When a court in California ruled that Samsung has to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages over patent infringements, the web was abuzz with discussions over the verdict. Many analysts stated that while it cost Samsung heftily, it also brought a lot of free publicity to the company. And now, a survey confirms these statements.
YouGov, a market research company, undertook a poll in which 5,000 U.S. users were included. The users were divided into two groups: one group comprised of people aged between 18 and 34; the other group was that of older users who considered themselves as ‘early technology adopters.’
The question that they were asked was, “If you heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or by word of mouth was it positive or negative?” Both Apple and Samsung were assigned a score between 0 and 100, based on the responses, with 0 indicating completely negative and 100 indicating completely positive.
The results show that among the group aged between 18 and 34, Samsung scored 46 whereas Apple could muster a mere 24. However, in the older group, the scores were fairly same, Samsung having scored 34 against Apple’s 33.
Although Samsung’s brand image indicators showed a sharp decline as soon as the court ruled against it on August 24, the company was able to regain its positive score before soon. In the week following the verdict, Samsung’s score dipped from 26 to 12 but was back to 30s before soon.
Interestingly, although Apple may have bagged a huge victory against Samsung, it bolstered the anti-Apple sentiment among the users. The ruling was seen as an attempt by Apple to monopolize the market. Moreover, the wireless carriers were also unhappy since an Apple-dominant market would leave them little leverage.
According to a South Korean official at a manufacturing giant, “The funny thing is that neither Apple nor Samsung would have predicted the current consumer’s feelings over them. Apple inadvertently has shown the world that it considered Samsung its equal and almost feared it. What Samsung executives called the worst-case scenario for them turned out to be blessing in disguise.”
Courtesy: Korea Times
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