Tuesday 3 November 2020

Samsung's Forgotten Icon


Ever since Samsung's current logo was first introduced in 1993, Samsung had risen to become a South Korean icon since then. The company had manufactured many products, including TV sets, computers and cellphones to name a few. They also had a license to manufacture Sega consoles as well. The Nuon DVD Player, while also a Samsung product, was a short-lived gaming platform that could not live up to its full potential, however, and it failed to become an icon of the South Korean company. But this was not Samsung's fault, however, as VM Labs, the company that conceived the Nuon platform, faced a lot of problems. In addition to a poorly managed marketing campaign, the Nuon faced tougher competition from Sony's PlayStation 2, which happens to be able to play DVDs. It didn't help that the Nuon's graphics were comparable to the PS1 and N64 when the market was bracing itself for the PS2.

In the end, the Nuon was discontinued in 2003, and VM Labs was acquired by Genesis Microchip who in turn, was acquired by ST Microelectronics. The Nuon ended up being merely a footnote in the history of Samsung. From Samsung's perspective, the Nuon was a commercial failure. But at least its failure was nowhere near as bad as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries...

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