Samsung launched a new flagship phone last night – the Galaxy S4.
It's a follow-up to the Galaxy S3, which is the world's most popular Android phone, and has propelled Samsung's three-year-old Galaxy line division to profitability entire companies like Google only dream of.
A couple nights before Samsung's big launch, Apple marketing executive Phil Schiller called up Bloomberg, the WSJ, and Reuters to trash Samsung and the operating system it uses in its phone, Android from Google.
You'd expect the Internet's loudest Apple bloggers – Techcrunch columnist MG Siegler and Daring Fireball's John Gruber – to love the aggressive move.
They don't.
At first, they were just suprised by Schiller's tactics. Gruber called it "unusual." Siegler was a little more critical, saying the comments made Apple "look vulnerable"
Now both have decided Schiller made a mistake.
Gruber thinks Schiller blew it by going after specific problems with Samsung's new phone before he knew all of the details.
In his interviews, Schiller said "the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old. Customers will have to wait to get an update.”
It turns out that's not true. The Galaxy will ship with Google's latest version of Android.
Gruber called it an "unforced error."
"Not sure why Schiller would speculate on something like this based solely on rumors."
Siegler still thinks the whole "media blitz" was a goof:
Two interviews in one day?! … This still strikes me as odd and I’m not sure that any positives (maybe changing some public perception about the S4) would outweigh negatives (giving the appearance of Apple being defensive).
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