Apple Narrows Gap in U.S. Advertising Spending With Rival Samsung

[ucantgetridofme]

Apple has cornered the market for sappy cornball commercials that make you cringe and sick to your stomach so you change the channel then you forget to change it back to what you were watching and you miss the best part of your favorite TV show all because of Apple and their cheesy marketing. Up yours apple!

 

[inscrewtable]

Samsung's clever tagline "The next big thing"...

Let's be clear, it's a tag line. It's not a 'clever' tag line by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it's a bit corny, while diminishing the entire concept of a 'next big thing', which rightly refers to a new product category as was the original iPhone or iPad or iPod for that matter.

 

[samcraig]

Let's be clear, it's a tag line. It's not a 'clever' tag line by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it's a bit corny, while diminishing the entire concept of a 'next big thing', which rightly refers to a new product category as was the original iPhone or iPad or iPod for that matter.

It's enough to boil some of Schiller's blood

 

[macs4nw]

…..for Apple to get it's "mojo" back, they need to make the iPhone 6 not just meet the other larger phones, but beat them in some cool or innovative way. Honestly, I don't think this would be hard for them to do… all the phones seem to have reached a peak in features. Quality, performance and ease of use is where Apple can really shine.

That's exactly what they are doing, but people are complaining about the prices…..and with the carrier's suspected appetite for gradual transition from contract phones to unlocked phones, the complaining will only get louder and louder.

Contract phones with the device purchase price clearly and unambivalently separated from the service contract, with a defined end date for those purchase-portions of the monthly fee, à la T-Mob would work in Apple's favor.

 

[Rad99004]

Sorry but you kind of sound like a marketing douche. Ease of use is "yesterdays feature"?

Ease of use will always be the number 1 feature for the general consumer of electronics and software.

Why are you trying to close an app by swiping down? Not sure I understand your problem.

So instead of complaining about the iPhone's 4" screen being too small, you want two apps open on it at the same time???

The swiping down is in reference to closing apps on a Microsoft Surface. Its a more elegant solution than hitting the home button and swiping up. One step versus many.

And yes the tiny iPhone 3.5 4S 4" 5 screen is way too small.

One closer to the SG5 will be much better and for taking notes one like the galaxy note with stylus would be good.

As far as two apps on the screen since IOS spans multiple devices I was mostly referring to the iPad.

My perfect device is a merging of a iPad and a Surface.

Depending on how Apple prices the next phone I may just pick up a Windows phone or just continue using my 4S.

I was going to buy a iPad mini but the pricing for the 128 gig model with LTE was a bit too Premium priced so I will continue to use my iPad 3 for play and Surface RT for work.

 

[dansix]

This is not a surprise. People bash me when I say the success of Samsung's Galaxy line is an affect of their drastic marketing.

No, that's not the only reason. Its advertising highlights what the phone can do and what iPhone can't. On a Samsung phone, using Swype or other third party keyboards, you can type 2-3 times faster... you can also download a launcher and customize the entire user interface. Steve Jobs even admitted that iPhone was behind.

 

[tongxinshe]

Missing in this analysis is the fact that Apple has huge own retail operation. It literally pay a lot of salespeople to sell iPhone exclusively. This is also a reason why Samsung promotional budget is much higher than Apple's. Obviously what Apple spends on retail counts as different budget category.

Missing in your analysis is that people walking into an Apple Store are looking for Apple products (or accessaries for them), not any others. While at the same time, people walking into a store of a cell phone carrier company are looking for phones, not necessarily Samesung phones or Apple phones.

So, kickbacks specific to certain brands in the carrier stores create competitive advantages, while kickback specific to Apple brand in Apple stores create no competitive advantages at all.

 

[wigby]

The swiping down is in reference to closing apps on a Microsoft Surface. Its a more elegant solution than hitting the home button and swiping up. One step versus many.

And yes the tiny iPhone 3.5 4S 4" 5 screen is way too small.

One closer to the SG5 will be much better and for taking notes one like the galaxy note with stylus would be good.

As far as two apps on the screen since IOS spans multiple devices I was mostly referring to the iPad.

My perfect device is a merging of a iPad and a Surface.

Depending on how Apple prices the next phone I may just pick up a Windows phone or just continue using my 4S.

I was going to buy a iPad mini but the pricing for the 128 gig model with LTE was a bit too Premium priced so I will continue to use my iPad 3 for play and Surface RT for work.

