Analysis: Samsung Gives Apple a Taste of its Own Medicine

Authored by Jay Baage on September 1, 2006 - 10:29am.

The battle of the electronic giants is shaping up in the music sector. Apple's iPod/iTunes combo is not just being challeged by Microsoft Zune, but by Samsung's new generation of players and branded music services, as well. Samsung steps up to the plate with a new take on the social portable music gadget with built-in speakers that slide out from the back of the device. But perhaps most notable is that Samsung is going to launch a major ad campaign based on the tagline "MPFreedom", clearly aimed against iPod and iTunes. Ironically the ad campaign's theme is reminiscent of Apple's historic 1984 campaign against IBM, which was masterfully portrayed by Apple as an oppressive and unimaginative regime whose time was up.

Samsung Electronics announced on Friday at Berlin's large consumer electronics fair that the company is launching a number of innovative portable media players, as well as its own digital music service through a new, long-term European partnership with MusicNet, a B2B digital entertainment services provider.

According to the press release, MusicNet will power the service and provide the underlying technologies and content library of more than 2 million songs for Samsung's subscription service and download stores in the UK, Germany and France. In addition, Samsung is also planning on expanding the service throughout Europe and Asia after its initial launch phase.

What's more, Samsung's new K5 music player has two small clear speakers built right into the device. The new technology is said to offer better sound than anything you would expect could fit in your pocket. This makes the MP3-player less of a solitary experience, since you can share music with others without having to lug around bulky external speakers.

However, the true advantage of the K5 over the iPod is that it supports consumers' existing MP3 collections and popular subscription services such as Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo, and Urge, so that one can easily play content transferred from a PC. To leverage this benefit and launch of the K5, Samsung has developed the MPFreedom campaign which demonstrates the freedom of choice music subscription services offer consumers. This campaign represents the benefit of not being held down to one particular outlet, but to living wirelessly, and to express one's individuality.

What's amusing about this campaign is not that it is original - because it is not (Napster has had similar themes in its ads) - but that Samsung has some major marketing muscles that it will dedicate to hit Apple where it hurts – attracking its image as the rebel electonics and software company. All of a sudden it is Apple and its closed DRM-system that is the evil dominant empire, much like IBM was to Apple in its classic "1984" Superbowl commercial. This negative perception could become a public embarrassment for Apple given that the firm constantly ranks among the world’s strongest brands, and, as a result, happily charges premium prices to its customers.

I say - go Samsung! Competition is always healthy and I can’t wait to see how the marketing department at Apple is going to respond to this.

Samsung's K5 will go on sale on September 10th at $209.99 (2GB) and $259.99 (4GB). For those of you who read my blog, you might not be surprised that later this year it will also be available in the color pink.

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Comments

Great !!

Submitted by Abdul Mohsin (not verified) on September 3, 2006 - 9:44pm.

Look wise much better than ipod but what about sound quality ???????????????

It looks very thick??

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on September 4, 2006 - 4:25am.

I applaud Samsung on their efforts because Apple should have to share their DRM. However, this device does not look better then an apple. It looks thick and well, it's not simple.