You might have missed it (if you’ve been in a coma) but Apple announced their latest cell phones a few days ago, Along with a new smart watch. The new phones have much larger screens that any iPhone before (4.7 and 5.5 inches), run the latest version of Apple’s OS (iOS 8), and feature an NFC (Near Field Communications) chip that allows Apple to provide a digital wallet. If you were listening to Apple’s big show, and knew nothing about any other mobile technologies, you might assume that Apple created the first large screen phones, were the first to include a digital wallet and tap-to-pay in a cell phone, and invented the smart watch.
Of course, those of us who have been using Samsung devices might know that Samsung offered a 4.8 inch screen on the Galaxy S III, introduced back in in May 2012. That device also had an NFC chip and offered tap-to-pay. We also remember that Samsung invented the large screen “phablet” genre with the Galaxy Note, introduced in October of 2011, and introduced a Note with a 5.5 inch screen (the Note II) in August of 2012. At the time of the original Note’s introduction Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, famously said “No one is going to buy a big phone.” And Samsung is currently offering their 3rd generation of smart watches, while Apple has yet to ship even one.
So it’s probably not too surprising that Samsung has taken just a little bit of umbrage at some of Apple’s claims, and the media’s tendency to repeat anything Apple says as if it were gospel and we were all members of the Church of Apple Now. So in response to Apple’s reveal, Samsung has released the latest in a series of ads which tweak Apple and it’s products while touting Samsung’s technology. You might remember some of Samsung’s recent ads in this genre, Wall Huggers, and their followup ads in airport waiting areas.
As always, some will like this ad, others not so much.
At the same time, Android fan Ron Amadeo has created the following image to remind iPhone users just who is copying who. Let us know what you think, about both Samsung’s ad and the new iPhones, in the comments area below.