BlackBerry vs Samsung in SA: The gloves come off

Samsung wants to be South Africa’s top mobile brand

Jan Vermeulen

June 14, 2012

Samsung SA plans to claim Samsung’s rightful place as the top mobile phone brand in South Africa, said Deon Liebenberg, MD of Samsung SA.

Liebenberg was responding to questions at the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3 on 7 June 2012 about BlackBerry’s position as “coolest brand in SA” according to the Sunday Times Generation Next brand survey.

The question was asked in the context of Liebenberg joining BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion in 2007, where he eventually became MD of its African operations. Liebenberg left RIM in 2011 to join Samsung.

In response, Liebenberg pointed to the fact that Samsung became the largest supplier of mobile phones in Q1 2012 globally, and added that they aim to take the number 1 spot in South Africa too.

The mobile phone landscape in South Africa looks somewhat different to the global trend, with BlackBerry reported to have the greatest smartphone market share while Nokia is still considered to dominate the overall cellphone market.

In a recent interview with MyBroadband, regional MD for Research in Motion Africa, Bob Bose, said that BlackBerry’s strong presence in the youth market is due to direct marketing, such as campus events.

Asked whether Samsung would have campus events similar to BlackBerry’s, Liebenberg said he couldn’t reveal their future plans, but added that it would be silly of them not to target students.