With the large screened iPhone launched by Apple last year cutting into Samsung’s marketshare, the South Korean company came up with an ingenious marketing scheme to gain some of that market back. The plan was aimed squarely at iPhone users, and sounded simple enough in theory. Offer iPhone users the chance to try out a premium Samsung smartphone for 30 days with no obligations and no strings attached. The program, called the “Ultimate Test Drive“, was announced on Friday, and the devices on offer included the Galaxy S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5. Of course, to sweeten the deal even further, Samsung made sure that the devices would come with free talk, text and a data plan on any one of the four major carriers of the customer’s choosing. Turns out, Samsung apparently misread the interest and the curiosity that iPhone users have about Samsung in particular, and Android in general.
According to news coming in this morning, Samsung has already run out of its stock of devices it had earmarked for the program, which is not at all something the firm would mind, seeing as even a small percentage of iPhone users converting their allegiance would mean significantly increased business for Samsung. A Samsung spokeswoman, while announcing the news, let it be known that the company will be trying to make more stock available for the program. “We’re now working quickly on how to make the Ultimate Test Drive available to even more people,” she said. She however did not clarify how soon other interested iPhone users would get the opportunity to take a Galaxy smartphone out for a spin. Neither did Samsung clarify exactly how many smartphones it had made available in the first round of the program to begin with.
Coming to the “Ultimate Test Drive” program, how it works is pretty simple. Any US resident with an iPhone, who wants to give Samsung a go, would need to head over to Samsung’s designated website using the default Safari browser on an iPhone. Once there, users would be able to fill out necessary information, select their preferred options and pay a $1 processing fee, which will get them a brand new Samsung device of their choosing, shipped directly to the address filled in on the website. Samsung will also reportedly ship a ‘Smart Switch’ cable, which is said to help transfer data from an iPhone to the brand new Samsung handset.