BGR exclusively broke the news last November that Samsung’s vice president of consumer and enterprise services Gavin Kim had left the company to join Microsoft. As general manager of Windows Phone marketing, Kim was tasked with steering the future direction of the Windows Phone platform in the eyes of consumers and partners. In an interview with BGR at the time, Kim said he planned to “win the hearts and minds of consumers, carriers, device manufacturers, developers and partners,” and he said he viewed the new role as an “amazing opportunity.” Now, just five months after joining Microsoft, Kim has left the company. ”We can confirm that Gavin Kim has made a personal decision to leave Microsoft,” a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet in a statement. “We feel very good about the work he has done to set the team, and its new lead Eugene Ho, up for success. We wish him all the best.” Kim’s reason for departing from Microsoft so soon after joining the company remains unknown.

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As we get closer to the official announcement of Samsung’s Galaxy S III, more information is beginning to surface. In addition to our exclusive reports on the device’s specifications and materials, we have now learned new details surrounding Samsung’s launch and marketing push for its new flagship handset. We have been told that there will be a huge international roll-out for the Galaxy S III, and the sleek new smartphone will be the official device of the 2012 Summer Olympics — this is one reason we’re told Samsung is hosting its unveiling event in London. In addition, there could be simultaneous launch events in New York City, Seoul and Dubai according to our source. We are also told that the Samsung Galaxy S III will come in two color options, one in blue and black, and a second in white. There will be 16GB and 32GB models as well, and additional specs include a 1080p HD display, a quad-core Exynos processor and integrated 4G LTE.

Image source: Android Advice

Nokia’s new Lumia 900 smartphone is getting a huge push at AT&T, but the carrier’s marketing budget for the new flagship Windows Phone won’t quite add up to sky-high figure suggested on Monday. Ad Age published an unconfirmed report on Monday stating that AT&T is preparing a massive marketing blitz to promote the new Nokia smartphone BGR called Windows Phone’s best shot yet to gain ground in the mass market. The carrier will spend as much as $150 million promoting the Lumia 900 according to the report, more than it spent to launch the iPhone. Following our coverage of Ad Age’s report, a trusted source confirmed to BGR that this is, in fact, not the case. Our well-placed source states that while AT&T is planning to push Nokia’s new Lumia smartphone aggressively, the $150 million figure is not even close to reality. This makes sense considering the big budget Nokia reportedly has set aside for the Lumia 900, but our source had no information to offer regarding Nokia’s marketing plans. An AT&T spokesperson declined to comment.

Research In Motion’s increased marketing efforts centered around its “Be Bold” campaign in North America have not paid off according to Canaccord Genuity. Sales of BlackBerry 7 smartphones, and specifically the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Curve 9360, were poor in February, Canaccord analyst Mike Walkley wrote in a research note late Sunday night. “Our February checks indicated weak sell-through trends for BlackBerry 7 smartphones despite increased marketing efforts,” Walkley told investors. “With very strong share gains for the iPhone 4S, increasingly price-competitive Android smartphones, improving Windows smartphones, and the likely March 7 launch of the iPad 3, we anticipate increasing competition across all of RIM’s products during 2012.” Read on for more.

New CEO Thorsten Heins said during his first day on the job that rethinking RIM’s marketing strategy is among his top priorities. Unfortunately, the wheels had already been set in motion for the company’s “Be Bold” campaign, and it appears to be a bust so far. “Our February checks indicated weak sell-through trends for RIM’s BlackBerry 7 smartphones, with poor sales trends for the Bold 9900 and Curve 9360 in many markets,” Walkley wrote. “With RIM not launching smartphones at MWC, Android and even Windows smartphones extended the features gap versus RIM’s struggling BlackBerry 7 devices.”

The analyst believes RIM is preparing to launch two new low-end BlackBerry handsets in the coming months to target emerging markets, but he thinks these new BlackBerry phones may drive the average selling prices of the company’s smartphones even lower. In light of the firm’s recent checks, Walkley now believes RIM’s February quarter and May-quarter guidance will both miss Canaccord’s earlier estimates as well as Wall Street’s consensus.

Walkley maintained his Hold rating on RIM stock and reiterated a $15 price target.

