Dear Samsung:
First off, big fan. I currently own three Samsung TVs and a Samsung Fridge, and I just helped my parents buy a new Samsung LED TV too, and it’s super cool. Frankly, there aren’t too many companies out there that I trust for big purchases like that anymore, and you’re one of them. And up until recently, I was planning on buying a new Samsung TV for my office, a purely trivial purchase that I wanted to make just in time for baseball season. But now … well now I’m not so sure.
See, I trust Samsung products to work and work well, and that’s why I buy them. But I also trust Apple products, and I enjoy using them. In fact, I’m typing this post on an Apple MacBook Air connected to an Apple display, and I’ve got another Apple computer behind me. Frankly, the two big brands in this house are Apple and Samsung, which have worked in harmony pretty well so far.
But your latest commercial — the one for the Samsung Galaxy SII (video here) — well, it makes you guys look like a bunch of dicks.
I’m one of those guys who waits in line for new Apple products, and I do so for a few different reasons:
- They have a well-established infrastructure which I’m heavily invested in.
- The products are well designed.
- Each item speaks volumes about the quality and workmanship involved in putting them together.
- They’re easy to use.
With the exception of No. 1, I could use those terms to describe Samsung products as well. My LED TV isn’t the top of the line model, but it still puts out a gorgeous picture, was simple to mount, is designed well, easy to use and appears to be put together well. I feel like I’m holding a quality piece every time I touch the TV, and that’s why I paid more for it than the competition.
If I’m an Apple guy for most stuff, and a Samsung guy for the rest, how do you think it makes me feel to be called a sheep? To be told I’m a loser because I wait in line for the latest iPhone when the competition has something else out there?
It makes me feel like never buying another Samsung product again, that’s how it makes me feel.
Samsung and Apple consumers are the same people. We buy both because we want that kind of quality in our merchandise; the kind of stuff we’ll keep for years, or until a newer and better thing comes along. Why would you try to separate us like that? Why can’t we coexist in harmony?
When comparing statistics, I can see why you would think that your new smartphone is better than the iPhone, but it just isn’t. I’m not going to reinvest my cash into anything Android, because I can never trust where it’s going to end up. What App Store do I use? Amazon? Google? Some other one? I’m not that guy. And a bigger screen? Look, it’s more important to me that my phone fit in my pocket than being able to watch movies on a big screen the one or two times a month that I do so. Just going by stats isn’t going to help you here; you need to start from the ground up and make it awesome.
And if you did that, I would have considered switching sides to your product because it was better than what Apple has. But after I saw that commercial, I realized that you really don’t care about those of us who choose Samsung over the competition for our goods, we’re just Apple sheep. Sure, you’d kill to have your own following, but by calling the Apple people fanboys, you may have just cut off your nose to spite your face.
Guess the marketing department really hit that one out of the park, huh?
Sincerely,
-Kevin Whipps
P.S. Have you heard the rumors about how one of Steve Jobs’ last big “aha!” moments was the TV and how to make it work better? And how the rumor is that this new TV is coming out next year? If the rumors are true, I guarantee there will be a surge of Samsung TVs on sale at the same time — on Craigslist.
An Open Letter to Samsung
Dear Samsung:
First off, big fan. I currently own three Samsung TVs and a Samsung Fridge, and I just helped my parents buy a new Samsung LED TV too, and it’s super cool. Frankly, there aren’t too many companies out there that I trust for big purchases like that anymore, and you’re one of them. And up until recently, I was planning on buying a new Samsung TV for my office, a purely trivial purchase that I wanted to make just in time for baseball season. But now … well now I’m not so sure.
See, I trust Samsung products to work and work well, and that’s why I buy them. But I also trust Apple products, and I enjoy using them. In fact, I’m typing this post on an Apple MacBook Air connected to an Apple display, and I’ve got another Apple computer behind me. Frankly, the two big brands in this house are Apple and Samsung, which have worked in harmony pretty well so far.
But your latest commercial — the one for the Samsung Galaxy SII (video here) — well, it makes you guys look like a bunch of dicks.
I’m one of those guys who waits in line for new Apple products, and I do so for a few different reasons:
With the exception of No. 1, I could use those terms to describe Samsung products as well. My LED TV isn’t the top of the line model, but it still puts out a gorgeous picture, was simple to mount, is designed well, easy to use and appears to be put together well. I feel like I’m holding a quality piece every time I touch the TV, and that’s why I paid more for it than the competition.
If I’m an Apple guy for most stuff, and a Samsung guy for the rest, how do you think it makes me feel to be called a sheep? To be told I’m a loser because I wait in line for the latest iPhone when the competition has something else out there?
It makes me feel like never buying another Samsung product again, that’s how it makes me feel.
Samsung and Apple consumers are the same people. We buy both because we want that kind of quality in our merchandise; the kind of stuff we’ll keep for years, or until a newer and better thing comes along. Why would you try to separate us like that? Why can’t we coexist in harmony?
When comparing statistics, I can see why you would think that your new smartphone is better than the iPhone, but it just isn’t. I’m not going to reinvest my cash into anything Android, because I can never trust where it’s going to end up. What App Store do I use? Amazon? Google? Some other one? I’m not that guy. And a bigger screen? Look, it’s more important to me that my phone fit in my pocket than being able to watch movies on a big screen the one or two times a month that I do so. Just going by stats isn’t going to help you here; you need to start from the ground up and make it awesome.
And if you did that, I would have considered switching sides to your product because it was better than what Apple has. But after I saw that commercial, I realized that you really don’t care about those of us who choose Samsung over the competition for our goods, we’re just Apple sheep. Sure, you’d kill to have your own following, but by calling the Apple people fanboys, you may have just cut off your nose to spite your face.
Guess the marketing department really hit that one out of the park, huh?
Sincerely,
-Kevin Whipps
P.S. Have you heard the rumors about how one of Steve Jobs’ last big “aha!” moments was the TV and how to make it work better? And how the rumor is that this new TV is coming out next year? If the rumors are true, I guarantee there will be a surge of Samsung TVs on sale at the same time — on Craigslist.