Can I believe this?????

[crazypainter]

I have been on the lookout for a budget tablet PC and seen a few Samsungs on ebay that caught my eye. On close reading some of them actually turn out to just have a Samsung CPU and the tablet has no brand name on it. When I questioned one seller this was his reply:



''Samsung make a range of tablets that don't bear their name, or anybody elses.

There is a specific reason for this.

If you want to become a Samsung retailer, you have to jump through a good few hoops for the privilege - minimum stock levels, minimum sales levels, minimum advertising budget etc, etc.

However, once you become an official retailer you want to make the most of that status.

So you would not take too kindly to the idea of some guy working out of his spare bedroom selling the same as you do but at a fraction of the cost.

But if the product he is selling doesn't bear any manufacturers name, then nobody gets upset and Samsung are in a win-win situation.

You can usually tell it is genuine Samsung by the sheer quality of the tablet.

The ones we sell actually come to us directly from the Samsung factory, although Samsung would probably deny all knowledge of it. We are not really even meant to use the word Samsung in our eBay lists, but whilst no one is complaining about it Samsung don't want to rock the boat.

So the short answer to a short question is yes these are made by Samsung.

All of our Samsungs come boxed. If you let me know which one you are interested in I'll see if I can sort a photo of the box, although only certain models have other than generic boxes.

Hope this helps ''


Now, call me sceptical, but surely this isnt how it works? Or is it?

 

[voorhees]

Hows his feedback ?
I have heard similar on all kind of products so wouldn't be surprised if its true

 

[crazypainter]

feedback 100%, not a power seller but loads of transactions.

 

[voorhees]

I would contact a recent buyer of the tablet

 

[crazypainter]

good call. thanks

 

[gary3306]

I would contact a recent buyer of the tablet

I've done that quite a few times for various items, and it does give you peace of mind.

 

[FactionOne]

Yeah, er, Samsung don't OEM *anything* like that as far as I'm aware.

People play on the common knowledge of OEM/white-boxing by spinning yarns about how it works. I would say this is a prime example.

Samsung will give component (logic, memory, display) to anyone who'll pay the right price, and they can assemble it (in other facilities) to whatever spec they like.

They'll also, to other 'tier 1' manufacturers, potentially OEM to bear the other manufacturer's name. For example (and this is just a dreamed-up example), they might build tablets for Sony, to a Sony spec (or perhaps collaborative Sony/Samsung spec), in the case that sony didn't want to finance a facility/line for that range. This is similar to a 'real life' case where Asus used to (might still happen) OEM a fair number of the higher-end Sony VAIO laptops.

At the opposite end of the spectrum you'll find that YangDeng Huanee Enterprises (fictional - I think) might actually build tablets for Samsung, Sony and Dell; then sell an incredibly similarly specified model under their own name, in a silghtly different chassis.

..As for building a cutting-edge spec/quality tablet, and just leaving off the branding so the 'little guys' can sell them at knock-down rates on eBay from their bedrooms? Well, one born every minute as they say.

I like the the way he tries to suggest there's interraction between the likes of him and some clandestine distribution channel department at Samsung, who are turning a blind eye to his breaching their 'knock em out cheap' policy by naming them on his listing.

Barge pole.

Rob.
(Former Research & Development Manager (hardware and solutions) at a large computer services firm)