With great power comes great responsibility — and a flurry of advertising campaigns that target your wares. Samsung tried to make its name a verb in a recent round of anti-Apple ads where senseless iPhone owners got “Samsunged,” and the South Korea-based vendor’s campaign culminated with a $10 million extravaganza that aired during the Super Bowl. Amazon is next up to the plate, and the company’s recent commercial takes aim at Apple’s iPad. A woman sunbathing and reading a book on her Kindle is approached by a passing iPad owner who is intrigued by the fact that she can read in the sunlight. When the man mentions the Kindle’s inability to play movies, she points to a cabana where her two children are sitting, each with a Kindle Fire tablet. As a final jab, the woman points out that her three Kindles — one $79 eReader and two $199 tablets — are still cheaper than a single iPad. Amazon’s full commercial can be viewed below.

As the world champion New York Giants fought to hold New England scoreless in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, another battle was raging off the field — Samsung’s string of anti-Apple commercials culminated with a 90-second TV advertisement that cost the South Korea-based vendor more than $10 million for the airtime alone. Following a series of ads that depict Samsung smartphones as the cool alternative to Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s new commercial showcases the vendor’s new supersized Galaxy Note, due to launch later this month on AT&T. In this latest spot, a dreary scene of iPhone fans waiting in line for the launch of Apple’s latest handset erupts into a massive block party when Samsung Galaxy Notes begin falling from the sky to the tune of The Darkness’s 2003 single, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” The full 90-second commercial can be viewed below.

While smartphone users in general may eventually be caught in the crossfire brought about by Apple and Samsung’s patent battles, a very specific group of smartphone users has become collateral damage in Samsung’s new anti-iPhone advertising campaign: baristas. Samsung’s first run in its new campaign included a quick poke at a creative barista, but now the men and women who serve up hot coffee on a daily basis are the focus of Samsung’s playful attack. Dubbed “Urban Camping,” the company’s new ad kicks off with a pair of Galaxy S II users mockingly admiring an iPhone-toting barista’s latte art. When the barista’s friends enter the coffee shop excited to go camping, one Galaxy S II user harnesses the phone’s 4G speed to instantly reserve a camp site for everyone to use. The simple-minded iPhone owners become disheartened, clarifying that they’re simply camping out on line while waiting for the new iPhone to be released. Hipsters in general were addressed in Samsung’s earlier ads, but the company appears to now be “Samsunging” more specific groups of consumers it deems likely to own iPhones. With Super Bowl XLVI coming up on February 5th and Samsung having lined up a pricey ad spot, baristas may want to avert their eyes and hide their coffees during commercial breaks this year. The new Galaxy S II ad can be watched in full below.

Following Samsung’s recent run of television advertisements depicting iPhone users as mindless hipster sheep, the company’s ad firm is back with another spot that again takes aim at Apple fans. The new ad shows iPhone 4 owners camped outside an Apple Store waiting for the latest iPhone model to finally go on sale. As people in line watch the first iPhone 4S unboxing video from London, they’re disappointed to learn that the phone “looks like last year’s phone.” Then when a Galaxy S II user comes by to bring his roommate a charger, two iPhone users admire the voice-guided navigation the man used to find his way to the Apple Store. When they find out that the navigation service is free on the Galaxy S II and not part of a paid app, they apparently get “Samsunged.” The full ad can be viewed after the break.

Despite continued confusion, early complaints of weak battery life and a new phone that looks exactly like the previous-generation model, flocks of hipster sheep lined up outside Apple Stores to buy the iPhone 4S simply to be part of the cool crowd. This is the picture Samsung paints in a clever new ad for the Galaxy S II, which is billed as the free thinker’s alternative to Apple’s herd-hooking iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy S II features 4G speeds, a big bright display and a fresh new look, but even though it’s clearly the superior handset from where Samsung is sitting, some Apple fans will never relent. “I could never get a Samsung,” a delusional barista mutters in the ad. “I’m creative.” Samsung’s full ad follows below.

Apple’s first television advertisement for the iPhone 4S began airing on Thursday and it bills the new smartphone as Apple’s most amazing iPhone yet. Titled simply “Assistant,” the ad places Apple’s new virtual personal assistant Siri front and center as it rapidly passes through a montage of iPhone 4S owners calling on Siri for help. One man asks Siri how to tie a bow tie, while a concerned woman asks for the fastest route to Hartford Hospital. A businessman asks Siri to reschedule his meeting and a young girl asks what a weasel looks like. The commercial runs through a dozen scenarios where Siri comes in handy, wrapping things up with a woman who locked herself out of her home. The woman simply states, “I’m locked out,” and Siri quickly uses her GPS location and a web search to replies with “I found 3 locksmiths fairly close to you.” Siri is the gift that keeps on giving, of course, and this is the first of many ads we’ll see touting the iPhone 4S’ most compelling new feature. A video of Apple’s Assistant spot follows below.

Two leaked advertisements for one of Nokia’s first Windows Phones have been published by Pocketnow. The ads refer to the device as the “Nokia 800,” which could be the “Sea Ray” that has surfaced several times. One of the images also suggests the Nokia 800 is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, although other specifications are still unknown. There is a blue Nokia 800 in the second image, which implies the phone will be, in typical Nokia fashion, available in several different colors. Hopefully Nokia decides to carry over its aluminum unibody design from the N8, too, although the build materials are also still unclear. We will no doubt hear more about the 800 and maybe even additional Windows Phone handsets during Nokia World, which kicks off on October 26th in London. Read on for a second image.

