Samsung Buys 5 Percent of Stylus Maker Wacom

From DailyTech: Samsung has bought 5 percent of Wacom, which is likely an attempt to equip more of its tablets and smartphones with the high-quality stylus'.

Wacom is a company that specializes in interactive pen displays and digital drawing tablets. Samsung's 5 percent cost $58.2 million USD, allowing it to couple the stylus' with devices like its Galaxy Note line.

"It is becoming increasingly important to form close relationships with manufacturers of mobile information terminals, particularly smartphones and tablets, and to bring new products to market in a timely manner," said Wacom. "With regard to digital pens for smartphones in particular, Wacom’s sales to Samsung Electronics have increased in recent years. Wacom digital pens are used in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note smart phone, which is sold in 99 countries around the globe including in North America, Europe, Japan, China and India. Wacom expects the inclusion of its digital pens in Samsung Electronics’ smartphones and tablets to lead to the expansion of the user base of its products."

While stylus' have largely become a thing of the past (due to the amount of touch devices available), Wacom doesn't make any ordinary stylus -- they're pressure sensitive so that they can be used for drawing and other work.

Samsung is a great hardware manufacturer to partner with too, since its Android-powered smartphones are popular (Samsung sold about 60 million smartphones in Q4 2012 while Apple only sold 47.8 million iPhones) and its tablet market share is growing significantly (Samsung represented 15.1 percent of the U.S. tablet market share as of Q4 2012, and had a 263 percent year-on-year growth).

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