“After losing out on the rights to sell Apple Inc.’s iPhone to Softbank Corp. in the Japanese market, NTT DoCoMo Inc., the country’s top mobile carrier, is aggressively promoting rival smartphone offerings such as Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy handset,” Daisuke Wakabayashi reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The iPhone accounts for about two-thirds of the domestic smartphone market, making DoCoMo’s efforts even more challenging in image-conscious Japan, where the iPhone is starting to become a must-have personal accessory among many young people,” Wakabayashi reports. “Persuading people to buy a Samsung smartphone in Japan – a country where the South Korean giant has maintained a fairly low profile in the past – may require Jedi mind tricks or possibly a ‘force’ of nature. What pitchman could pull off such a task? You guessed it, Darth Vader.”
MacDailyNews Take: Nice fake iPhone. Obviously Samsung has no shame.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Star Wars’ Japanese translation must be messed up or DoCoMo has somehow never seen the film(s), but the choice is quite apropos, whether or not they understand it. Google’s brand has been and continues to be diminished by Android at the hands of totally unmanaged, basically out-of-control third-parties. This is why Apple doesn’t let carriers do their own iPhone ads and why Apple smartly retains final approval over everything that involves Apple.
This ad nails it right on the head. The only thing entertaining you ever see someone with an Android phone do is put a picture of their face on someone else’s body. The Android marketplace must be FILLED with those apps.
I’m curious: just how to you put someone’s face on another person’s body by using an Android phone? Is there some special app only available on Android that enables you to do that?
It looks an awful lot like an iPhone.. How exactly is Google allowed to steal Apple’s IP? I forget.
Lousy phone but cool ad….love Darth sitting at the campfire.
That is the stupidest commercial I’ve ever seen; it makes Microsoft’s advertising campaigns appear almost competent.
I’m getting sick of these jerkwad Koreans who want to sell everything under the sun here in the U.S. but won’t reciprocate with our exports. Oh well, it might be irrelevant very soon if the North fries their ungrateful asses.
Do any of these phones violate Apple’s patent(s) for gestures, interface, design. etc. I seem to remember SJ saying that we have everything patented this time, during the 2007 rollout? What gives?
@Ballmer’s left nut,
Yes, there’s an app for that. Except for those picture merging apps, texting, calling, and Facebooking, I haven’t seen an Android user use their phone for anything else.
Oh, and those apps aren’t Android-only – iPhone users just have better apps to spend their time with.
Weird. Who want Darth Vader to keep him company? A stalker. Don’t you suppose that labored breathing would get old after a while?
I suppose it’s better than having that AT&T guy on your back.
That Galaxy is nearly identical in design to the iPhone 3GS. It even uses something like Coverflow. No shame…
Haven’t you guys every heard the saying… “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”?
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Chill out Kimchi. If you’re being read correctly – a silly phone ad is justification for war? How old are you and how much direct contact have you had with those “jerkwads”. Remember that trade agreements have two sides – the “jerkwads” and our government.
And they were entered into a looong time ago.
Sheesh. It’s a phone ad. And some kimchi does smell bad.
Why the hell would Lucas Arts ever allow that? I mean talk about weakening a brand image. Ok. I could see maybe C3-PO along with a Droid phone. That makes sense. But the Dark Lord of the Sith in a Taxi? Ugh.
Georg Lucas (friend of Steve Jobs) agreed with this??
Don’t think so.
Even though Android is from The Dark Side Of the Force, the ad is clever and very interesting.
But… F**k me, the shot at 55 seconds into the YouTube video astonishes me over what a rip off the Galaxy is.
I think y’all are jealous of what a great, effective commercial it is.
Sure, the phone (and android) is a total rip, but what do you expect from shmeless Samsung and Eric T Mole?
This kind of thing will happen again and again until Apple ends exclusivity with their current carriers. Until Apple opens up and say, makes a quad-band phone, Android phones will continue to snatch market share. We know fully well that there is still a ton of iPhone and iApp envy out there…
I actually looked at the Samsung Intercept the other day, and was disgusted in it’s thickness and cheap feeling slide out keyboard. If my carrier offered the Galaxy S, I’d probably jump on it.
For now, I’ll remain happy with my iPad, iPod touch, and crappy phone.
@ Original Shiva,
Apparently I am not being read correctly. I simply brought up the fact that they don’t want to operate on level terms. My contact with them is every time I see an ad for LG or Samsung who seem to be swamping the market with HDTVs and washers and dryers, and commercials for Hyundai and Kia cars. But when Obama tried to get them to open up to American autos they balked.
Maybe I’m being unrealistic, but with more of our ships chugging over there right now to back them up again I think they should be a little more grateful. My late father fought over there for those people and I doubt if he would be very happy about it either. Sorry if I offended you.
Obviously Samsung has no shame.
Apparently Lucasfilms also has no shame. (Or is this an unlicensed used of Darth?)
I find your lack of apps disturbing.
I prefer this Vader ad:
When he unveiled the iPhone in that special Keynote in Jan 2007, SJ noted that they had some 200 patents in place protecting their IP.
And in subsequent announcements and analyst briefings, he, TC and others at Apple have made it clear that they will take action against those who infringe their rights.
So I am left wondering how competitors have been able to develop their offerings without much hinderance…
These are not the droids you are looking for.
If they wanted a cute positive image, R2 all the way! Now there was a Droid.
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I hear ya Ting.
Google copied everything nearly down to the pixel. They could have made a different user interface, but they didn’t.
It’s like Apple’s threats to protect it’s intellectual property were empty, and Google is having a heyday of blood because of it. Apparently Apple hasn’t, in fact, learned from it’s previous mistakes with Windows. That sugared water selling bozo would actually seem to be quite fitting in the current Apple DNA given their response and inaction to Android. Still haven’t found a reason how Google can get away with this.
Apple… what gives?