South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd said on Tuesday it has appointed a
new smartphone marketing chief, less
than a month before the expected
unveiling of its next flagship Galaxy S
handset.
Lee Sang-chul, formerly head of the
company's Russian operations, has bee
tapped as head of strategic marketing fo
the mobile business, a Samsung
spokeswoman said.
His predecessor, Kim Seok-pil, stepped
down from the role. A person familiar
with the matter said Kim's decision was
due to health reasons and was unrelate
to performance. The executive is expecte
to return to work at a later time, the
person said.
Lee, who also has worked as head of
Samsung's Latin American operations,
will be charged with overseeing the
launch of the new Galaxy S device. The
smartphone's success will be critical for
Samsung, which saw mobile earnings
slide 64 percent from a year earlier in
October-December en route to a first
annual profit decline in three years.
Analysts said Samsung cannot afford
another premium smartphone flop after
relatively poor sales of current flagship
Galaxy S5 ( Review | Pictures ). Recent
research shows rival Apple Inc may have
overtaken Samsung as the world's top
smartphone maker in the fourth quarter.
The South Korean company has sent ou
invitations for a March 1 event in
Barcelona - ahead of the Mobile World
Congress trade show - where its next
Galaxy S smartphone is widely expected
to unveiled.
http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-names-new-mobile-marketing-chief-ahead-of-galaxy-s6-launch-656838
