For all the trouble Apple’s aggressive litigation strategy has caused Samsung, the South Korea-based electronics giant has finally found a way to make the pricey patent war work to its advantage. Samsung’s devices are gaining huge exposure as a result of Apple’s ongoing lawsuits, positioning Samsung’s Galaxy range of Android tablets and smartphones as the underdog alternative to Apple’s iOS lineup.
Samsung launched a new advertising campaign late last month that just started to scratch the surface. The commercials showed Apple fans lining up in droves for a new smartphone that looked exactly like their old smartphone. It also portrayed iPhone users as mindless hipster sheep, while young sophisticated professionals opted for a more capable smartphone with a gorgeous display and 4G speeds: the Samsung Galaxy S II.
Now Samsung is taking its marketing a step further, directly addressing Apple’s aggressive legal strategy in an effort to draw consumers to its side of the fight.
In Sunday’s edition of Australian paper The Sun-Herald, Samsung ran a full-page advertisement headed with “The tablet Apple tried to stop.” The quip refers of course to the company’s ongoing legal battles with Apple over patents and a design identity that Apple feels are being infringed by Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Samsung recently scored a major victory in Australia, however, when a sales ban on the Android tablet was overturned by an Australian High Court.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 features a 10.1-inch display, a dual-core processor and Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system. According to Apple, the slate also features a design that “slavishly” copies its popular iPad tablet and technology that infringes on multiple Apple-owned patents.
Defending its products against Apple’s numerous lawsuits continues to cost Samsung a tremendous amount of money, but it also appears to be opening some doors. “Samsung has just edged past the iPhone in consumer perception (adults 18+), likely powered by their new set of ads bashing the Apple fanboys who camp out for hours to buy the new iPhone,” market research firm YouGov wrote recently in a report on brand perception.
Samsung appears ready to take Apple on both in the courtroom and in the eyes of consumers, and the company is making progress on both fronts.
Image source (Samsung ad): Martin Aungle
