Samsung launched a new product today. Samsung Galaxy SII.

Queues for Mr Samsung

I only know about this launch because at five to eight this morning there was a queue outside the Samsung store here in the central business district of Sydney. Not a massive queue – not by Apple standards – but a queue none the less. Good work, Mr Samsung.

Well, Samsung is on the front page of The Economist last week. The business is held up as a success story.

And Apple made it onto the front of this week’s publication, of course. A success story and also an obituary.

But I when I say “Good work, Mr Samsung” I realise that unlike the recently deceased Mr Apple, we don’t know who Mr Samsung is. And I’m fine with that. As I said on the recent Mumbrella podcast (33.55), the new CEO at Apple is a self-proclaimed team player, not a figurehead.

But we should be careful about our eulogy for Steve Jobs. Especially after reading Adam Ferrier’s piece on mumbrella, the ad industry news&views source:

We are living in a world where there is an unparalleled outpouring of grief for someone who has made us fall in love with our PDAs, computers, and MP3s.

What the fuck?

Adam founded and sold the Australian branch of Naked Communications. He’s very bright and very convincing. Well, almost always. And now I feel a little silly about my last post, Computing Made Cool. You know, the one where I quoted a Jobs quote. In Adland, the Jobs quotes are as ubiquitous as the Ogilvy quotes. And I jumped onto the sentimental bandwagon. Sort of.

Even before reading Adam Ferrier’s article, I found myself reflecting on my perceived bandwagoning. Flowers sparked this reflection. You see, just after walking past the Samsung store this morning I saw the flowers outside the Apple Store next door. And as the security guard opened the doors, he had to brush aside some of the flowers that had been laid there over the weekend.

Flowers for Mr Apple

To a large extent, I agree with Adam Ferrier’s whole article (not just the ‘out-of-context’ quote above). Plus I was shocked by the flowers. A bit over the top, I thought.

That said, it is pretty impressive for Jobs to have wooed and won the world over, not only with technology-led consumerism, but also with ideology and positive enthusiasm. He wooed enough to win flowers outside his shop. Flowers from his customers.

I don’t think many shop owners get that.

That said, if you’ll forgive me, I’ll keep my feet on the ground about this one. I have respect, but flowers outside his shop? I don’t think I’ll be laying a wreath. Will you?

UPDATE: Turns out that the Samsung queue was at the pop-up store ambush – giving away phones for $2 only…
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/samsung-ambushes-apples-iphone-4s-launch-in-sydney-20111012-1lk0d.html

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