One of my favorite things about this ad (which I like for the most part)is the 'See more at facebook.com/samsungmobileUSA' Now there's something Apple would never do. It's a generic, silly idea. I never want to go to a FB page to learn about a product. How about an official website?
Why should they simplify? I mean, they are certainly are competing: leader in global market share for smartphones, have nearly 30% of the profits of handsets in general. They must be doing something right.
I never get this "Not like Apple, must be bad" mentality.
> Samsung needs to seriously simplify its message and product line if it wants to compete.
This comment makes no sense to me for two reasons: 1) They're doing something wholly different than Apple; they're not trying to make The Phone (TM), they're trying to make a bunch of phones that fit different needs, and 2) They already compete. And quite well, I might add, since they're the global leader in smartphone sales for the most recent quarter. http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/gartners-q3-2011-smartpho...
Indeed, I bought a Samsung Galaxy Mini (5570) for my girlfriend here in Uruguay, and it's amazing... all you'd expect from a smartphone at a developed-world affordable price (U$ 200 unlocked).
If Samsung can win the bottom of the pyramid from Nokia, they don't need to compete directly with Apple, and it's a far bigger market.
1) But they set themselves up as a direct competitor in the ad. Their phone versus the iPhone. This image makes them look quite similar to Apple to the lay person.
I like that they make multiple phones. But at a certain point, they're overextending. Surely you agree they need to pare it down, even a little.
You're right- when people want a phone that's not an iPhone, they will look at the Samsung phones. But consumers who want a phone because the image they think it will portray will get the iPhone. It's a status symbol. A Samsung phone doesn't have the same effect. But with this ad, Samsung looks like they're trying to become an alternative to Apple. They need to get their act together and decide who they really want to be.
Some of the comments from people in line are funny - it's a clever ad. I just don't think it's gonna do all that much to stem the Apple/iPhone juggernaut any time soon. The ecosystem around the iPhone is enormous - the cases, adapters, accessories all will fit and work with pretty much any iPhone from the last couple of years (tens of millions of them). Some hotels you go to now have alarm clocks with iPod/iPhone docks in them. This is a device which is being ingratiated in to society. A cute ad talking about a bigger screen is probably not going to do much to sway people. Samsung coming up with a truly different experience - say, in the way people buy the device - would get converts. I'm thinking specifically of selling the device with no contract or "subsidized" pricing schemes - just saying, hey this is $199, then taking a cut of sales from an app market (bundle a kick-ass Samsung marketplace app and start courting devs, for example). Or promoting Kindle on the bigger screen and taking a few cents from each Kindle.
Or something - something different from what we've had from phone companies for years. Model XYF573 - rev2! Now with more colors! Oh, and 4G! Then 2 months later that model isn't produced any more, and we're on to rev3, which is a different form factor... wash, rinse, repeat. Yes, I exaggerate slightly, but I got tired of trying to compare all the various specs some time ago.
I was a linux guy for years, and got tired of things not working, not being mainstream, etc. I was a Linux guy when Windows was cool, then Linux when Mac was cool. I finally caved in and went Mac. It's good - nay, just easier - being part of the majority for a while. It's not that I don't think about my tech choices, I just spend more time thinking about stuff at another level of abstraction (get an iPhone, now decide which of the X thousand apps I want to use to make my life better). Getting device X solely because of specs (bigger screen!) generally won't make my life easier/better.
Apple is on top right now, just like MS/Windows was in the 90s. Something will displace them in the next 10-15 years, but it won't be the Samsung Galaxy $MODEL, and it won't be this ad.
That's an inadvertently funny post, considering how it reflects the less-than-completely-well-informed opinions of the people in the TV ad. You write "I just don't think it's gonna do all that much to stem the Apple/iPhone juggernaut any time soon." You don't think so? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/8855070/Samsun...
Given that the iPhone is on more carriers and smartphone penetration has dramatically increased in the past year, not shattering the iPhone 4 records would have been a disaster for Apple. We won't know how successful the 4S launch has been until we get data from the next quarter of smartphone sales.
>It's not that I don't think about my tech choices, I just spend more time thinking about stuff at another level of abstraction (get an iPhone, now decide which of the X thousand apps I want to use to make my life better). Getting device X solely because of specs (bigger screen!) generally won't make my life easier/better.