Fair enough but don't hold your breath for a stylus from Apple. That would be like expecting them to go back to physical keyboards for iOS. I'm still waiting for a legitimate use case for multiple screen multitasking. Everytime I see it on a Samsung commercial, it's a device playing a video or skyping while they're texting or something. I can do all of that on my desktop already and yet I have never needed to.

 

[kdarling]

I'm still waiting for a legitimate use case for multiple screen multitasking. Everytime I see it on a Samsung commercial, it's a device playing a video or skyping while they're texting or something. I can do all of that on my desktop already and yet I have never needed to.

That's okay, but others of us do find multiple windows handy.

• Heck, a popular app category at the beginning for the iPad was browsers that allowed more than one page viewable at a time.
  -
• If you're a reporter, being able to Skype and write at the same time during an interview would be invaluable.
  -
• Being able to Skype your girlfriend at college while working on a paper would also be a good example.
  -
• Ditto for viewing videos or web pages, while using the info for a report.
  -
• For that matter, I remember having one window open on my laptop watching the "Miracle on the Hudson" airplane rescue, while emailing my coworkers about it in another.

I'm sure other examples spring to mind for many people.

 

[tongxinshe]

We must be looking at different media outlets. Samsung phones generally get so, so reviews. The tech press loves to harp on plastic body and saturated colors. The public thus far has basically ignored the tech press, otherwise we would be talking about HTC and not Samsung.

Bolded: All smartphones have their flaws. We're at a point now where a smartphone is a smartphone is a smartphone. There's hardly anything you can do with one that you can't do with any other. The differentiation tends to be more style than substance. Then there's size. For me it was easy. I looked at the functionality of handsets (same), app environment (same), and price (same). Screen real estate was a tangible difference. It was the tipping point in my decision. Apple could have been my choice. Unfortunately, it lacked the final piece of the puzzle to get my money. I think more people are like me rather than someone who just wants a bigger phone. I could be wrong. It's just opinion.

You sound to believe that you were not much affected by the advertisement. But the story you narrated actually shows it the opposite way, since you only considered Apple and Samesung.

Set Apple aside, since its products have very different pros and cons comparing with all of the others. Among all of the Android phones, HTC Ones and Google Nexuses are definitely better than Samsung Galaxies.

Comparing with Samsungs, HTCs have the same prices, the same level of ecosystems, the same big screens, but have much better handset looking, better build quality and slightly better real-life performance (not the cheated trend marks).
Comparing with Samsungs and HTCs, Google Nexuses have the same big screens, the same level of ecosystems, a slight disadvantage at performance or handset features / specs, but much less bloatware and much much lower prices.

 

[69Mustang]

You sound to believe that you were not much affected by the advertisement. But the story you narrated actually shows it the opposite way, since you only considered Apple and Samesung.

Set Apple aside, since its products have very different pros and cons comparing with all of the others. Among all of the Android phones, HTC Ones and Google Nexuses are definitely better than Samsung Galaxies.

Comparing with Samsungs, HTCs have the same prices, the same level of ecosystems, the same big screens, but have much better handset looking, better build quality and slightly better real-life performance (not the cheated trend marks).
Comparing with Samsungs and HTCs, Google Nexuses have the same big screens, the same level of ecosystems, a slight disadvantage at performance or handset features / specs, but much less bloatware and much much lower prices.

Apologies if my writing style lead you to believe my choice was Samsung and Apple only. It wasn't. I walked into an AT&T store and chose from a number of phones. I had already researched the specs so I knew a lot about the phones going in the door. Everything was equal. After playing around with them, the iPhone got eliminated. To small. Bloatware, or vendor overlays don't bother me per se. I know how to do everything I need to do on a phone. Sense, Touchwiz, and other skins are just window dressing. Metal vs polycarbonate, again window dressing. Samsung won out simply because the screen looked the best out of the choices that were left. People rag on saturated colors and inaccurate gambit. I'm not a photographer. I go by what looks best to me (see my tag line).

Coming up, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, and Nokia are all in the running for my next phone. Apple can be there if they can meet my size requirement. My wallet has no loyalty to a phone vendor. A phone is just a tool to get a job done. Someone's getting my money. The rest... there's always 2016.

 

[samcraig]

That's okay, but others of us do find multiple windows handy.

