Samsung copy Apple store? Acceptable?

Ash007

Alfrescian
Loyal
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
6,740
Points
48
Wah, looks exactly like Apple store across the road. Even the salespersons are wearing blue.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/store-wars-samsung-apple-gadgets-at-10-paces-20120823-24njn.html

Store wars: Samsung, Apple gadgets at 10 paces
Date
August 23, 2012 - 11:11AM
157 reading nowComments 42 Read later

Asher Moses
Technology Editor
View more articles from Asher Moses
Follow Asher on Twitter Email Asher

inShare
Pin ItEmail articlePrint

Samsung store is open for business
Samsung opens up a flagship store on Sydney's George Street.
Autoplay ONOFFVideo feedbackVideo settingsMore video
Recommended
Click to play video
Samsung store is open for business
Click to play video
In Israel, tourists get wifi via donkeys
Click to play video
Apple most valuable company... ever
Click to play video
iPhone home button fix
Replay video
It's a flagship consumer electronics store on Sydney's George Street with smiling blue shirt-wearing sales staff, a minimalist design and smartphones and tablets that invite customers to pick up and play.

But according to Samsung, the new store - just a block from Apple's Sydney store - was all its own idea. The company, renowned as a "fast follower" of the market leader, is doing little to dispel the notion that it is an Apple copycat.

The store at 450 George Street opened at 8am today when Samsung also began selling its new tablet computer, the Galaxy Note 10.1. The 16GB WiFi version - which has a stylus for writing/drawing and can run dual apps in split screen mode - is priced at $589.


Samsung says Apple had nothing to do with the location and design of its new store. Photo: Asher Moses
Great minds

Advertisement
Everything from the store layout to the sales staff to the products and even the packaging and promotional material is uncannily Apple-esque.

Samsung previously ambushed Apple's iPhone 4S launch by offering $2 smartphones in a temporary shop just metres away form the Apple George Street store, but now its presence is more permanent.


The layout is reminiscent of Apple's successful stores. Photo: Asher Moses
Samsung Australia's vice-president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee, said Apple "didn't even come into the equation when we were looking for a location [for the store]".

But come on, the layout of the store is pretty similar, right? "Well, if you look at our layout this is the layout that we use around the world and it's about basically giving the consumers the opportunity to interact, learn and play with our devices," McGee said.

Many aren't buying it - including Conan O'Brien, who recently mocked Samsung with a parody clip of a Samsung manager calling BS on Apple's charges of copying. The clip includes a send-up of Samsung's stores. Last month Samsung opened its first North American store in Vancouver, Canada.


Apple's stores look similar to the new Samsung store but have wooden tables. Photo: AFP
Recipe for success

While other retailers struggle, Apple's 373 stores in 13 countries (including 14 stores in Australia) are booming, with global sales of $16 billion last year. The company sells more gear per unit area than any other retailer in the US.

Gary Allen, who runs a blog dedicated to Apple stores, ifoAppleStore, said Apple had proven it was critical for electronics companies to have a physical presence.


Samsung's Galaxy S III compares favourably to the iPhone 4S, but Apple's next big smartphone is around the corner.
"It's not difficult to copy the general appearance of Apple's stores," he told Fairfax Media. "But I think Samsung will find it more difficult to copy the buzz or excitement that Apple's stores generate for its customers."

Legal battle

Samsung's stores will further inflame Apple's claims that it is competing with a copycat. The pair wrapped up their arguments in the US patent infringement battle this week, and are awaiting a jury verdict.


As seen on Google Maps ... Apple's flagship store is the blue dot, Samsung's the red. Photo: Google Maps
The case lifted the veil of secrecy at Apple, revealing a slew of iPad and iPhone prototypes and sensitive details regarding the process of designing its products (much of which occurs around a kitchen table, apparently).

But the case - and the fact that Samsung is now the market leader in consumer electronics - has also shone a spotlight on Samsung and the family-run conglomerate that owns it.

One memo relied on by Apple in its case shows Samsung's head of mobile communications, J. K. Shin, remarking that the iPhone caused a "crisis of design" at the company and demanding "let's make something like the iPhone".


Samsung's store reps get into the launch spirit. Photo: Asher Moses
Comparisons tendered in the case show a huge difference between Samsung's smartphone and tablet designs pre- and post-iPhone and iPad.

A separate 132-page Samsung document shows the company did an exhaustive feature-by-feature comparison of the iPhone and its original Galaxy S.

"Influential figures outside the company come across the iPhone, and they point out that 'Samsung is dozing off'. All this time we've been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide," Shin wrote just after the iPhone's launch.

"Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple's iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth. It's a crisis of design."

He adds: "When you compare the 2007 version of the iPhone with our current Omnia, can you honestly say the Omnia is better?"

Samsung said the memo was "routine" and "typical competitive analysis", despite fighting tooth and nail to have it excluded from the case. It argues Apple is trying to use the courts to stifle its biggest competitor.

Much has changed since 2007 and Samsung is now the global market leader in smartphones, with its Galaxy S III selling more than 10 million units so far.

Corruption allegations

A recent feature article by The Kernel - titled "Samsung: Power, Corruption and Lies" - took a detailed look at corruption allegations against top Samsung executives, which are rarely aired in Western media. Its current chairman, Lee Kun-Hee, had his house raided by South Korean police in 2008 following claims the company was maintaining a slush fund to bribe court officials and politicians.

Prosecutors requested a seven-year prison sentence and a $US347 million fine but Lee was sentenced to a three years suspended sentence and a $US109 million fine - and was pardoned by the South Korean government in 2009. He returned as Samsung's chairman - but internal issues remain as the Lee family is fighting in court over ownership of the company.

McGee would not comment on the court case against Apple or on how Samsung is dealing with the increased scrutiny of its practices in Korea.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/...at-10-paces-20120823-24njn.html#ixzz24KX0ACUU
 
these koreans just like the japs of old......copy and improve.......but i am rooting for apple.
 
Its just a trend.... just like how many kopi shops copied Yah Kun concept.
 
To be very frank, Samsung products looks exactly like Apple products...no wonder Apple is mad..

And like other South Korean products, the sheer advertising level is really a turn-off..

There are also good if not better Andriod phones besides Samsung that deserved to be recognised....
 
I honestly can't blame Apple for being pissed off with Samsung. However, Google's Android is just as guilty.
 
Just as what some columnist said today: Samsung is not the leading innovator (in Apple's league), but can sure come up with good products in same or similiar mould
 
There are also good if not better Andriod phones besides Samsung that deserved to be recognised....

Agree. HTC and Huawei Android smartphones give better value for money anyday.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top