A couple of days ago, a Wall Street analyst firm believed that 15% of the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets were being returned by customers. This came in the context where Samsung had announced that the Tab did hit the 2 million unit shipped. That 15% number did stir a lot of controversy and quickly spread on the web (as it is often the case). Samsung has replied to this by saying:
The return rate of the Galaxy Tab in the US as claimed by an North American market research firm is incorrect. According to Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications Business the return rate is below 2 percent. (SamsungTomorrow)
First of all, we wonder what the definition of “return” is on each side. For instance, most carriers would let customers “return” a product within a 15-days period without any penalty. Does that count as a return for Samsung? While every side will try to present their facts in the best possible way, the raw number of unit shipped is still a relatively good indicator. Samsung is not going to build and ship products that people don’t want, at least not to the point of hurting itself.
Also, keep in mind that the current Galaxy Tab is probably going to fade away soon as its successor might be presented as early as next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Stay tuned.