Technology is quickly becoming the face of society’s future, and with no way to stop it, people have happily embraced it. Except for the select groups who shun “New World Technology”, most of society has taken this new way of life head-on.
The first ever phone company, the Bell Telphone Company, was founded in 1877. Alexander Graham Bell’s newfound device was a perfect communication tool and eventually, it became a part of society’s daily life when phones became mobile. With a surge in mobile phones came mobile phone companies.
The most well-known phone companies today are Apple and Samsung, both of them have fought tooth and nail to be the top dogs in the phone industry. The Apple vs. Samsung war is the technological version of the Coca-Cola Vs. Pepsi war, making the monopolistic market almost impossible.
The most well-known phone companies today are Apple and Samsung, both of them have fought tooth and nail to be the top dogs in the phone industry. The Apple vs. Samsung war is the technological version of the Coca-Cola Vs. Pepsi war, making the monopolistic market almost impossible.
In 2007, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple released the first-ever iPhone. It was a small handheld device that, like all first-generation products, was limited in its design but had potential for the next generation.
Apple couldn’t create the next generation of tech alone though, they needed a little help from an unexpected friend.
Jobs reached out to Chang-Gyu Hwang, the president of Samsung’s semiconductor and memory business. He held the missing piece that Apple needed, a flash memory chip. Samsung was the one of few companies that were reliable and consistent.
The new device was the first of many, but it set off a domino effect no one was prepared for. In 2009, Samsung released its own smartphone.
The new phone looked and acted just like the iPhone. In Jobs’s eyes, this was an act of war.
Apple quickly took action trying to go to court with Samsung, saying Samsung took their ideas. They offered several deals on the patents for the sudden rival company to pay them to sell their phones, but Samsung countered and claimed that Apple stole their design.
Jobs declared a “thermonuclear war” on Andriod, the system that runs Samsung phones and its devices.
Samsung was done playing second fiddle to its brothering company, they were ready to sit in the first chair. The up-and-coming company tried many ways to set themselves apart from their rival. They hired a set of unique, unconventional, offbeat and irreverent persons to create the face of their brand, Brain Wallace and Todd Pendleton.
The duo was tasked with creating the new face of Samsung.
While Samsung was trying to create their image, they were also trying to stay above water. In 2011, Apple wouldn’t back down from the fight, attacking Samsung at any angle they could come up with. Jobs once said “We are going to patent everything” trying to make it impossible for Samsung to stay in the game.
In the end, Apple was able to sue Samsung for $929 million, making every media headline that was out there. Even though this was a win for Apple, the battle put Samsung on the map.
More and more people went to the dark side, becoming part of the Samsung “tribe”, but there was still something missing. This is where Pendleton and Wallace came in, they asked the major questions “Who are we?” and “What do we stand for?”
They duo soon realized that while they exceeded in function they lacked in style.
Apple caught the eye with its unique fashion and interesting back story, but Samsung needed to find a branding style that caught people’s attention. After trial and error, Pendleton and Wallace finally found their saving grace. A commercial was put out just before the big Christmas shopping season, a simple and straight-to-the-point commercial with a clear message.
The commercial presented the Galaxy S II, a device with a large screen that caught the eye of multiple pedestrians walking along a sidewalk.
“The next big thing is already here,” meaning the brand and consumers didn’t have to wait and follow the hype of their competitors.
The commercial was released on Nov. 22, 2011, making Samsung’s business take off almost overnight, growing the rivalry immensely.
Today the rivalry continues, every year both companies come out with the newest ideas in technology with even more innovative designs. It will be a long time before either company gives into the war of smartphone dominance.
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