zB.: spielen oder zeichnen) und passive