Phablet Phenom: Samsung Galaxy Note Pens Best-Seller

The rollout of the Samsung Galaxy Note in October 2011 prompted more than a few perplexed looks. The screen with a diagonal width of 5.3-inches made it too big to be considered a standard smartphone but also too small to be called a tablet. This made the Galaxy Note, a hybrid, or "phablet" following in the footsteps of Dell's Streak, which failed to inspire much enthusiasm a year earlier. Also, the Galaxy Note sported a stylus pen to operate its big screen, a seemingly obsolete tool when lined up against finger touch alternatives. Thus, market analysts dialed down the chances of the Galaxy Note becoming a hit beyond a narrow range of consumers, a view that Samsung Electronics did not share. The unexpected popularity of Galaxy Note not only upended doomsday predictions about large-screen phones, it elevated the phablet as a serious alternative to a standard-size smartphone or tablet.