I’m in Dallas Texas for Samsung’s “Think BIG” copier/printer dealer show. This show has done a lot of growing up over the last several years with over 300 attendees from some of the most prominent dealerships in the land like EO Johnson, LDI, Marco, RJ Young, Perry, the list goes on and on (and on and on).

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Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 4.57.58 PMAfter a press and analyst private walk through the first night, there was a nice reception where we were able to mingle with the dealers, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and even Samsung executives. Like last year, Samsung chose an interesting manner in which to present their products and solutions. There were breakout rooms dedicated to vertical markets like retail, finance and healthcare where we saw a mix of solutions from Samsung and their partners. There was also a product fair area where Samsung had some newly launched hardware.

Today began with a general session where we heard from president Tim Baxter, VP Tod Pike, VP Matt Smith and Kasey Kim, a VP from Korea. They all discussed the massive opportunity Samsung has in B2B and how critical printers are to Samsung’s future. In fact, Tod actually said printers and tablets are their “most important” products – a bold statement in my opinion. The words “We Love Dealers” also appeared on the screen several times during Tod’s speech.

These dealers are the perfect messengers to bring Samsung’s Smartify campaign to customers. Smartify is the program launched to help create a market awareness around Samsung printers. Everyone knows Samsung’s name but many customers don’t know they make printers. This program will ensure they do. At least, that’s the goal.

Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 4.56.57 PMAfter the morning sessions, I checked out the product fair. It was a great mix of solutions partners and while there weren’t a lot, the ones they had were great. Whether they were sponsoring events like breakfasts and dinners or simply displaying their technology in the product fair there was a great buzz around companies like PaperCut, MWA Intelligence, ESP, EFI and others. Lots of good stuff with respect to the Cloud, mobile printing and managed print. PrinterOn, the mobile printing company acquired just last week by Samsung was also present and had a lot of dealers clamoring around to learn more.

But what really got the dealers excited was the hardware. Samsung recently launched several products, which were on the floor. Click here to check them out. Even better, Samsung had some future product there, including the MX7, their new family of A3 MFPs that will bring long needed higher end products to their portfolio, filling in a void and making Samsung a legitimate competitor in the A3 world. FINALLY! At up to 60 PPM, they’re fast. More importantly, they have improved scan speeds at over 100 IPM and crazy large duty cycles made possible by new drums that offer twice the rated print volume.

But let’s face it, who cares? Everyone has a 60 PPM machine so why are these any different? Two words; User Interface. Oh momma these UI’s are amazing. I mean really really nice. I know, it’s a shock to think Samsung could make a nice UI, I mean they only own the display market! Seriously though, they’re massive, they’re gorgeous, they don’t try to look like a tablet, they essentially ARE a table hooked into the hardware. They also swivel so you can use them in landscape mode. I don’t know why you’d want to but hey, it will look great in a demo. These UI’s are one of the biggest upgrades to any UI from a company I have ever seen and they are without a doubt the nicest ones on the market today. They have truly set the bar. It took a long time for these A3 products to finally come out but based on what I saw, it was worth the wait.

Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 4.55.49 PMOther things that impressed me were their integration with all of their hardware. They can literally run the copier from a tablet or smartphone. They can also project the device’s UI onto a display. The new printers also have the ability to provide a serverless, PCless secure print feature. Send a job to the printer from anywhere, the device holds it, then walk to any printer, authenticate and the device will find your print queue and allow you to print at whatever device you’re standing in front it, even if you sent the job to another printer. Pretty cool and it’s a standard feature. For a variety of reasons this may not fly in an Enterprise environment but for the SMB market it should be a pretty popular feature.

Speaking of displays, Samsung showed a new signage display aimed squarely at the lower end of the SMB market. These two new displays are under $1,000, come with a wall mount and stand and offer free signage software. They also have a 3 year warranty and are made to last much longer than the typical LCD TVs that many small businesses buy when they can’t afford the more robust commercial grade products.

So here we are several years after Samsung jumped into the A3 arena. While they have a long way to go, they have their foot planted firmly on the gas pedal and are picking up speed. I like the fact that they have held true to their word and have not ventured down the “direct sales” route and opened branches. They’re still taking a partner approach. They’re also dumping a TON of money into R&D, increasing expenditures each year ($6.3B in 2010 to $13.6B in 2013). They spend more in R&D than some companies in this space earn in a year. It’s amazing and I don’t know how anyone can keep up with that. Indeed, they were #2 in patents in 2013 behind only IBM.

The only negative I heard was related to Samsung’s support and it was around training sales people and technicians. When I spoke to Samsung people about this, I was told they’ve recently hired staff specifically for both of these issues. We’ll see if it’s still an issue next year. I can tell you dealers love Samsung’s fulfillment. Parts and supplies are easy to order and arrive immediately.

I have always been skeptical about Samsung’s ability to muscle their way into a crowded and shrinking A3 market. I know they’ve done it everywhere else – TVs, home appliances and almost everywhere else. But B2B is a different animal and programs are as important as the hardware and gaining loyalty from resellers isn’t the same as buying shelf space in retail. However, their refuse to lose mentality and their deep pockets combined with the wiliness to spend on R&D and programs makes them more formidable each year. It was a nice show, their dealers are happy and their products took a big step forward this year. It’s great watching all this come together and I hope they continue to deliver with the consistency they’ve shown over the last several years.