It may seem funny that something like extremely high demand could push back the launch of a product. You would think that in the face of nearly guaranteed sales, a smartphone manufacturer would move up its launch date rather than delaying it. But smartphone manufacturers have contractual agreements concerning available quantities, and they are obligated to have at least a reasonable supply to disperse equally among all their retail partners.
It seems that extreme global demand for the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 Android smartphone has caused a slight delay in its US launch. At one time the Sprint launch was all but written in stone, and now even the release of that particular carrier has been put on hold. A spokesman for the South Korean company said the holdups are related to “far stronger than expected demand.” This has lead Sprint and T-Mobile to roll back their launch date, and both of those companies announced a short delay this week.
Samsung released a statement covering the issue, and it reads as follows. “Due to overwhelming global demand of Galaxy S4, the initial supply may be limited. We expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks.” The handset has been slated to release this week on T-Mobile, followed by Sprint in the United States. You may recall that the Samsung Galaxy S III had some supply chain issues last year, which cost the company dearly. Some analysts in the mobile marketplace are predicting 10 million units in sales the first month after launch for the Galaxy S4.
The snafu is not under-appreciated by Samsung. A minor manufacturing error caused an unsatisfactory design of handset cases which cost Samsung 2 million units in lost sales just a month after it launched the Galaxy S III in May of last year. Lee Don-joo, the head of sales and marketing for Samsung’s mobile business, told reporters in Seoul that the scheduled launch would happen as planned at those carriers which agreed to receive an initial supply smaller than previously indicated.
Oddly enough, the problem arose just one day after Samsung paid for an eight page full color ad insert in the Wall Street Journal announcing the upcoming launch of the Galaxy S4. This is a signature Samsung move that they have used in the past, but the delayed launch is probably going to help sales of current Samsung bestsellers like the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III smartphones.
