Which Platform has better FUTURE? Samsung NX or EOS-M

justmeMN wrote:

At least in the USA, Samsung has a brand problem. People associate it with things like washing machines and microwave ovens.

In the USA, Canon also beats Samsung in camera marketing and distribution. Canon brand cameras are available everywhere, and Canon does a decent amount of advertising.

(On the mirrorless side, my local camera store offers Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji, Nikon, Leica, but not Samsung.)

It takes more than technical merit to sell cameras.

There is a lot of pro-Canon fantasy on DPR that doesn't mesh with reality.

Samsung has extremely strong brand recognition in the USA and in the world. See: http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/ (No. 7 overall, and No. 5 in Technology.) It's completely wrong to think that Samsung got that brand recognition for appliances; Samsung got that recognition mostly based on tech (that's why it goes UP in rank if you look at only technology products). They are the no. 2 brand in smartphones behind Apple, for instance, and smartphones are a VASTLY VASTLY larger market than standalone cameras by units shipped. Samsung has strong brand presence in tablets, TVs, SSDs, NAND (flash memory), DRAM, and Blu Ray players among other things. NX may have its flaws but brand image is not one of them.

As for Canon? Standalone cameras are becoming ever less relevant and there is ever more competition in printers. Canon ranks no. 73 overall and no. 14 for technology.  (If it makes you feel better, Sony has no strong mobile devices division, either, so it too suffers, ranking no. 15 in technology. I'm sure the multiple hacks on Sony Playstation Network and the movie division did not help its credibility there.)

DPR is not representative of most people. Normal people want stuff that "just works." The cradle-to-grave tech support at ubiquitous Apple stores (even if you do eventually have to pay for it), and the consistent quality and software interface among Apple products, are some of the big reasons why Apple is successful--their products "just work" and it took years for Windows to (mostly) catch up. (Linux is even farther behind and their pathetic market share demonstrates even more clearly how people avoid stuff that does not "just work" out of the box.)

Samsung's early problems with lenses falling apart and horribly slow HSS implementation notwithstanding, their stuff does in fact "just work." And unlike Sony, Samsung has touchscreens everywhere to ease the transition from smartphones to standalone cameras. That's not to say that Canon products don't "just work" as well, but until the addition of touchscreens, the DSLRs were less intuitive, and even today you will find that MANY Rebel owners shoot in Auto using the LCD. The small, dim OVF on Rebels (with mysterious numbers at the bottom) is not attractive the same way that even a midrange EVF is (chock full of information and near-instant exposure information, the way people who grew up on smartphones are used to).

As for distribution, Samsung's potential reach vastly outclasses Canon's in the foreseeable future (and FUTURE is what OP was about, not PRESENT):

1. Standalone camera stores keep dying off and there's no letup in sight. How many cameras do they sell compared to Target, Walmart, Amazon, B&H, Adorama, etc.? Samsung can afford to be absent from camera specialty stores if they are available at the major retailers.

2. Standalone cameras and printers and photo paper are about all that retail stores carry in terms of Canon equipment. Samsung can leverage a much broader distribution network, due to its popular Galaxy series and TVs as well as its products in other categories like printers, microwaves, and other white goods. Similarly Sony's huge console share and strong presence in music, movies, stereos, TVs, clocks, and other electronics means that Sony has more potential distribution reach than Canon as well.

3. Online sales are projected to keep growing, so that further weakens whatever clout Canon has at in-store retail.