When competing for the global smartphone crown a company can’t afford to allow its competitors, or the general public, to detect any lack of confidence in its own wares. But on Friday, Apple’s chief rival, Samsung, blinked. In a message posted to the company’s blog, Samsungindirectly acknowledged the popularity of Apple’s new gold iPhone 5S by posting a kind of “us too” gallery of all the phones it has offered in gold.
The blog post was likely crafted in response to voices on social media channels like Twitter that took Samsung to task for claiming (indirectly) earlier in the week that it had a gold smartphone on the market before the iPhone.
On Sept. 26, on the official Samsung Mobile Arabia Twitter feed, the company posted the following tweet:
On 8th Sept 2013, the 1st Samsung #GalaxyS4 Gold Edition was already sold. The 8th comes before the 10th;)
For those who haven’t been keeping score, the iPhone 5S was released on Sept. 10, so Samsung’s reference to that date appears to be an attempt to remind consumers that it offered a goldsmartphone first.
The gallery embedded in the blog post showcases eight different gold Samsung phones including aspecial edition 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Phone, a 2007 Ocean’s 13 model and even a flip-phone dating all the way back to 2004.
But for many commenters chiming in on Twitter, and even on Samsung’s own blog post, the entiregold affair appeared to be a defensive move to counter the excitement around the gold iPhone 5S.
Whether the tactic wins over Android fans looking for their own golden smartphone or not, what this small public relations episode indicates is that –- no matter the color, the number of features on either phone or global market share numbers –- Apple is still in the lead as a trendsetter, even as Samsung continues to close the gap.
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