Samsung’s Galaxy S campaign on Twitter is sneaky, underhanded but damn it’s clever

They say all is fair in love and war but those two things pale in comparison to the the current smartphone battlefield where even the slightest victories can be worth millions.

Of course the uncontested winner at this point is Apple and its just launched iPhone 4, even with it’s myriad of problems. Everyone wants a piece of the pie that Apple has so far managed to keep for itself and as competitors bring newer and better versions of the Android based smartphones to market competition is definitely heating up.

With new Android phones showing up on handsets of all kinds smartphone manufactures are hard pressed to not only rise above the fandom of the iPhone but also stand out from their fellow Android based phones. Such is the case of the new Galaxy S smartphone from Samsung and while it is getting some pretty rave reviews from some in the tech blogosphere that alone won’t get the handset into the hands of the consumer.

So Samsung has come up with a rather interesting, albeit some might say sneaky and underhanded, campaign to accomplish just that – get into the hands of the comsumers. Of course it goes without saying that as with any marketing campaigns these days there is a heavy use of Twitter and Samsung is using it for all it is worth.

You see, there are a lot of people who aren’t happy with their iPhone 4 purchase and they have taken to Twitter to express their displeasure and this is where Samsung has possibly hit marketing pay dirt. You see what they are doing is monitoring Twitter for these plaintive cries and coming to the rescue.

Yup, Samsung is reaching out to those unhappy iPhone users and offering them a brand spanking new Galaxy S smartphone in exchange for the iPhone; but here’s the kicker – their free.

Matt Brian at The Next Web has one story of this happening as was told to Wired and it goes something like this:

Tiffany, one of the lucky few contacted spoke to Wired:

“My iPhone and I have been inseparable for almost a month now, tomorrow being one month since the iPhone OS 4 launched. But the honeymoon period ended this week as repeated dropped calls, and a sudden unexplainable inability to make or receive calls or send texts left me disgruntled.

“So I did what anyone else would do: I vented my frustration on Twitter. Imagine my surprise, then, when this morning I am tweeted by Samsung offering me a free Galaxy S, their latest phone. Too good to be true? I decided to investigate.
“I called a friend at Samsung, and though she was initially sceptical (sic), it has now been confirmed: the campaign is legit. Samsung is so confident about the superiority of the Galaxy S that they’re sending free ones to existing iPhone customers so they can decide for themselves.”

Looking on the Samsung UK Twitter page, the devices have started to make their way to the chosen few.

Now you have to admit, as well as maybe wishing you could be one of the lucky ones, that this is one damn smart move on Samsung’s part.