Samsung set for software focus with new mobile chief

SEOUL — Samsung has appointed a new mobile president at Samsung Electronics for the first time in six years, as the company tries to protect a dwindling sales lead against Apple in the premium market and Chinese companies in cheaper devices.

Mr Koh Dong-jin, who helped develop the latest Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 devices, takes over as president of the mobile communications business as Samsung heads toward its lowest profit in four years. He replaces Mr Shin Jong-kyun, who remains a president and co-CEO of the electronics business, Samsung Group said yesterday as part of its annual management revamp.

The management change comes as Mr Lee Jae-yong, the only son of ailing Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, takes a bigger role after his father suffered a heart attack in May last year.

The switch at the biggest business in the largest division of Samsung Group is the clearest sign yet that Mr Lee is putting his own imprint on the conglomerate. Samsung no longer dominates global smartphone sales and needs a new hit, prompting Mr Lee to approve an in-house incubator for engineers and the spending of billions of dollars on an ecosystem connecting home devices to the Internet.

Mr Koh, 54, spent most of his Samsung career in research and development, overseeing the Technology Strategy team from 2007 to 2014. In addition to working on Samsung’s mobile payment and security platforms, he is credited with fostering partnerships between the company and Qualcomm, Google and Microsoft.

“Based on Mr Koh’s career background, it suggests Samsung will put more weight on its software focus instead of hardware,” said Mr Greg Roh, an analyst at HMC Investment Securities in Seoul.

“The change shows that just the new cycle of hardware offerings won’t do much to revive growth.”

Mr Shin, 59, is known in the industry for his hardware expertise. He became the head of mobile in 2010.

Three years later, Samsung was the world’s largest smartphone supplier, despite being a latecomer behind Apple.

But in the past year, Samsung’s global smartphone market share has dwindled to less than one quarter, and its quarterly mobile profit shrank to less than half of its best quarters. AGENCIES