The sequel to Samsung’s wildly popular Galaxy S II will launch in April. ZDNet Korea claims to have confirmed the time frame with Cheil Worldwide, Samsung’s marketing and advertising agency. The firm is reportedly planning a huge campaign in the United Kingdom, one of the Galaxy S III’s initial launch markets, and the focus of the ad blitz will be this year’s Summer Olympics, which will take place in London. An earlier report from an industry insider also pegged April as the launch month for Samsung’s highly anticipated next flagship smartphone. BGR exclusively published full specs for the Galaxy S III earlier this week, and highlights include a 4.8-inch 1080p high-definition display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a ceramic case, embedded 4G LTE and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

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When new CEO Thorsten Henis took the reins at Research In Motion, he immediately pointed to the smartphone vendor’s marketing strategy as an area the company needed to focus on if it hoped to regain share in key markets like the United States. The wheels on RIM’s recent marketing efforts had already been set in motion, however, and early reports suggest that the increased volume of familiar BlackBerry ads aren’t having the impact RIM was hoping for. Read on for more.

RIM ramped up its marketing efforts in January, but the move does not appear to have paid off. “Our January checks indicated weak sell-through trends for the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones despite increased marketing efforts,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley wrote in a research note to investors late Wednesday night. “With very strong share gains for the iPhone 4S, increasingly price competitive Android smartphones, improving Windows smartphones, and strong sales of the affordable 7 inch Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, we anticipate increasing competition across all tiers of RIM’s products in C2012.”

As a result of weakening device sales and RIM’s poor outlook for the current quarter, the analyst lowered his estimates for RIM’s February quarter as well as the vendor’s full fiscal year. And despite a new round of marketing that kicked off in February with RIM’s “Be Bold” campaign, Walkley doesn’t see much changing for the Waterloo, Ontario-based until late in 2012.

“Given the strong share gains for Apple post the launch of the iPhone 4S and increasing Android and Windows competition in all price tiers, we believe BlackBerry 7 products will continue to struggle until BB10 products launch in late C2012,” the analyst noted. RIM expected to launch its first QNX-powered BlackBerry 10 smartphone — code-named the BlackBerry London — toward the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

Walkley reiterated his Hold rating on RIM’s stock and maintained his $15 price target.

Research In Motion released the first set of commercials from its new “Be Bold” advertising campaign on Thursday and while the ads feature new faces, they are nearly identical to the campaign RIM has been running for months. The Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone vendor was quick to point out that the team of four awkward superheroes that starred in an infographic RIM recently posted were not part of its upcoming advertising blitz, but perhaps they should have been. RIM’s new ads feature BlackBerry devices in real-world situations and they do a good job of showcasing key features like BBM. What the ads are not, however, is different or memorable. RIM’s new CEO Thorsten Heins named the company’s marketing strategy as one of the first orders of business he plans to address in his new role. With an exciting new breed of devices like the BlackBerry London on the horizon, marketing and advertising will be more important than ever for RIM as the company continues struggling to maintain its footing in key markets. A pair of Be Bold ads can be viewed after the break.

Apple has hired a former marketing executive from Microsoft to help promote the App Store and iTunes in Europe, MCV reports. Robin Burrowes, former head of Xbox LIVE marketing in the EMEA region for Microsoft, joined Apple in January according to his LinkedIn profile. His formal duties at Apple remain unclear — Burrowes’s profile only states that his role involves “App Store Marketing” — but the executive’s background suggests gaming will be a strong focus. Apple has hired a number of executives with experience in the gaming market recently, including Nintendo’s former head of public relations Robert Saunders and former Activision, EA and Xbox PR head Nick Grange. The video game industry finds itself among a number of businesses that have been disrupted by Apple’s iOS lineup, and the company’s recent hires suggest that Apple intends to continue pushing the gaming capabilities of its mobile device lineup.

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Research In Motion’s newly appointed CEO Thorsten Heins said during his first day on the job that hiring a new marketing boss and revamping the company’s marketing strategy was among his first orders of business. If some of us were unsure why finding a new CMO and revamping RIM’s marketing efforts are such a priority, this new campaign should help clear things up. RIM on Monday introduced four new cartoon superheroes who will help the company spread the word about its products. Gogo Girl can save the day with her “brilliant strategy, a smile or a spatula,” Max Stone is “tough, proud and a little wild,” Justin Steele is “always ready to stick up for his friends and Trudy Foreal is “not afraid to call it as she sees it.” We’re not afraid to call it like we see it either, and we sincerely hope this new cartoon superhero campaign dies on the vine. RIM’s super infographic starring The Bold Team follows below.

