Roger Fingas
People participating in Samsung's "Ultimate Test Drive" program — allowing iPhone owners to try a Galaxy S6, S6 Edge+, or Galaxy Note 5 for 30 days — are being offered up to $200 in perks if they actually switch.
After buying one of the phones, switchers must then head to a special promotion webpage, Android Central noted. There people must enter the email they used for the Test Drive, answer survey questions, and provide purchase details including a photo of a receipt.
Doing so earns $100 in Google Play credit, usable for apps, books, video, and music. People who also took the step of trading in their previous phone with a carrier or retailer will be mailed a check for $100.
To qualify for the rewards, people must buy one of the named phones by Dec. 31, and submit their information by Jan. 1.
Samsung enjoys a large share of the world's smartphone market, but has lost ground in the past year in part because of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — Apple's first phones with large screens comparable to Android rivals. And though the device has been favorably reviewed, Samsung also botched the launch of the Galaxy S6, producing too many regular S6 units while underestimating demand for the curved S6 Edge. The Note 5 and S6 Edge+ were introduced earlier this month.
The Ultimate Test Drive was announced last week, and may be a way for Samsung to counter some of the consumer interest Apple is bound to draw with new iPhones anticipated at a Sept. 9 press event. There the company is expected to reveal an iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, with features like Force Touch, A9 processors, and enhanced front and rear cameras.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
29 Comments
Such desperation. IMO people might try it, realise what a nightmare Android is, then abandon it, incredulous.
What a joke.
30 days is long enough to break the pen sensor by inserting the pen without looking. Long enough to fail to find your favorite apps, but find the pre-installed 3rd-party junk just fine. Long enough to find the Samsung-not-really-cooperating-with-Google UI hodgepodge to be substandard. Long enough to tell that the awesome-looking curved screen edges are impractical and annoying. And long enough to read about the latest malware/spyware attack on Android, if not suffer an attack yourself. I can see how they might be discovering they need more incentives...
Bribes for a crappy product, way to go Samsung. lol
If you ask me, Samsung's problems are two-fold -- wedding to the crappy Android system, and two not innovating enough on hardware, doing too much "me too" of what Apple is doing. I think if they would have bought WebOS, they could have been doing much better, assuming they did not let it languish...
Oh my. Don't they still have to buy the phone to get the perks? They should get a free phone, all costs associated with the switch covered by Samsung and $200 in a visa or MasterCard to use anywhere. And no credit check for those switchers. Lol.