Here is why there is so much HTC hate.

[Suda]

It's not really the same. So they crashed a party from the outside and were obviously HTC?

Samsung went dirty by trashing HTC through comments and bloggers -- i.e. fighting by proxy.

No, it's the same. Different methods of course but the intentions are the same, the only difference being that HTC was more brave about it. I don't know for sure if those people were employees of HTC or not, I wasn't there but there were people in the crowd campaigning for the One, as evident by media blogging outlets in attendance and those genuinely interested in the phone.

But I still can't wrap my head around why Samsung wouldn't try something like this with the US. It's the largest market. You'd think they'd do it with Apple at least if they'll do it to a small corporation like HTC, maybe they have and we just don't know it. Either way I don't think it's dirty enough to blacklist Samsung phones throughout their existence, every company is doing the same yet differently. You may as well boycott those as well. The only difference is they haven't gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar yet and are having the luxury of not looking foolish like Samsung is right now.

 

[LegalAmerican]

Just got done reading this. Seems that Samsung liked to pay people to bash HTC all over the internet. I don't like it and Samsung even admits it. Discuss

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034...-for-defaming-htc-on-local-online-forums.html

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

How is that different than what everyone else does through marketing? HTC at Times Square for example.

 

[adriandb]

I read this yesterday. It's dirty but no different from HTC's twitter bashing the S4 or HTC sending people to crash Samsung's S4 unveil

As I stated earlier, it is slightly different as this is a bit deceptive.

No, it's the same.

Oh well if you say so we can just throw logic out the window.

 

[Suda]

Oh well if you say so we can just throw logic out the window.

You can throw whatever you want out of your windows, what you do in your spare time is none of my business.

I see it as the same, except Samsung was more cowardly in going about it. Both companies paid people to prop up their respective employer's product, what's the difference again? Because people were behind computer monitors? Is that it? If anything you're more likely to sell a person a product if you're in front of them preaching about said product. No, I see what you're saying but it only applies if those that were in attendance at the S4 unveil held actual job positions in HTC instead of HTC hiring random people off the street. Which do you think is more likely?

 

[mistyisland]

But I still can't wrap my head around why Samsung wouldn't try something like this with the US. It's the largest market. You'd think they'd do it with Apple at least if they'll do it to a small corporation like HTC, maybe they have and we just don't know it. Either way I don't think it's dirty enough to blacklist Samsung phones throughout their existence, every company is doing the same yet differently. You may as well boycott those as well. The only difference is they haven't gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar yet and are having the luxury of not looking foolish like Samsung is right now.

Suda, they have tried it. And on this forum. Several mornings in a row in the last week, I have logged on to AC to see the whole first page of the HTC One forum filled with Spam posters complaining about the phone. One morning it was 18 posts with two different names. Brand new poster, never answers if another member tries to help them, each post a minute apart, and a litany of really crazy problems. Heck, even Phil answered one, saying "that is really weird problem. Can you post a screenshot?" No answer.

 

[adriandb]

I see it as the same, except Samsung was more cowardly in going about it

I'm saying there's a difference between people at the Samsung event saying "Hey I see you're standing in line for the Galaxy S4 event. I'm from HTC and have the HTC One here to show you. Let me tell you about it." And someone being paid by Samsung to troll Android central trying to convince people that in reality the SGS4 isn't out of spec with Google because they included a menu button.

The first is fairly open about who they are and what they're doing. In the second case it's far more deceptive and fallacious.

As I said earlier, they're in the same ball park, but they're definitely different.

 

[LegalAmerican]

I don't think anyone agrees with these shady tactics. But don't kid yourself if you think only one company participates in this. Just cause there's a published story about one company, doesn't mean the rest aren't doing the same.

 

[Suda]

I'm saying there's a difference between people at the Samsung event saying "Hey I see you're standing in line for the Galaxy S4 event. I'm from HTC and have the HTC One here to show you. Let me tell you about it." And someone being paid by Samsung to troll Android central trying to convince people that in reality the SGS4 isn't out of spec with Google because they included a menu button.

The first is fairly open about who they are and what they're doing. In the second case it's far more deceptive and fallacious.

As I said earlier, they're in the same ball park, but they're definitely different.

I see what you're saying. I'm just assuming that meeting people face to face and selling the product increases the chance that a person bites the bait rather than getting some rogue low lifers in comment sections to do it for you. You appeal to a more broader range of people when doing the courting in the outside real world, the number of people who browse blogs, let alone reading the comments is rather small in comparison to those that don't.

 

[Hush Martin]

The difference is that HTC did everything that they did PUBLICLY. They haven't been using shills to promote their product, nor have they been paying people to bash the competition online, which is exactly what Samsung is doing. It's basically the same as using a shill, only against your competition. Shills are illegal in some places (not the US), and paying people to be sort of anti-shills is a very frowned upon practice in the advertising world. You DON'T want to get caught doing it. And Samsung just got caught.

It may not make people switch companies, but it MIGHT just influence some of the people that were on the fence to get the One instead.

 

[rydubois]

You can throw whatever you want out of your windows, what you do in your spare time is none of my business.