UPDATE: RIM posted a note to its blog on Tuesday to clarify that The Bold Team is not a part of its new advertising campaign.

[Via Mobilesyrup]

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Samsung’s new run of television commercials is the start of a wider effort to make the company’s products the apple of the U.S. consumer’s eye. The ads, which mock iPhone users for their obsession with Apple products, attempt to present Samsung as the smarter, cooler alternative. On a larger scale however, Samsung is hoping to create a fundamental shift in the way its products are viewed by consumers. ”Especially in U.S., people are obsessed with Apple,” head of Samsung marketing Younghee Lee told AllThingsD in a recent interview. “It’s time to change people’s attention.” Lee is looking to shift consumers’ obsession to the East, and to figure out ”how I can engage with consumers from the bottom of their heart, and not just be a big and functional and rational and reasonable brand.” While mocking consumers’ unhealthy love of one brand in an effort to create an obsession with another is a curious strategy, Samsung’s attempt to reinvent itself as a global smartphone leader is having a clear impact — the company reported a record holiday quarter during which it shipped an estimated 36.5 million smartphones worldwide. Three of Samsung’s recent commercials can be viewed after the break.

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Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse said in a note to employees Friday that Sprint will merge the marketing and sales teams of its enterprise and consumer businesses into one body. Hesse said the carrier is restructuring in an effort to better streamline its operations, Reuters reported on Friday. As a result, Sprint is also removing four executives from their roles with the firm. “As the wireless market has evolved, the lines between consumers and businesses have blurred,” Hesse said, according to a note to employees obtained by Reuters. “We believe that we no longer need to support two separate business units, and that it is more logical now to evolve to unified marketing and sales organizations. Because of the enormous investments we’re making this year in Network Vision and in the iPhone, we need to consistently be looking for ways to be more efficient.” Sprint’s chief marketing officer Bill Malloy will run the merged marketing and sales unit. Sprint has decided to remove the president of its consumer services group, Bob Johnson, the president of its integrated solutions group, Danny Bowman, the senior vice president of its corporate development and spectrum, Chris Rogers, and the senior vice president of consumer marketing, John Carney.

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Microsoft, Nokia and carrier partners are planning a $100 million marketing push for the Nokia Ace (also known as the Lumia 900) when it launches in the United States. While the Ace isn’t yet official, it has been rumored that AT&T will unveil the device during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. We exclusively reported in November that the Ace will offer a 1.4GHz processor, a 4.3-inch ClearBlack display and an 8-megapixel camera. Other reports have suggested it will run Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) and support AT&T’s 4G LTE network. According to BetaNews, the Ace will hit AT&T store shelves in March where it will receive “hero” status. It is unclear how Microsoft, AT&T and Nokia will split the $100 million in marketing, but the hero status suggests it will be the focus of AT&T commercials, print ads, digital ads and in-store marketing.

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We had a chance to spend some time with AT&T Vice President of Marketing, Mike Woodward, a little while back to talk about AT&T’s first 4G LTE smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and HTC Vivid, in addition to 4G LTE in general, the company’s stance on Android, iOS, and more. Catch the interview after the break!

It worked. 4G has been marketed so well by wireless carriers and vendors that people want it even if they don’t quite know why. A recent survey conducted by market research and intelligence firm In-Stat found that 75% of respondents listed 4G as one of the features their ideal phone would include. When asked which carrier offered the fastest 4G speeds, most respondents were left stymied. “Although 4G is an important feature for handset buyers, there is a lot of confusion surrounding 4G,” In-Stat analyst Greg Potter said in a statement. Read on for more.

Potter continued, “When survey respondents were asked which carrier offered the fastest 4G speeds, the majority of the respondents either didn’t know or felt they were the same across carriers.” A new bill presented to the U.S. Senate earlier this month suggests that wireless carriers should be forced to clarify what kind of speeds their 4G networks afford in marketing and advertising, but it is not expected to be made law.

