Smartphone brands and their social media departments seem to be working overtime. In the latest potential goof up, Samsung Nigeria tweeted this,
YES WE DID!!!! Available frm Friday RT @supersanusi: If Samsung really did get the 3 month exclusive like I heard, that would be something
— Samsung Mobile NG (@samsungmobileng) September 16, 2013
The tweet suggests that Samsung does get a 3-month exclusive access to BBM for Android before any other android user gets their hands on the BBM messenger. The marketer in me marvelled at a smart strategic exclusive arrangement that Samsung managed to pull out. Even if for 3 months, Samsung could have managed to give its customers bragging rights for being the only android users with access to BBM. It is another thing that I am not overtly excited about BBM going cross-platform on Android and iOS
Blackberry denies any exclusive arrangement with Samsung for BBM
So while Samsung was confidently claiming exclusive access to BBM, communications director for BBM, Victoria Berry said,
The excitement around the upcoming BBM launch on iPhone and Android devices seems to know no bounds. Although I’m a big fan of this passion, I want to clarify that no one will have an exclusive on offering BBM. We’ll be bringing the app to Android and iPhone users across the globe soon
This very statement means that the Samsung Nigeria twitter account was being manned by an intern (notice the use of CAPS LOCK and ‘frm’ instead of ‘from’) or Samsung unintentionally leaked the information which Blackberry now is denying.
All in all, it was just another day in social media with Samsung but it doesn’t beat the shenanigans that Nokia manages to pull on social media be it trolling Apple or issuing warnings to Samsung