I see it as the same, except Samsung was more cowardly in going about it. Both companies paid people to prop up their respective employer's product, what's the difference again? Because people were behind computer monitors? Is that it? If anything you're more likely to sell a person a product if you're in front of them preaching about said product. No, I see what you're saying but it only applies if those that were in attendance at the S4 unveil held actual job positions in HTC instead of HTC hiring random people off the street. Which do you think is more likely?

The difference is pretty large. HTC did NOT hide behind anything, they did not claim to be regular people offering advice. They were clearly with HTC and marketing the phone and showing it off to people in a line.

Samsung paid people to pretend to be a regular commentor(IE acting like they have NO affiliation with Samsung) to bad mouth a competitor under the guise of being a helpful commentor.

That's a pretty significant difference.

If I walk up to you and say "Hey, I'm with HTC would you like to check out this phone and see how it compares to the Galaxy line." I am being upfront about what I'm doing.

If I walk up to you if you're holding an HTC phone and say "Man, HTC sucks big time, you should look into a samsung galaxy phone, it's better." I am giving the impression I am just a random person giving you a personal opinion. That is what makes it dirtier by a lot in my opinion.

 

[adriandb]

They haven't been using shills to promote their product, nor have they been paying people to bash the competition online,

They may not have used shills, but I believe HTC bashed the SGS4 via twitter. Again, much more direct and open about where it's coming from, but still.

In all seriousness, this stuff is going on, it's more widespread than we know and it isn't going away.

 

[Suda]

Suda, they have tried it. And on this forum. Several mornings in a row in the last week, I have logged on to AC to see the whole first page of the HTC One forum filled with Spam posters complaining about the phone. One morning it was 18 posts with two different names. Brand new poster, never answers if another member tries to help them, each post a minute apart, and a litany of really crazy problems. Heck, even Phil answered one, saying "that is really weird problem. Can you post a screenshot?" No answer.

I haven't seen any of the aforementioned. But more times than not, people don't know the full details of what they're talking about when it comes to phones. I'm sure that's why Phil or whoever asked that. He didn't get a response because that person knows he's just trolling. Regular, non-paid trolls exist as well. Like over on the Samsung board there's a poster who made a thread about the S4's features being nothing but gimmicks, I've noticed that same poster has gone around other forums that I visit under different aliases talking down on the S4 as well. I know its him because practically copies and pastes his posts. He got banned from Mac Rumors just recently.

If I were operating under the same pretense I'd say he was paid by HTC to do this. But nah, he's just a troll.

 

[Suda]

The difference is that HTC did everything that they did PUBLICLY. They haven't been using shills to promote their product, nor have they been paying people to bash the competition online, which is exactly what Samsung is doing. It's basically the same as using a shill, only against your competition. Shills are illegal in some places (not the US), and paying people to be sort of anti-shills is a very frowned upon practice in the advertising world. You DON'T want to get caught doing it. And Samsung just got caught.

It may not make people switch companies, but it MIGHT just influence some of the people that were on the fence to get the One instead.

I've already admitted Samsung is the more cowardly of the two, you're right. But they're far from the only ones doing it. And apparently this isn't a big enough story here in the US since it didn't happen here, I've only seen two places report it since it was outed early yesterday.

 

[BigDinCA]

The big difference is that HTC standing outside of the Samsung event pimping their phone could be considered, at worst, classless or shameful. Samsung's actions could be considered unlawful and would certainly lead to a hefty fine here in the US. Their saving grace is that they can always claim their marketing firm was too aggressive and did this without Sammy's knowledge or consent. It shouldn't surprise anyone, though. I would be shocked to find out they are the only ones doing it. They're just the ones who got caught, so everyone else doing it will put the kibosh on this stuff for awhile.

 

[hodan]

What we don't understand is that companies like Samsung are engaged in an economic war to win superiority over Apple and anyone else who would threaten their rise. Anything goes. It's not just marketing, it is a war, plain and simple.

While Apple is a natural competitor in the phone space - the war Samsung (and all companies) is waging is against your wallet.

 

[paparis13]

Samsung is following in the footsteps of Apple... Yes they both come out with good products, each meant for a specific individual. But, Samsung has fallen in the trap that has got a lot of people leaving Apple, that they come up with a flagship phone which updates with "minor" changes. I have a samsung currently, and the only reason i am switching is because i was disappointed to see that the phone looks practically exactly the same. Yes, internally there are significant upgrades, but you need to make your costumers feel like you are getting something new. This in my opinion will push some people away from samsung as they did apple... big company selling their name instead of innovation.
In the big scheme, they are both big names, and will dominate worldwide... so does it really matter in the end if they lose some customers.
HTC gets me as a customer now MAINLY because they thought out of the box with this phone, at least for android standards.
Marketing is marketing though

 

[qnet]

Right now I like the HTC One better than the S4 and want HTC to do well but, I have to agree with Suda this time. I think what bothers most of us on here is the way Samsung did it.

 

[Etios]

This is the reason we can see mindless hate on HTC One on many websites and blogs comments section, but its just a waste of money as i am not going to base my purchase decision on paid Trolls.

But there is a chance that this may scare the average Joe who just visits any blog for reading a review etc on a particular phone.

 

[xlDeMoNiClx]

So by this logic HTC has been doing the same thing since there's just as much Samsung hate.

 

[jrb363]

I guess this explains smooth4lyfe and all of his Samsung trolling. lol