Behind the Hype of the Samsung H1
February 9th, 2010There is something ever so slightly disturbing about the Samsung H1 and interestingly it has very little to do with the phone itself. The fault lies not with Samsung, but with Vodafone, who are selling the mobile as part of their brand new 360 range. And it is all to do with the promotion and packaging of this brand new smartphone.
Vodafone, like the BlackBerry brand, has become a little bit faceless and underappreciated in the public eye. Everyone knows Orange for their quirky and often hilarious cinema ads, whilst O2 have Sean Bean for voiceovers and T-Mobile have slick, sexy ads with some pretty decent special effects. Meanwhile Vodafone have in the past employed people like Judy Dench to voice their campaigns. Whilst Dame Judy is a national treasure, she is not the first person you think of when you imagine mobile phones and cutting edge tariffs. Like Judy Dench, Vodafone has become the ageing ruler of the mobile phone network providers; respected but ultimately a little bit past it.
In order to change all this, it has launched the Samsung H1 with a new ad campaign, which aims not only to revamp Vodafone’s image as a network for the young professionals who hang out in trendy bars, but also to attempt to explain the basics of the Vodafone 360 services in 30 seconds or less. It fails on the first count, but is moderately successful in getting across the second. The ad is pretty excruciating and unfunny and most people will have seen it and know precisely why this is. But it provides a fairly good metaphor for how the Samsung H1 could end up shooting itself in the foot. Like the unlucky bloke who fumbles his attempt to pull the gorgeous girl in the advert, Vodafone could be selling the Samsung H1 to the wrong people in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. The Samsung H1 could have the chance to be a bit unconventional and exciting, but it will need support if it is going to be anything more than a poorly delivered chat-up line.
The Samsung H1 uses the LiMo operating system, which like Android and Maemo is based on Linux. This is always going to stand a platform in good stead, as it means there will be extensive support and room for plenty of tweaking. And Vodafone have certainly invested a lot of time and effort in getting the experience of the 360 services just right. The Samsung H1 has a flashy 3D interface, which as the ad shows is most obvious when you are using the contacts system. It is also adept at being used to group all of your contacts in appropriate places to make them easily accessible.
What Vodafone has slightly underplayed and what could be an important part of generating an interest in and community around the Samsung H1, is the fact that the H1 uses cloud computing for automatic backup and retrieval of personal data. The primary function of this will be to allow Samsung H1 owners to restore all of their contacts to a replacement handset if their original is lost or stolen and in the short term this is going to be useful for many people. But Vodafone will be looking to the long term and anticipating that as an 18 month or 24 month contract reaches its conclusion and upgrades are on the horizon, customers will be able to download their contact lists and personal data directly to their next Vodafone 360 handset. This of course is partially reliant on there being a set of compatible mobiles released when the next generation rolls around. And customers cannot be expected to return just because all of their contacts can be saved. Vodafone needs to build trust and dependence in the Samsung H1 that can be carried over, otherwise it might not make a big enough mark.
A word on the LiMo OS is sensible at this point. LiMo was created by members of the LiMo Foundation, with the aim being to make an open source mobile operating system which would be independent of specific hardware and available to any manufacturer and network that wants it. Well over 40 mobile phones now use the LiMo platform and the Samsung H1 is just one of them. If you check out the LiMo Foundation’s website you can find out extensive details about what their mission statement is and it should quickly become clear that the plug and play nature of the software is considered to be particularly important. Downloading and installing apps to a LiMo handset like the Samsung H1 should be central to the success of said handset. As such Vodafone will have to work hard to build a relationship with those who would generate content and apps for the LiMo platform. It is necessary to cultivate talent and capture it early, otherwise everyone will end up working on products for Android-based smartphones or the iPhone.
This article may sound like it is taking a fairly pessimistic view of the Samsung H1 and the kind of support that it might be getting from Vodafone, but in reality it is a plea based on the potential that the H1 has for greatness. Aside from its versatile software and powerful hardware, it actually represents much better value for money than many of its current rivals, but centrally provided software is not going to be good enough in the long term. So Vodafone, please market the H1 to the movers, shakers and modders as well as the masses.