The survey of 1,208 consumers was part of the In-Stat’s Next-Generation Phones: Consumer Insights Drive Future Handset Designs report, which also found that 36% of consumers plan to stay loyal to their current smartphone operating system compared to just 23% last year. The firm also found that 20% of T-Mobile subscribers plan to switch carriers in the next 12 months.

Market research firm In-Stat released a report on Monday that suggests NFC chip shipments will grow dramatically during the next several years as an increasing number of mobile devices adopt near-field communications (NFC) technology. In-Stat said NFC chip shipments will surpass 1.2 billion units by 2015, the same year the technology is expected to reach a 30% global penetration. “As the costs of NFC chips decline, and NFC radios are combined with other chip functions, the cost to integrate NFC into handsets will be outweighed by the benefits,” In-Stat research director Allen Nogee said. “The growth of combo chips will also allow NFC radios to piggyback on technology that already has significant penetration in the market. For example, Bluetooth radios, which currently have 100% market penetration, can be integrated with NFC radios, making the choice to include NFC easy for OEMs.” Read on for more.

The adoption of NFC for mobile payments has been slow to catch on in the United States. Sprint currently offers the only handset capable of making mobile purchases with Google Wallet, the Nexus S 4G, but Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are hoping the ISIS initiative will help drive adoption in the near future. In-Stat said the NFC market is moving away from mobile payments and towards marketing uses, however, where retailers might be able to embed the technology into posters and other advertisements.

There are plenty of other uses for NFC, too. Google recently introduced a new “Android Beam” feature of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that will allow users to share content, such as games, pictures or other media, by tapping one phone to another. In-Stat’s press release follows below.

NFC Chip Shipments to Surpass 1.2 Billion by 2015, Says In-Stat

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., October 24, 2011—As the number of mobile payment users grows to over 375 million in 2015, the demand for devices with near field communications (NFC), the underlying communications technology behind many mobile payment solutions, grows as well.  New research from In-Stat (www.in-stat.com) forecasts that adoption of this technology will push global annual shipments of NFC chips to over 1.2 billion by 2015.

NFC is a set of technologies that supports communications between two devices in close proximity to each other. An NFC link is very quick to set up, enabling small amounts of data to be exchanged over short distances.  This capability is unique compared to other wireless technologies, it and makes NFC an ideal solution where quick exchange of small amounts of data is paramount to quality user experiences such as mobile payments.

“As the costs of NFC chips decline, and NFC radios are combined with other chip functions, the cost to integrate NFC into handsets will be outweighed by the benefits,” says Allen Nogee, Research Director. “The growth of combo chips will also allow NFC radios to piggyback on technology that already has significant penetration in the market. For example, Bluetooth radios, which currently have 100% market penetration, can be integrated with NFC radios, making the choice to include NFC easy for OEMs.”

Recent research findings include:

• Today, the focus of the NFC market is shifting from payment applications that can be enabled by NFC, to marketing applications. With this focus shift, we expect retailers to begin pilot programs in the latter part of 2011 and into 2012 that incorporate smart posters into their signage and outdoor advertising strategies.
• NFC will reach 30% global penetration by 2015
• Global annual shipments of NFC chips will grow at a CAGR of 129% over the forecast period.
• New In-Stat research,NFC Chips and Tags: Worldwide Market Analysis and Forecast (#IN1105140SI) provides insights into the market for NFC devices and components. It compares and contrasts NFC with other complementary and competitive technologies and looks at market drivers, including mobile payments, and market barriers.

New In-Stat research, NFC Chips and Tags: Worldwide Market Analysis and Forecast (#IN1105140SI) provides insights into the market for NFC devices and components. It compares and contrasts NFC with other complementary and competitive technologies and looks at market drivers, including mobile payments, and market barriers.

Forecasts include:

• NFC chip and tag shipments
• Mobile handsets shipping with NFC chips
• NFC chip shipments for readers
• NFC-enabled infrastructure
• NFC tag shipments for smart posters and marketing
• Regional analysis includes Asia Pacific, Europe, and Americas
• Vendor profiles include Broadcom, Inside Secure, NXP Semiconductors, Renesas Electronics, Samsung Semiconductor, and STMicroelectronics