Samsung is out with the stretchers, running full tilt towards the customer carnage left by antennagate. Yes, if you're a disgruntled iPhoner, Samsung is coming for you.
Via Twitter and Facebook, Samsung is giving away (yes, literally giving away) its Galaxy S device, mostly to a "cross section" of customers reporting iPhone reception problems. And so comes the belated response to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and his public dressing down of other devices – including the Samsung Omnia 2 – last week.
In a press statement, Samsung says: "Recently there has been a real increase in online activity from consumers dissatisfied with some of our competitors' products.
"We decided to contact a cross section of individuals to offer them a free Samsung Galaxy S as a replacement, as we're confident that once people have the phone in their hands, they'll see how impressive it is for themselves."
Samsung apparently started handing out the Android-powered devices ia Twitter on Wednesday.
Tiffany Nieuwland, Conde Nast digital marketing staffer, was among the first to be offered one after bemoaning the number of dropped calls she gets. Jose Espinosa, director of digital services at Connect Group, was next up for a Galaxy S in the post. And then DigitalNetwork, a London-based search and digital recruitment company.
You get the picture, right? Less a "cross section of customers reporting iPhone reception problems," more of a cherry-picked bunch of digital influencers.
Will Critchlow, co-director of web marketing and development company Distilled, appears to have been the first recipient of the kindly offer. He received his no-strings Samsung phone this morning – with a handwritten courtesy note attached, no less.
"I asked my followers what phone I should get, a few people got back with various links, one of which I retweeted. It appears that's the one Samsung picked up on," Critchlow told us.
"We're an office full of geeks here. It's an effective strategy in terms of making me evangelise the phone. But will it make my followers buy one? Who knows. It ultimately comes down to how good the product is."
Critchlow, an iPhone 3G owner, said he was relatively impressed with the Galaxy S (and you'd be forgiven for thinking they were the same phone, from the appearance), which is his first hands-on experience of Google's Android software. (It runs the Android 2.1 software.)
Samsung kicked off its iPhone-bashing Galaxy S campaign with the below poster. But how long will it last? Bring on the side-by-side customer reviews, we say.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jul/23/samsung-give-away-free-phones-twitter
http://twitter.com/samsungukmobile
--This belongs in the Technology Forum.
Via Twitter and Facebook, Samsung is giving away (yes, literally giving away) its Galaxy S device, mostly to a "cross section" of customers reporting iPhone reception problems. And so comes the belated response to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and his public dressing down of other devices – including the Samsung Omnia 2 – last week.
In a press statement, Samsung says: "Recently there has been a real increase in online activity from consumers dissatisfied with some of our competitors' products.
"We decided to contact a cross section of individuals to offer them a free Samsung Galaxy S as a replacement, as we're confident that once people have the phone in their hands, they'll see how impressive it is for themselves."
Samsung apparently started handing out the Android-powered devices ia Twitter on Wednesday.
Tiffany Nieuwland, Conde Nast digital marketing staffer, was among the first to be offered one after bemoaning the number of dropped calls she gets. Jose Espinosa, director of digital services at Connect Group, was next up for a Galaxy S in the post. And then DigitalNetwork, a London-based search and digital recruitment company.
You get the picture, right? Less a "cross section of customers reporting iPhone reception problems," more of a cherry-picked bunch of digital influencers.
Will Critchlow, co-director of web marketing and development company Distilled, appears to have been the first recipient of the kindly offer. He received his no-strings Samsung phone this morning – with a handwritten courtesy note attached, no less.
"I asked my followers what phone I should get, a few people got back with various links, one of which I retweeted. It appears that's the one Samsung picked up on," Critchlow told us.
"We're an office full of geeks here. It's an effective strategy in terms of making me evangelise the phone. But will it make my followers buy one? Who knows. It ultimately comes down to how good the product is."
Critchlow, an iPhone 3G owner, said he was relatively impressed with the Galaxy S (and you'd be forgiven for thinking they were the same phone, from the appearance), which is his first hands-on experience of Google's Android software. (It runs the Android 2.1 software.)
Samsung kicked off its iPhone-bashing Galaxy S campaign with the below poster. But how long will it last? Bring on the side-by-side customer reviews, we say.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jul/23/samsung-give-away-free-phones-twitter
http://twitter.com/samsungukmobile
--This belongs in the Technology Forum.