Peter Dockrill08 June 2006, 4:30 AM
'Sexy, slim and now available in white!' the Samsung mobile phone press release screams. That's right folks, it'sexactly the same as beforebut in white. Is the electronics industry punishing us for some reason? Can we have a tiny bit of actual functionality?
“Sexy, slim and now available in white!” the press release screams (in a seductive attempt to distract you from the blindingly simple innovation at work here).
That’s right folks, it's the same phone, but the colour has changed. We’re talking about the new *white* Samsung Z510.
But even if you catch onto Samsung's cunning game at this point, you might still find yourself being seductively beckoned by the "sexy, slim" phone.
Changing the colour of a product and re-releasing it as a new model isn't a new gig for the electronics industry. Brands like Sony have been selling the same mini-hifi systems for years, rotating between brushed silver, black, gold, purple and white. And of course, Nokia pioneered different-coloured faceplates in about 1990.
But issuing a press release promoting exactly the same product in white is taking things to a whole new level.
I think we have Apple to blame. Companies now think that re-releasing old products with an iPod-white veneer equates with dressing them in the emperor’s new clothes. (Maybe it does - I haven’t seen the sales figures).
The release puts it best: “You’ve already seen it in black, now it’s here in white.” Well, I guess we better buy it then! (Oh, and they describe the phone as “fashion conscious”. The phone itself. It’s “conscious”, people. Stand back.)
Still, though there may be many copycats, Apple is still the worst offender in the 'you can dress it up or dress it down' computer department. It recently issued a press release to journalists worldwide to point out that the new U2 iPod comes in "a distinctive, all-
black stainless steel enclosure". Plus - they charge $300 more for the new MacBook in black (ok, so you get an extra 20GB of diskspace too, but that's still a whacking great price premium.)
OK Samsung, you guys are off the hook.
