The article makes many salient comments, regarding both diminishing markets and branding/pricing issues. For example:
"Then there’s the branding. In Germany especially, Samsung is not a known ‘premium’ photographic brand in the country that gave us Leica and Zeiss plus many others. As the market has shifted from consumer to premium, they have suffered as a result of being associated with a lot of cheap compacts."
In the USA, throw in Canon and Nikon...
I had a conversion about camera brands with a gallery owner the other day and he agreed that for many, cameras are more a fashion accessory or status symbol, like an expensive watch.
All this talk of the NX demise has made me really reconsider my views on the NX1. I always assumed that Samsung was targeting Sony, due to Canon's and Nikon's limited mirrorless products. However, now I think that with the NX1, Samsung was actually targeting Canon and Nikon.
To this, from a performance and quality perspective, the NX1 was a huge success. Coupled with an S lens, the NX1 is unequaled by any APS-C in a package much more portable than any Nikon or Canon combination and at a competitive price.
Regarding Sony, perhaps there is an issue from price perspective, as an A6000 with the Ziess-branded 16-70 zoom is $1000 less than an NX1 with a 16-60 S lens. In essence, put the NX1, for many markets, in "no-man's land".
However, in non-Japanese Asian markets, the Samsung brand works not only because of its association with high-quality, but "hipness" as well. Maybe sales are good enough here for Samsung to make necessary enhancements to continue the NX brand.