Or you could have spent 15 minutes finding a device that fits your needs instead of buying whatever everyone else has then spending weeks trying to decide how to make that work for you.
If some of my 'needs' are being able to know that I can get cables from anyone, know that my phone will be developed and sold for more than 3 months, or not having to worry about will it sync with my computer (even to some extent just knowing really what the limits are), it's easier to make a choice besides other than just 'screen size'.
Actually, pretty much all Android phones use the same cable - a micro USB, found on cameras, hard drives, non-Android phones, garage sales, etc. And if you lose it or magically can't find anyone who has an extra few lying around, you can buy another one for less than $3. Try doing that with those ridiculously overpriced Apple cords (before the EU made them illegal, that is).
Complaining about the Apple USB cable is just not a very valid complaint. Micro-usb is nice and all, but with how many iPods, iPhones, etc... that have sold you're just as likely to find a person with a iPod cable lying around as you are a micro-usb one. Heck, my car stereo will charge my iPods through the dock connector, and came with the cable to do so.
Have personal attacks on a product's customers ever succeeded?
People identify with the products they buy, whether it's a car, a computer, a phone, running shoes, etc.
Have you ever had an argument with someone over their favorite brand? Telling someone they bought the "wrong" brand is basically like telling them they're stupid. Not the best way to endear yourself to them.
People want to think of themselves as smart, savvy consumers. When they buy a big-ticket item, they spend time with the advertising AFTER they've already bought it, as a way of reaffirming their choice.
When I worked on the Land Rover website from 2008-2010, we found that a significant amount of traffic was from recent buyers. They were coming to the site to feel good about the money they'd just spent.
Negative ads only work in political campaigns, where the goal is to suppress your competitor's turnout.
If you want to beat the competition, focus on your own positives. You can compare yourself to the competitor, but never tell their customers that they're stupid. You might get sales from people that already dislike Apple, but you'll never make a convert with an insult.
The Mac vs. PC ads certainly polarized people. They seem to be very popular among people who already own Macs, while PC owners tend to find them smug and off-putting.
The ads seem to be more about attacking the competition than the competition's customers, but they still come off as attack ads, sometimes rather nasty ones.
It's hard to say exactly how effective they were. Mac sales saw a boost during that campaign, but other factors, such as the iPod "halo effect" and much-publicized Windows Vista problems, could be credited as well. Who knows? Maybe they would have sold more Macs with a more positive campaign.
I agree, though, John Hodgman was the more endearing of the two.
Maybe one way to judge the effectiveness of the ads is to look at the careers of Justin Long and John Hodgman—it seems like "PC" came out on top, in their case.
I know plenty of PC users who weren't put off by the Mac & PC ads. The characterization was completely different. In the Mac & PC ads, PC users weren't mocked. The characters weren't Mac users and PC users, they were literally a Mac and a PC (the devices) personified. In this way, it's possible to positively identify with the ad as a PC user: "OMG, my PC has totally done that to me."
I felt a tremendous amount of contempt in this Samsung ad: "Hey, idiot, check out our new phone." I really have a hard time feeling that Samsung, in any way, understands why I buy an iPhone, so how could they possibly build a device that I would appreciate?
I think Verizon's "Droid Does" campaign was reasonably successful (though I suppose that mixed negative and positive since each iDon't was matched with a Droid Does).
Separately, I don't think this ad is targeted at existing Apple customers. I think it is targeted at people deciding whether or not to "go Apple". The ad's message is don't because then you'll be a lemming (and can't get a bigger screen, 4G, etc.).
MacObserver treat HN like a link dump, upvoting them will only encourage them to keep exploiting HN for traffic and push submissions from legitimate community members out of sight faster.
27 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 62.4 ms ] threadAs a few previous bloggers have pointed out (http://digithoughts.com/post/12962540298/apple-vs-samsung-pi...), Samsung needs to seriously simplify its message and product line if it wants to compete.
I never get this "Not like Apple, must be bad" mentality.
This comment makes no sense to me for two reasons: 1) They're doing something wholly different than Apple; they're not trying to make The Phone (TM), they're trying to make a bunch of phones that fit different needs, and 2) They already compete. And quite well, I might add, since they're the global leader in smartphone sales for the most recent quarter. http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/15/gartners-q3-2011-smartpho...
