Samsung may be “world’s first”, but its nothing special?

Despite releasing a new cell phone nearly every day and unleashing yet another “world’s first” on a fairly regular basis, Samsung is said to have “lost steam in the mobile phone business,” according to Korea Investment & Secruties. Sure, they may have taken the trend started with the Moto RAZR and ran with the “slim is in” mantra, but they still added a fair amount of innovation into the mix.

However, that appears to be slowing down and the company’s “design strategy has lost its appeal to customers.” Ironically, the report says that Samsung’s customers are jumping over to competitors like Motorola. Perhaps even more ironic is that Samsungs’s “obsession to be the ‘first’” may be leading to the electronics giant’s downfall, because of the “exacerbated cost structure” involved.

Other issues that were raised included Samsung’s reluctance to diversify suppliers (wanting to do just about everything in house in an effort to protect their intellectual property), and a reluctance to offer lower-end models (again, bent on being cutting edge with high-end units instead).

It might just be time for LG and Pantech to shine.