victory, they knew, would go to the company that told the best story to the
public.
—
ON OCTOBER 6, 2011, The New York Times published an obituary on its
front page: “Steven P. Jobs, 1955–2011: Redefined the Digital Age as the
Visionary of Apple.”
In some alternate universe, the loss of Apple’s guiding hand could be
seen as good news for Samsung. But not here on earth, in our current
universe. Techies and passionate Apple users exalted Jobs to the saintly
pantheon of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson
Mandela.
“Outside the flagship Apple store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, people
had left two bouquets of roses and some candles late Wednesday,” the
Times reported. “By 11 P.M., the crowds gathering outside the store were
thickening.”
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the
round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently,” a
recording of Steve Jobs called out at his memorial. The only Asian
executive invited to the memorial service was Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee.
Michael Pennington, vice president for sales, shot off an email to
Pendleton and Dale Sohn two days after the Apple co-founder’s death.
“Unfortunately, Steve Job’s [sic] passing has led to a huge wave of press
coverage of Apple’s and iPhone’s ‘superiority,’ all created by the
‘passionate, tireless, perfectionist....’ The point here is that there is an
unintended benefit for Apple,” he wrote to them. “What consumer wouldn’t
feel great about purchasing a device developed by such a person....I know
this is our best opportunity to attack iPhone.”
“As you have shared previously, we are unable to battle them directly in
our marketing,” Pennington wrote in another email.
Every time the U.S. marketers mentioned Apple by name, “someone
from headquarters would call and yell,” as a team member put it. Samsung
executives in Seoul didn’t want to anger Apple, as it was such an important
customer.
But in the face of the Apple lawsuit and Steve Jobs’s death, Samsung’s
reluctance to act was increasingly hurting it in building its consumer brand