Samsung Galaxy Note 2 "Office Upgrade"

Samsung was on a roll last year when it came to its ads in USA, and from the looks of its newest spot for the Galaxy Note II, it looks like that trend will continue into the new year.

                             
Now that Christmas & New Year is over, it looks like Samsung is adjusting its Galaxy Note II marketing efforts from regular consumers to business men and women. Pretty intelligent positioning has led to this fine spot. The commercial shows two coworkers playing with their new phones, pointing out all the possibilities that the new "do two things at once feature" provides. Samsung features the Galaxy Note II in a comical office scene in which two employees discuss the usefulness of the device’s unique features, like Multi Window mode. One employee focuses on productivity while the other prefers to procrastinate. The spot then plays out in favor of the hard-working employee before closing with a new tag line – “The Next Big Thing for Business is Here.”

We see that Samsung is really pushing hard into the western market and is keen to win over more market shares. The heavy funding in advertisements and some great spots are surely helping it in the way. Lets see how far this goes in trying to disrupt the iconic Apple.

Finally a Windows Decline..

For years, people have been predicting the death of Microsoft's Windows dominance. And in the last two years, it's finally happened. The rise of iOS and Android have made Microsoft's operating system significantly less important.

Luckily for Microsoft, this hasn't meant the death of its business overall. Thanks to the strength of its Office franchise and its Servers and Tools business, Microsoft is still very healthy.

But, there's no escaping that Windows is what drives the whole company. CEO Steve Ballmer calls Windows, "the heart and soul of Microsoft from Windows PCs to Windows Servers to Windows Phones and Windows Azure." And that heart is beating a little bit more weakly today than it was in say, 2005.

This chart from Asymco earlier this year illustrates the decline of Microsoft's Windows monopoly as Apple has risen.

                    

Going into 2013, this will be one of the major stories to watch. Microsoft released Windows 8 in an attempt to reverse the decline of Windows' importance. It has touch elements which are meant to mitigate the rise of the iPad, and Android. But so far, it's off to a slow start. Can Microsoft reverse it in 2013? Or is this time different? Are we really, finally, seeing the end of Windows?