If Samsung can win the bottom of the pyramid from Nokia, they don't need to compete directly with Apple, and it's a far bigger market.
I like that they make multiple phones. But at a certain point, they're overextending. Surely you agree they need to pare it down, even a little.
You're right- when people want a phone that's not an iPhone, they will look at the Samsung phones. But consumers who want a phone because the image they think it will portray will get the iPhone. It's a status symbol. A Samsung phone doesn't have the same effect. But with this ad, Samsung looks like they're trying to become an alternative to Apple. They need to get their act together and decide who they really want to be.
How young/hip are you? There's a huge market on Facebook, and a huge market that believes Facebook is the Internet. Facebook sells phones.
[EDITED for clarity]
Or something - something different from what we've had from phone companies for years. Model XYF573 - rev2! Now with more colors! Oh, and 4G! Then 2 months later that model isn't produced any more, and we're on to rev3, which is a different form factor... wash, rinse, repeat. Yes, I exaggerate slightly, but I got tired of trying to compare all the various specs some time ago.
I was a linux guy for years, and got tired of things not working, not being mainstream, etc. I was a Linux guy when Windows was cool, then Linux when Mac was cool. I finally caved in and went Mac. It's good - nay, just easier - being part of the majority for a while. It's not that I don't think about my tech choices, I just spend more time thinking about stuff at another level of abstraction (get an iPhone, now decide which of the X thousand apps I want to use to make my life better). Getting device X solely because of specs (bigger screen!) generally won't make my life easier/better.
Apple is on top right now, just like MS/Windows was in the 90s. Something will displace them in the next 10-15 years, but it won't be the Samsung Galaxy $MODEL, and it won't be this ad.
Or you could have spent 15 minutes finding a device that fits your needs instead of buying whatever everyone else has then spending weeks trying to decide how to make that work for you.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&c...
Complaining about the Apple USB cable is just not a very valid complaint. Micro-usb is nice and all, but with how many iPods, iPhones, etc... that have sold you're just as likely to find a person with a iPod cable lying around as you are a micro-usb one. Heck, my car stereo will charge my iPods through the dock connector, and came with the cable to do so.
People identify with the products they buy, whether it's a car, a computer, a phone, running shoes, etc.
Have you ever had an argument with someone over their favorite brand? Telling someone they bought the "wrong" brand is basically like telling them they're stupid. Not the best way to endear yourself to them.
SanDisk tried this in 2006 with their anti-iPod campaign "iDon't" that portrayed iPod owners as braying jackasses: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/sandisk-launc...
Sprint did something similar with the Palm Pre in 2009: http://jaysonelliot.com/blog/2009/06/27/the-wrong-way-to-sel...
People want to think of themselves as smart, savvy consumers. When they buy a big-ticket item, they spend time with the advertising AFTER they've already bought it, as a way of reaffirming their choice. When I worked on the Land Rover website from 2008-2010, we found that a significant amount of traffic was from recent buyers. They were coming to the site to feel good about the money they'd just spent.
Negative ads only work in political campaigns, where the goal is to suppress your competitor's turnout.
If you want to beat the competition, focus on your own positives. You can compare yourself to the competitor, but never tell their customers that they're stupid. You might get sales from people that already dislike Apple, but you'll never make a convert with an insult.
The ads seem to be more about attacking the competition than the competition's customers, but they still come off as attack ads, sometimes rather nasty ones.
It's hard to say exactly how effective they were. Mac sales saw a boost during that campaign, but other factors, such as the iPod "halo effect" and much-publicized Windows Vista problems, could be credited as well. Who knows? Maybe they would have sold more Macs with a more positive campaign.
I agree, though, John Hodgman was the more endearing of the two.
Maybe one way to judge the effectiveness of the ads is to look at the careers of Justin Long and John Hodgman—it seems like "PC" came out on top, in their case.
I felt a tremendous amount of contempt in this Samsung ad: "Hey, idiot, check out our new phone." I really have a hard time feeling that Samsung, in any way, understands why I buy an iPhone, so how could they possibly build a device that I would appreciate?
http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=jmartellaro
http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=digiwizard
http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=Semteksam
http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=davethenerd