• Heck, a popular app category at the beginning for the iPad was browsers that allowed more than one page viewable at a time.
  -
• If you're a reporter, being able to Skype and write at the same time during an interview would be invaluable.
  -
• Being able to Skype your girlfriend at college while working on a paper would also be a good example.
  -
• Ditto for viewing videos or web pages, while using the info for a report.
  -
• For that matter, I remember having one window open watching the "Miracle on the Hudson" airplane rescue, while texting my coworkers about it in another.

I'm sure other examples spring to mind for many people.

I saw a guy on the subway the other day on his Samsung phone (not tablet) with a photo of a handwritten page of notes which he was typing into the notepad function. Another use case of the benefits of having two apps open instead of having to switch

 

[Rad99004]

Fair enough but don't hold your breath for a stylus from Apple. That would be like expecting them to go back to physical keyboards for iOS. I'm still waiting for a legitimate use case for multiple screen multitasking. Everytime I see it on a Samsung commercial, it's a device playing a video or skyping while they're texting or something. I can do all of that on my desktop already and yet I have never needed to.

I watch movies or videos and surf the web.

I often have a document open and also have the calculator open to make a calculation from the first document.

A nifty feature of the surface is from the email app if I open up a web link it opens on the right side of the screen but still keeps the email list on the right. When you close the window it goes back to a full screen view of the email program. No more switching away to a web browser, then having to close down the browser and switching back to the email.

I often use Appshopper on my iPad. Just imagine if you could go to the Apple store in half of the screen(Landscape mode) and buy the app or look at reviews then continue where you left off in the other window looking at more apps in appshopper.

Hope that makes sense. You don't know what your missing until you have the option.

Thats why I say I would like a iPad/Surface device.

The Battery life, 4:3 screen size, weight, game/Utility Apps of the iPad.
The Surface key board/scroll pad, blue tooth for mouse support, multi window OS, Network file manager and kick stand.

I hate carrying two devices I want one that will do it all. Then again I also carry a phone so if the device did it all then that would be OK too 🙂

 

[wigby]

That's okay, but others of us do find multiple windows handy.

• Heck, a popular app category at the beginning for the iPad was browsers that allowed more than one page viewable at a time.
  -
• If you're a reporter, being able to Skype and write at the same time during an interview would be invaluable.
  -
• Being able to Skype your girlfriend at college while working on a paper would also be a good example.
  -
• Ditto for viewing videos or web pages, while using the info for a report.
  -
• For that matter, I remember having one window open on my laptop watching the "Miracle on the Hudson" airplane rescue, while emailing my coworkers about it in another.

I'm sure other examples spring to mind for many people.

I'm sure others could come up with hundreds of examples of watching something while you do something else. I guess I just attribute working on an iPad or computer as something active and watching a video on a tv as something passive. Just like the way we all play with our devices or laptops while we watch tv, you can do both but you're always sacrificing one in order to do both so you're not really doing both. That's fine if you have both on and don't really care about one but to buy a device for that purpose seems silly. And for Apple to make a device for that purpose seems highly unlikely.

----------

I watch movies or videos and surf the web.

I often have a document open and also have the calculator open to make a calculation from the first document.

A nifty feature of the surface is from the email app if I open up a web link it opens on the right side of the screen but still keeps the email list on the right. When you close the window it goes back to a full screen view of the email program. No more switching away to a web browser, then having to close down the browser and switching back to the email.

I often use Appshopper on my iPad. Just imagine if you could go to the Apple store in half of the screen(Landscape mode) and buy the app or look at reviews then continue where you left off in the other window looking at more apps in appshopper.

Hope that makes sense. You don't know what your missing until you have the option.

Thats why I say I would like a iPad/Surface device.

The Battery life, 4:3 screen size, weight, game/Utility Apps of the iPad.
The Surface key board/scroll pad, blue tooth for mouse support, multi window OS, Network file manager and kick stand.

I hate carrying two devices I want one that will do it all. Then again I also carry a phone so if the device did it all then that would be OK too 🙂

The only time I "multitask" while using my iPad is if the tv is on in the background. So I'm listening to the tv and using my iPad but that's the way it was designed to be used. One app at a time. Your examples are good but I wouldn't use it that way. i'm assuming my needs/uses are closer to Apple's design philosophy behind the device so it's doubtful they will change it now. However, a device like an iPad pro would probably necessitate such a distinction and include it. Not sure how likely that is though.