In this Making Markets quick take, host Daniel Newman and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon talk the power of the company’s Snapdragon brand and how it’s part of a trusted, reliable enterprise brand that has been partnered on building ecosystems with everybody.
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Transcript:
Daniel Newman: I want to pivot real quick. We are in Hawaii. We started off the show talking about that. And by the way, don’t be jealous. It’s awesome. But you were here for Snapdragon Summit. This is moving a little bit from the investor to the tech, but that tech is ultimately what circles back and feeds the passion and the people that are going to get behind this and invest in this thing.
One thing about this that I would like to zero in on is the Snapdragon brand. There’s a pretty big story here about this and the relationship it’s going to create with consumers. Qualcomm has a huge enterprise name, well known in enterprise. But obviously, as you’re trying to build broader appeal, a wider swath of investors, create that affinity and sentiment in the market, get more retail support. Snapdragon seems to be a vehicle to do that. Talk a little bit about how you’re thinking about that and how you obviously build Snapdragon without in any way tarnishing the reputation built by Qualcomm.
Cristiano Amon: No, absolutely. Look, this is a great question. And we decided in this tech summit, and the tech summit is where we come back to what we’re doing in mobile. There’s still a lot of exciting things for Qualcomm and mobile. What are we doing in mobile? What’s our latest generation Snapdragon? And we thought was the unveiling of the next generation Snapdragon that’s going to be in all the flagships later this year and starting 22, will be the right time to provide this simplified, clear brand strategy for Qualcomm. So what we’re doing, it’s something actually very simple. We’re just embracing what already is a reality today. The reality is, Snapdragon is a consumer brand. A lot of the enterprises know Qualcomm. The enterprises that are not traditionally working with Qualcomm and now need to go to a process of digital transformation, they know Qualcomm.
If they care about the edge, they know about Qualcomm. Qualcomm has always been this trusted, reliable enterprise brand that has been partnered with everybody building ecosystems. That’s never going to change. And I think Qualcomm’s always going to be known within the B2B community. The company that is founded in technology, has as one of the largest R&D budgets among our peers. Has been focused on everything wireless, high performance computing, low power, and working with a lot of stakeholders building ecosystems. However, consumers know Snapdragon more than they know Qualcomm. You get a market like China, 80% brand awareness. Consumers now love their smartphone. They depend on that, every life. They’re now more educated about the capabilities of their phone. They want to know what’s the engine driving all of this. What’s behind the glass, and that’s Snapdragon. So what we’ve actually done, we’ve simplified and we have the consumer brand for mobile experiences, it’s just Snapdragon.
And as Snapdragon becomes synonymous with premium flagship Android, and everyone knows about Snapdragon 800. We just simplify that it’s about Snapdragon eight. It’s always going to be the definition of what an Android flagship is. Incredible support from our customers from this brand proposition, because they know their customers want to know what is the mobile processor in their phone. It also came at a time then that with the shifts in the OEM market share, companies like Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, Honor have been climbing up to the premium tier. And it became an incredible ingredient brand for them to describe to the users that they can do a premium flagship device. And right now it’s a virtual cycle. I think there’s incredible value in the Snapdragon brand. It’s another thing that I think investors probably start to understand there is consumer preference. We built an insider’s program. I think we’re just on the insider’s lounge right now. And in record time, we got to in excess of four million insiders. So consumers like Snapdragon, they care about Snapdragon, they want Snapdragon.
Daniel Newman: And we know the power of brand. And while it’s maybe not the most popular to bring up other names. You’ve seen how it’s worked with the AMDs, the NVIDIAs, the Intels to have that brand that’s associated with the consumer, where the consumer knew when they were buying for years. Now, you’re doing this on the PCs and you’re going to be entering all kinds of markets. But I think that’s really been an important thing where Qualcomm has been doing the magic for many years behind these devices. That by the way, have become the most paramount item in our lives. At times more than the people around us. You just see it by our behavior and you guys have been powering this, and it’s kind of time. I’ve always thought, time for the company to finally get the recognition for that work that’s been done. That’s changed the lives and the way so many of us connect and communicate every day.
Cristiano Amon: Absolutely. And by the way, as mobile expands and the experience expands, Snapdragon expanded. So we are going to start to see the evolution of the Snapdragon brand. As part of owning a smartphone, you bring other devices around you: your watch and your earbuds. You start to see the Snapdragon Wear, Snapdragon Sound as you go now from the phone to your personal computer. And we see this convergence, you start to see Windows on Snapdragon. And then when you get behind a wheel, it’s Snapdragon Ride. So it’s in Snapdragon digital cockpit. So it’s all about bringing the mobile experience with you everywhere, and that’s evolving with the Snapdragon brand.
Daniel Newman: Yeah, absolutely. Creating a name that people see it, they want it, and they associate that with quality.
Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
