Love Call from IFA
Germany’s IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker speaks during an interview with Korean media at the IFA global press conference 2017 held at Marriott Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal, on April 22 (local time)
Germany’s IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker, vice president of Messe Berlin, asked Samsung Electronics to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 at the IFA 2017 to be held on September 1.
Heithecker had an interview with Korean media at an IFA global press conference held at Marriott Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal, on April 22 (local time).
He said he knew that Samsung Electronics held a separate event for the Galaxy Note 7 in New York in August last year because of its U.S. competitor Apple. He added, “My personal perspective is that IFA would be the better place (to unveil the new Note smartphone). The big advantage is that we have a lot of media and journalists from all around the world in Berlin in September. It is not possible to bring them all together in other cities wherever it is, in August. That's our offer.”
Starting from the first Galaxy Note in 2011, Samsung Electronics had unveiled the Note 2, 3 and 4 in September every year in Berlin at the sidelines of the IFA show. However, the world's largest smartphone maker unveiled the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy Note 7 in New York in August, a month earlier, in 2015 and 2016. The industry believes that it is part of Samsung Electronics’ strategy to take the lead in the competition with Apple’s iPhone series to be launched in September every year.
However, Samsung Electronics decided to release the Galaxy S7 a month later than usual after it discontinued production of the Galaxy Note 7 last year. The company is also expected to postpone the launch of the Galaxy Note 8.
In addition, Heithecker showed a strong affection for South Korean firms. He said, “We are very happy to have South Korean companies, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, in our show. Samsung and other South Korean firms ranked first in the innovation competition and it was also a big news for us.”