Is Samsung overplaying its Corby hand?

It started out as a low-cost touchscreen device and is now spiraling into a rather vast family that has everything from total touchscreen to non-touchscreen and touchscreen-QWERTY avatars. Samsung’s Corby might have boosted the company’s handset sales and redefined what people expect from devices in the lower-middle price segment, but it seems to be in danger of spinning out of control. As of now, we have close to half a dozen different Corby handsets, and while the ones on the lower end will appeal to the value-for-money crowd, the higher-end affairs, like the Corby Plus and the Corby Pro, are getting into smartphone territory.

Some people would say there’s nothing really wrong with that, but I think that Sammy might just need to rethink its strategy here. A high end phone coming out with a lower cost version (like all the Minis seen nowadays) might appeal to consumers but try the same thing in reverse and the stark fact is that high-end users are unlikely to invest in a brand that is associated with a value-for-money proposition rather than high performance. And that is exactly where the Corby range could stumble – there are already users who are opting for Samsung’s own Omnia Pro B7320 over the Corby Pro, simply because the former is considered a smartphone and the latter is not, even though it offers similar functionality (QWERTY keypad, GPS, lots of connectivity options, push mail and the like).

Another instance of where the Corby Pro and Plus are getting sidelined by Samsung’s own handsets is the case of the GalaxySpica, Samsung’s low-priced Android handset. It is one thing to spar against other manufacturers, quite another to face off against your own handsets, and the Corby range seems to be trying to gobble Sammy’s own (the Star’s sales have dipped since its release, according to one distributor). P&G might have made it big by launching brands that competed with each other, but we cannot see that model really working in the mobile  handset segment. We genuinely think that Samsung should be trying to strengthen the original Corby to take on the likes of the LG Cookie Pep, Inq’s new Facebook phone and Nokia’s 5233, instead of waging war on its own. Of course, we daresay someone at Samsung knows better. But on the surface, it would seem Samsung is overplaying its Corby hand.