While Samsung has managed to hold on to the No. 2 spot for mobile phones in general, they are noticeably absent from IDC's most recent tally of top smart phone companies.
The company seems to want to be all things to all consumers, and carriers, when it comes to smart phones, offering devices with Windows Mobile (MSFT), Android, Symbian, and bada, Samsung's very own operating system. With that many choices, it's hard not to think that the company has simply decided to put as many products in the market just to see which one sticks.
"A lot of people are still scratching their heads -- what's going to be the strategy for Samsung? You have a vendor with four different platforms all at the same time. If you were a carrier, which one do you go to?" asks Ramon T. Llamas of IDC.
Samsung's mobile phone sales did grow from 50 million in 2004 to about 230 million in 2009, so they must have been doing something right. But the company could benefit form some soul searching if they want to stay on top.
NEXT: Kyocera: Long on discounts, short on smarts
