Taiwanese authorities probing Samsung over 'dirty tricks' against HTC

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into Samsung's business practices following allegations that the South Korean conglomerate hired people to post negative comments about HTC online.

HTC One
HTC's new One smartphone reportedly has Samsung worried.


The Taiwanese FTC's investigation will look into claims that Samsung hired students to write articles attacking HTC and recommending Samsung cell phones, Agence France Presse reported this week. Should the charges against the Galaxy phone maker be upheld, Samsung and its local advertising agent would face up to $835,000 in fines.

Officials for Samsung Taiwan have said that the company has not yet been informed of any FTC investigation. Samsung Taiwan has, though, ceased all Internet marketing, and the company's Facebook page said that it regretted "any inconvenience and confusion from the Internet event."

HTC was once a major player in the Android handset, but the Taiwanese firm has lost considerable ground to Samsung's Galaxy line of devices. HTC this year launched the One, a new, premium-build flagship handset aimed at reversing the company's fortunes and clawing back market share from Samsung.

The One was met with critical acclaim, with tech observers praising the build quality of the device. Samsung, according to some reports, is so worried about the build quality-gap between its handsets and devices from HTC and Apple that the company is considering releasing a much higher-quality device in the near future to counter the threat.

Tensions between Samsung and assorted Taiwanese manufacturers have grown along with Samsung's increased stature in the mobile computing market. On Wednesday, reports emerged that several Taiwanese tech manufacturers were banding together with Apple and other manufacturers to counter Samsung.

Samsung was also recently accused of running a "Kill Taiwan" effort, targeting Taiwanese high-tech companies lie Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co..
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 49
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Cue Kdarling and Gatorguy saying that they're only allegations and there's no actual proof that Samsung would ever do anything like that.

    Ignoring, of course, all the times they HAVE been caught doing things that are illegal and unethical.
  • Reply 2 of 49
    davendaven Posts: 696member
    I swear, "Wall Street Cheat Sheet" autochecks AppleInsider for new stories and then reposts them as their own. The minute after a story is posted on AI, Cheat Sheet posts it on the Yahoo newsreader with their own spin.
  • Reply 3 of 49
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    I must admit, the new "One" is a beautiful device. I won't be dumping my iPhone anytime soon but do wish that Apple would release a fresh look.

    Nothing really new since the iPhone 4
  • Reply 4 of 49
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    Samsung engages in criminal behavior and hires fake Fandroids to go around lying and spreading their crap? image


     


    Color me shocked! image

  • Reply 5 of 49
    davendaven Posts: 696member


    We should go over to androidpolice.com and give them a taste of their own b.s.

  • Reply 5 of 49
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post



    Cue Kdarling and Gatorguy saying that they're only allegations and there's no actual proof that Samsung would ever do anything like that.



    Ignoring, of course, all the times they HAVE been caught doing things that are illegal and unethical.


    Certainly no allegation and I'm not surprised by it either. Samsung admits it happened.


    http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-admits-to-trolling-HTC_id41977


     


    They seem more and more inclined to do whatever it takes to gain market share, ethical or not.

  • Reply 7 of 49
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    This kind of thing happens all the time and it's unlikely that Samsung would be punished even if it were a western based company and the FTC was the US FTC.

    Chances are that it will be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Samsung is at fault here, but that they will at the same time get off scott free. That's the way it usually works in cases like this. Only poor (or the poorly connected) people ever get prosecuted for things like this.
  • Reply 8 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by DaveN View Post

    We should go over to androidpolice.com and give them a taste of their own b.s.


     


    No. We're BETTER than they are. Apple users have a history of not ruining others' forums; there's no reason to lower ourselves to their level.

  • Reply 9 of 49
    zoffdinozoffdino Posts: 192member
    You know, Samsung's Chairman is a convicted criminal, having bribed Korean officials to get his business done. And he has really powerful friends too, including the President of South Korea... just sayin'
  • Reply 10 of 49
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member


    HTC sucks.


     


    There.  I said it.


    Hey Samsung!  Pay  me!

  • Reply 11 of 49
    Samsung is the scummiest company I know of. I do not like them one bit. They stole iOS. They're ruining Android. And they are just a bad company period. They need to falter.
  • Reply 12 of 49
    daven wrote: »
    We should go over to androidpolice.com and give them a taste of their own b.s.

    I'd love for you to find a single popular Android site that has a even a quarter as much mention of Apple as Appleinsider has of Android, Google, etc.

    Maybe if this site wasn't FUDcentral when it comes to Apple competitors you'd have less people who feel inclined to correct you.
  • Reply 13 of 49
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    No. We're BETTER than they are. Apple users have a history of not ruining others' forums; there's no reason to lower ourselves to their level.



    Yeah, I agree. Even though I have never tried to hide my dislike of Fandroids and Android in general, I have never once signed up for any Android forum.


     


    And I can spot the imposters that come here, to this forum. They're easy to spot, you can smell them, because they reek.


     


    They also sometimes try to be clever and they give themselves user names pretending to be Mac users, but they're not fooling anybody.

  • Reply 14 of 49
    daven wrote: »
    We should go over to androidpolice.com and give them a taste of their own b.s.

    Androidpolice hardly if ever talks about Apple...especially in a negative light.

    In fact I'd love for anyone to find any popular Android fan site that even has a quarter as many articles about Apple or Microsoft or any other competitor as AppleInsider does.

    This site continuously spreads anti-anyone but Apple FUD it's sickening.

    Maybe if the site read more like AppleInsider and not FUDcentral you'd get a lot less fandroids who feel inclined to correct you (along with those who troll market share like it's the only metric that matters)
  • Reply 15 of 49
    yuniverseyuniverse Posts: 115member
    There's Samsung for you. They've been accused AND convicted before many times over for their unethical business practices in Korea.
  • Reply 16 of 49
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    They seem more and more inclined to do whatever it takes to gain market share, ethical or not.

    That's an understatement.
  • Reply 17 of 49
    Hiring shills to write phony reviews is hardly novel. And not illegal in the US, either. It's called "advertising".
  • Reply 18 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post

    Hiring shills to write phony reviews is hardly novel. And not illegal in the US, either.


     


    Uh, yeah, that very much is illegal.

  • Reply 19 of 49

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post



    Hiring shills to write phony reviews is hardly novel. And not illegal in the US, either. It's called "advertising".


    And yet strangely, the FTC disagrees with you because it has both shutdown and brought fines against companies who have done what you claim is "not illegal".

  • Reply 20 of 49
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by saarek View Post



    I must admit, the new "One" is a beautiful device. I won't be dumping my iPhone anytime soon but do wish that Apple would release a fresh look.



    Nothing really new since the iPhone 4


    I must agree - the One is very pretty. I have no problems with the iPhone 4 or 5 and don't feel a desperate need for 'something new', but the One is definitely Apple worthy imo.

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