Samsung, others try to rain on Apple's iPhone parade with ads surrounding coverage
Apple's iOS device unveilings are typically the top talk of whatever day they occur on ? and sometimes the day after that ? but that didn't stop a number of the company's competitors from trying to steal the spotlight from the iPhone 5s and 5c with some strategically-placed ads.
Apple's top rival, Samsung, was likely the worst offender according to AdAge. The South Korean etch giant bought a number of well-timed banners and other ads on the pages of The New York Times, Business Insider, Bloomberg, and The Verge.
The overall impact, website visitors that were curious about the iPhone 5c and its higher-end sibling, the iPhone 5s, got their news with a healthy dose of counterprogramming touting the Galaxy S4. Vertical and horizontal bands touted "The Next Big Thing" even as readers checked out Apple's newest big news event.
In the case of Business Insider, that publication's The Hive widget continually updated with new iPhone news, but the updates ran under a design that morphed part of the page into a Galaxy S4. "Sponsored by Samsung Galaxy S4," the text above the Apple news read.
Big ad spending for Samsung is par for the course, as the tech giant actually managed to outspend Apple on phone ads in 2012. Samsung spent $401 million touting its mobile phones in 2012, while Apple spent $333 million in the same period. That ad spending, though, has over time helped Samsung go from being an also-ran in the Android manufacturing space to ? along with Apple ? one of the only two companies making any profit in the smartphone segment.
In addition to Samsung, other Apple competitors took the time to step up their brand efforts while Apple was showing off its bestselling device. LG ran ads on Ars Technica's iPhone live blog aimed at increasing mindshare for its G2 smartphone. Motorola also got in on the action, boosting the Moto X's customizability, which outstrips the color possibilities of the iPhone 5c by far.
Both Microsoft and its future subsidiary, Nokia took to the web to poke fun at Apple's new line of colors. Nokia's Lumia handsets have long relied on a high-quality polycarbonate shell of the sort seen in the iPhone 5c, and the two devices come in a similar range of color options. A tweet from Nokia UK reiterated this point, saying that Apple's "imitation is the best form of flattery."
Microsoft's Windows Phone Twitter account thought it time to show the differences between Nokia's Lumia 1020 and the new iPhones. That tweet shows off the 1020's 41MP camera, 4.5-inch screen, and the Live Tiles feature built into Windows Phone 8.
Apple's top rival, Samsung, was likely the worst offender according to AdAge. The South Korean etch giant bought a number of well-timed banners and other ads on the pages of The New York Times, Business Insider, Bloomberg, and The Verge.
The overall impact, website visitors that were curious about the iPhone 5c and its higher-end sibling, the iPhone 5s, got their news with a healthy dose of counterprogramming touting the Galaxy S4. Vertical and horizontal bands touted "The Next Big Thing" even as readers checked out Apple's newest big news event.
In the case of Business Insider, that publication's The Hive widget continually updated with new iPhone news, but the updates ran under a design that morphed part of the page into a Galaxy S4. "Sponsored by Samsung Galaxy S4," the text above the Apple news read.
Big ad spending for Samsung is par for the course, as the tech giant actually managed to outspend Apple on phone ads in 2012. Samsung spent $401 million touting its mobile phones in 2012, while Apple spent $333 million in the same period. That ad spending, though, has over time helped Samsung go from being an also-ran in the Android manufacturing space to ? along with Apple ? one of the only two companies making any profit in the smartphone segment.
In addition to Samsung, other Apple competitors took the time to step up their brand efforts while Apple was showing off its bestselling device. LG ran ads on Ars Technica's iPhone live blog aimed at increasing mindshare for its G2 smartphone. Motorola also got in on the action, boosting the Moto X's customizability, which outstrips the color possibilities of the iPhone 5c by far.
Both Microsoft and its future subsidiary, Nokia took to the web to poke fun at Apple's new line of colors. Nokia's Lumia handsets have long relied on a high-quality polycarbonate shell of the sort seen in the iPhone 5c, and the two devices come in a similar range of color options. A tweet from Nokia UK reiterated this point, saying that Apple's "imitation is the best form of flattery."
Microsoft's Windows Phone Twitter account thought it time to show the differences between Nokia's Lumia 1020 and the new iPhones. That tweet shows off the 1020's 41MP camera, 4.5-inch screen, and the Live Tiles feature built into Windows Phone 8.
Comments
Bunch of idiots!
The link to this article doesn't seem to work from your homepage. I had to click on the comments link to view it.
Good article. Let's not forget the payed shills that are popping up on forums everywhere to degrade all things Apple.
Apple sneezes, the competition grabs a Kleenex.
Been this way for years now.
All I see is a big jar of grape jelly from the compeition. Apple's nailed mobile to such an astounding degree that they don't need to change the game every damn quarter in order to sell what is already the most comprehensive, cohesive, and synergistic (between all devices) family of mobile products on the market.
We also heard news about Nokia taking a few jabs at Apple. Which is hilarious because they're a complete non-starter in mobile ever since Apple ushered in the age of true mobile platforms and ecosystems. Windows Phone is currently pointless, and completely redundant in light of what Apple offers on one end and Android on the other.
If only Apple had imitated the Lumia's colour range ... they'd have some colours I wouldn't actually mind owning. Like black. Or a true red rather than pink.
Not that it matters to me - silly to a buy a 5c at such a small price differential to the 5s.
Why waste their money? The media has already labeled the phones a dud for them.
Too bad envy doesn't sell phones.
Meanwhile, Samsung 'engineers' working 24/7 to copy, copy, copy...
These ads simply prove that they're running scared.
That said, I'd prefer that Apple got off its recent maudlin meme and started to get a bit cheeky with their advertising as they've done in the past.
Well…
I'm noticing a significant drop in negative posts from members who just registered. I wonder if all the one-day post spamming contracts are factored into Samsung's marketing budget? Though I'd imagine it's pretty cheap to hire basement dwellers who already spend all their time posting angry nonsense to channel their anger into one topic for a day.
I watched the event streamed from cnn.com. The ad pushed before the steam started was a for a Droid something. I don't get how they think that people eager to use their time to watch an Apple Event are a legit target for the Droid. I hope they paid money to run an ad that I Cmd-Tab'd away from.
It was the first time I've watched CNN's coverage of an Apple event, and the last. Their self-indulgent banter and "editorial" made little room for the facts as they were presented. How, in a "live blog" do you reach a point where you actually have to catch-up to what's been already been tweeted or shared. Oh, I know. Mimosas.
What parade? The world has spoken - this past update is crap. Steve Jobs' value to Apple has never been more apparent in recent years than now. The ones running Apple are dropping the ball big time and the stock market's reaction to the new iphone proves that.
The future of these devices isn't in stupid unlock gimmicks like the fingerprint recognition, or face recognition, or butthole recognition, or any kind of recognition they come up with. It's in integration. Google sees this, Apple sort of sees it but isn't acting enough on it.
Let's just face it, we aren't going to see big leaps from Apple anymore. They'll just chug along like the rest of them, keeping up with competition, doing little things here and there to try and garner some attention. They aren't hungry anymore. They are big, on top, and have grown lethargic with their wealth.