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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0: Can it court BYOD love?

The goal for Samsung is obvious: Take its consumer smartphones and tablets and provide just enough enterprise goodies to be workplace friendly. It's unclear whether a $399 price tag for the Galaxy Note 8.0 will cut it.

Written by Larry Dignan on April 9, 2013

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Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with a $399 price tag and a big bet that features for employees' productivity will make it a bring your own device favorite.

The reviews on the Galaxy Note 8.0 are a bit mixed. CNET knocked the price and added:

The $399 price is a lot for a small tablet, no matter its features. It's not as thin or as light as the iPad Mini, and some people won't appreciate the highly saturated look of the OS. Also, its face buttons sometimes get in the way and there are occasional performance hangs...The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is a stunning tablet with a truly useful stylus, but it's not worth $400 unless you're an artist or prefer pen input.

Fair enough, but to hear Samsung tell it, the Galaxy Note 8.0, basically a mid-sized tablet, has work features that matter beyond the company's SAFE and Knox technologies.

Samsung touts the following work features:

"True PC-like multitasking" so users can use two apps in multiple windows. The Multi Window feature supports 20 apps.
Air View, a preview of content when you hold the S Pen above the screen.
Polaris Office to edit documents.
Awesome Note, a note taking application.
Group Play to collaborate with co-workers.

The goal for Samsung is obvious: Take its consumer smartphones and tablets and provide just enough enterprise goodies to be workplace friendly. Samsung pitches its devices to two audiences: Consumer and enterprise.

What's unclear is whether this messaging will work. In some respects, Samsung almost looks like it's trying too hard to court the enterprise. It's not like Apple is so blatant about garnering bring your own device love.

If enterprises were doing the tablet buying perhaps a $399 price tag wouldn't be so bad. However, Samsung needs workers to evangelize its products. To employees, who may not fully appreciate work friendly features, price matters. In other words, the Galaxy Note 8.0 may be coming in too high.