Using "ringers" wouldn't surprise me, but with the Internet and YouTube you would think that someone would out them. Never stopped them before though. It seems very inconvenient to have to ship back the phone (if you like it) and then have to go get another one.
The new iPhones are almost here and this is pure desperation.
Yep, this is Samsung’s Kamikaze gambit. They’re all out of ammunition, they’re surrounded, and there’s a thermonuclear device headed their way on a plane with a strange fruit shaped logo painted on the fuselage.
And behind this stunt will be paid minions invading every tech forum claiming to have ditched their iPhones in favor of the Galaxy. It’ll be interesting to see how the tech press spins this. This sort of thing is right up their alley. Pundits will be pundit-ing, analysts will be analyzing , surveys and reports will be flying, countdowns to oblivion will be started, and Brian Tong at c|net will go creepy queer with this.
I'll give them a test drive only if they give me my dollar back at the end. Also, remove all the bloatware that they will use to track my usage. Ask me if I trust Android enough to load my credit cards in their phone....oh, iMessage, oh, FaceTime, oh my ecosystem, oh...no, fu,k the Samsung...you can keep you pos phone. I never give up my phone. It didn't happen in the past with 4" iPhone, it won't happen now or later with 5.5" iPhone.
3) It's interesting that they test phone has to be sent back to Samsung even if you decide to buy that exact phone.
This makes sense. If the conversion rate is low, you'd end up with a significant number of used phones you'd have to sell as refurbs. By recycling demo phones you insulate yourself from some of that.
I remember when Apple had a "test drive a Macintosh" a few decades years ago. I don't remember how successful that was but it certainly was popular. Nice to see how Samsung copies Apple in more than just product design.
No, not personally, but at work we need to test an Android client we are having developed against as many phones as possible... Plus there is a cost to this that Samsung has to bear...
Now that Apple makes large screen iPhones and Samsung has gotten rid of their most unique features (removable battery,micro SD card slot, etc), there's no real reason to switch anymore.
So this only applies to iPhone owners? If you own any other Android OEM phone you're not allowed to participate?
From a practical standpoint, offering this to existing Sammy customers would get existing Sammy customers to upgrade sooner rather than later. It might even slow the flow of customers to iPhone.
Offering to Moto or HTC owners wouldn't work. Because Samsung is the big fish in the Android pond. For them to go after the relatively small percent of those Android users would seem desperate, which it would be. We're talking 'flagship' (God, who started using that word to describe phones?) Android phone owners who probably want their removable batteries and SD cards and all the stuff S6 ain't got. So the only credibly large source of upgraders to sway from the Android world would be their Samsung's existing customers, those who are still using S3, S4, and S5 models.
But even IF those conversion numbers would have been higher, Sammy wouldn't pursue them because it's not entirely a positive PR story. Imagine how it would be viewed: Sammy incentivizing their own customer to upgrade? OMG they must be desperate!
But instead, if Samsung offered iPhone users this deal, they have nothing to lose, because
1) Some people might keep the Galaxy, then whatever number that is, Samsung can brag about it for PR win.
2) But even if the number is absolutely zero, they've "created a story" and gotten free publicity from sites like AppleInsider. And they've positioned themselves as a "challenger brand" (think Pepsi).
(The irony of the challenger brand ad strategy is that on total numbers alone, Sammy still sells more phones than anyone on earth, yet they see themselves they way we see them: second to Apple. Instead of flaunting numbers, they desperately want to be seen as 'the next big thing' and constantly compare themselves to Apple, which sells fewer units worldwide)
Exactly. They have nothing to lose. And I imagine that they won't be using brand new phones for the trials. If they did and the user opts to stay with Apple then they now have a phone that can't be sold as new and nothing to show for it. You opt to buy in, then you get a new phone. (That's why you need to return the phone at the end of the trial.)
Even if it's a new phone, it's better to get it into some potential customers hands than to sit in a warehouse somewhere...
Comments
More like a Trojan jackass.
Using "ringers" wouldn't surprise me, but with the Internet and YouTube you would think that someone would out them. Never stopped them before though. It seems very inconvenient to have to ship back the phone (if you like it) and then have to go get another one.
Even at one dollar the cost is too high.
The new iPhones are almost here and this is pure desperation.
Yep, this is Samsung’s Kamikaze gambit. They’re all out of ammunition, they’re surrounded, and there’s a thermonuclear device headed their way on a plane with a strange fruit shaped logo painted on the fuselage.
And behind this stunt will be paid minions invading every tech forum claiming to have ditched their iPhones in favor of the Galaxy. It’ll be interesting to see how the tech press spins this. This sort of thing is right up their alley. Pundits will be pundit-ing, analysts will be analyzing , surveys and reports will be flying, countdowns to oblivion will be started, and Brian Tong at c|net will go creepy queer with this.
Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait.
Ask me if I trust Android enough to load my credit cards in their phone....oh, iMessage, oh, FaceTime, oh my ecosystem, oh...no, fu,k the Samsung...you can keep you pos phone. I never give up my phone. It didn't happen in the past with 4" iPhone, it won't happen now or later with 5.5" iPhone.
Does it also come with a free bowl of soup?
Somehow this will be spun negative for Apple: Does Sammy test drive spell doom for Apple?
3) It's interesting that they test phone has to be sent back to Samsung even if you decide to buy that exact phone.
This makes sense. If the conversion rate is low, you'd end up with a significant number of used phones you'd have to sell as refurbs. By recycling demo phones you insulate yourself from some of that.
But no phone is available on any carrier...lol
Only POS Samsung is doing a business like this.
Yuk, no thanks keep your wanna be iPhone. I'll stick to the real thing.
You are interested in Google's android spyware ?
No, not personally, but at work we need to test an Android client we are having developed against as many phones as possible... Plus there is a cost to this that Samsung has to bear...
Have to read the T&Cs
Now that Apple makes large screen iPhones and Samsung has gotten rid of their most unique features (removable battery,micro SD card slot, etc), there's no real reason to switch anymore.
You couldn't pay me enough money to have me give up my iPhone 6.
6? Hell, I wouldn't give up my 5 for one of those...
From a practical standpoint, offering this to existing Sammy customers would get existing Sammy customers to upgrade sooner rather than later. It might even slow the flow of customers to iPhone.
Offering to Moto or HTC owners wouldn't work. Because Samsung is the big fish in the Android pond. For them to go after the relatively small percent of those Android users would seem desperate, which it would be. We're talking 'flagship' (God, who started using that word to describe phones?) Android phone owners who probably want their removable batteries and SD cards and all the stuff S6 ain't got. So the only credibly large source of upgraders to sway from the Android world would be their Samsung's existing customers, those who are still using S3, S4, and S5 models.
But even IF those conversion numbers would have been higher, Sammy wouldn't pursue them because it's not entirely a positive PR story. Imagine how it would be viewed: Sammy incentivizing their own customer to upgrade? OMG they must be desperate!
But instead, if Samsung offered iPhone users this deal, they have nothing to lose, because
1) Some people might keep the Galaxy, then whatever number that is, Samsung can brag about it for PR win.
2) But even if the number is absolutely zero, they've "created a story" and gotten free publicity from sites like AppleInsider. And they've positioned themselves as a "challenger brand" (think Pepsi).
(The irony of the challenger brand ad strategy is that on total numbers alone, Sammy still sells more phones than anyone on earth, yet they see themselves they way we see them: second to Apple. Instead of flaunting numbers, they desperately want to be seen as 'the next big thing' and constantly compare themselves to Apple, which sells fewer units worldwide)
Even if it's a new phone, it's better to get it into some potential customers hands than to sit in a warehouse somewhere...