B2B isn’t sexy and usually doesn’t even get attention from the press, though it sometimes happens. When Delta Airlines announced they’d buy 11,000 Surface tablets, that made news. When the Los Angeles school system decided to buy 640,000 iPads, that made headlines. And now, according to The Korea Times, Samsung is going to make custom smartphones for both Coke and Pepsi; talks with FedEx are still on-going.
What exactly does “custom” even mean? The article is light on details, but it does say that these are devices meant for enterprise use, so you’ve got to imagine that they’re loaded with security software and tools that are specific to a company’s intranet. And you never know, maybe Samsung also integrated a barcode reader for people who work in logistics, or maybe custom Galaxy phones exist that have the camera module removed for confidentially reasons.
Why would Samsung want a piece of the business to business pie? Because it’s all about the services contract. Selling a phone is one thing. Selling a bunch of phones and then maintaining a relationship with a firm by managing said devices and providing support is another thing altogether. Just look at IBM as an example.
More importantly, businesses are dumping BlackBerry like the plague, and a whole bunch of contracts are going to be up for renewal. Samsung (obviously) wants to snatch up as many of those contracts as they can.
