Apple. Samsung. The two giants in mobile technology. These two have been going at it since the days of the Samsung Galaxy S, back in 2010. The two companies, as well as the many other manufacturers globally, but these two have competed over branding and advertising ever since the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III were due out in 2012. The iPhone had its redesigned body, as did the S III, but Samsung took the advertising beyond just their device, but to the people that would buy the other one.
Samsung made a point of showing foolish and sometimes elderly iLovers (which there is no shame in being, because Apple knows how to make a premium device for sure) talking about inane physical features (“I heard they’re moving the headphone jack…to the BOTTOM this year!”), and making the S III out to be unique, new, and interesting, jus tlike the young hip-looking folk that were showing them off, to the people in line for their iPhones (since the S III was released in June, whereas the iPhone 5 was available in September). But J.K. Shin, VP of Samsung’s KNOX security software group, thinks this could be over soon if, not now.
Shin, at Samsung’s Business Discovery Day, remarked how, even though Apple may be making its first steps into the wearables market, the company can’t and shouldn’t count on the past kind of following, just because it’s Apple, and just because it’s not Android. Shin believes, rather hopefully, that the consumer that would’ve fallen for advertising and branding alone, are now thinking ‘more like an engineer’ than ever before, and relying on functional designs and features, rather than what looks nice or what feels nice or what costs the most alone.
Shin may be wrong though, because much of the hype gathered before a device is launched is based solely on hardware, design, and materials (as well as the size) of the device(s) in question. Fans of iOS and Apple Products are very focused on hardware and build material/quality still, while many Android fans are still either going with the most popular or the highest-speced device, going for the internals then hating on Android competitors based on hardware and software. I do disagree with Shin; I feel that the consumer market is not quite ready to look at a device as a device, instead of a social marker, or some sort of label for what kind of person you are.