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A developer named Michael Lee Johnson recently decided to advertise his Google+ profile on Facebook. Unfortunately, it might not have panned out as well as Johnson had hoped. Johnson’s self-made advertisement, which said “If you’re lucky enough to have a Google+ account, add Michael Lee Johnson, Internet Geek, App Developer, Technological Virtuoso” under the headline “Add Michael to Google+”  was pulled by Facebook shortly after he posted it. Worse, Facebook took the matter so seriously that the social network banned all of Johnson’s other advertising campaigns. According to CNET the message from Facebook said:

Your account has been disabled. All of your adverts have been stopped and should not be run again on the site under any circumstances. Generally, we disable an account if too many of its adverts violate our Terms of Use or Advertising guidelines. Unfortunately we cannot provide you with the specific violations that have been deemed abusive. Please review our Terms of Use and Advertising guidelines if you have any further questions.”

Johnson told CNET that he’s considering taking legal action against Facebook for damage to his reputation and emotional distress. Hit the jump for a screenshot of his Facebook ad.

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Apple has reportedly confirmed to a developer that it is no longer serving advertisements tied to its iAd platform in iOS apps geared toward children. When Mike Zornek — developer of Dex, a free Pokemon app for the iPhone and iPod touch — noticed iAd ads were no longer being served in his app, he contacted iAd support. The purported reply he received from Apple reads as follows:

Hello Michael,

We periodically review the apps in the iAd Network to ensure that all apps receiving ads are aligned with the needs of our advertisers. Currently, our advertisers prefer that their advertising not appear in applications that are targeted for users that are young children, since their products are not targeted at that audience.

We appreciate your understanding.

Best Regards,

 iAd Network Support Apple, Inc. 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014

Apple’s iAd product hasn’t been the sweeping success many thought it would be when the company announced the product last year. Apple has since cut its minimum spend in half to $500,000, and it also tried to draw attention to the platform with a gallery of iAd ads packed into a dedicated iOS app. It now looks as though Apple is trying to add further appeal to its iAd product by delivering a network that is more targeted than several competitive networks might be. Of course developers like Zornek stand to suffer from the changes, and in typical Apple fashion, no notice was given to developers. “And that’s how an iAd supported version of Dex died,” Zornek wrote on his blog. “No warning, no notice and inevitably no respect to the developers who have cenetered [sic] their app’s revenue model around the iAd platform.”

[Via MacStories]

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Can’t get enough Sony tablet madness? The company has just posted a teaser video for their just announced S1 and S2 tablets set to debut later this fall. We’re talking about products that could change at any time (even the names aren’t final), but it’s still great to see a visual representation of what they’ll presumably offer, no?

The first commercial promoting Samsung’s new flagship Android handset — the Galaxy S II — was a bit bland. And while we can’t say this second commercial sport has blown us out of the water, it does a much better job accentuating one of the device’s new enhanced features, Voice Talk. Bottom line: if you find yourself in the Arctic — wearing a parka, mukluks, and mittens — Voice Talk is going to be extremely useful. The thirty-second clip is after the break.

Samsung is starting to advertise its new flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S II. In its first commercial spot, the Galaxy S II’s screen is portrayed as being so realistic, you are compelled to drown it in a tank of water… or something like that. The twenty-one second spot pimps the phone’s Super AMOLED Plus prowess, albeit in a rather boring fashion. Regardless, if you’re interested in seeing the G-rated commercial it’s waiting for you after the break.

[Via Android Central]

Can’t say we all didn’t see this one coming. According to a new report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), annual revenue for Internet advertising surpassed newspaper ad revenues for the first time in 2010. The IAB said the record breaking $26 billion in ad revenue last year was up 15% from the $22.66 billion reported in 2009. Search remains the biggest category in online ads and represented 45% of all revenues during the fourth quarter of 2010, but the IAB says display/banner ads are growing the fastest. Retail outlets were the biggest spenders during 2010, followed by telecom services, banks, and auto manufacturers.

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Research In Motion isn’t just a leaky faucet ahead of BlackBerry World this year, it’s a waterfall. We scooped RIM’s 2011 BlackBerry lineup back in January and more recently, we gave you a hands-on look at the BlackBerry Bold Touch, BlackBerry Touch and BlackBerry Torch 2 smartphones, but the leaks continue. In recent days we’ve seen full specs, brief hands-on videos and more, and for the two or three remaining naysayers who still don’t believe RIM is about to announce its next-generation smartphone lineup at BlackBerry World next month, RIM’s promo videos are now starting to leak out. Companies typically don’t put these promotional spots together unless the have some devices to, you know, promote — so BlackBerry fans should sit tight for another couple of weeks and we’re certain they’ll have some sleek new smartphones to swoon over. Hit the break for RIM’s official BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry 9860 promo videos.

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Toyota recently launched a publicized campaign that placed a special Scion-branded theme pack in the Cydia store for jailbroken iPhone users to enjoy. The move was seen as progressive considering Toyota’s decision to embrace the jailbreak community, but a new report reveals that the theme pack has since been pulled from Cydia. According to the report, Toyota’s advertising agency claims Toyota was contacted by Apple and asked to have the theme removed from Cydia. Toyota complied, of course, and had its agency contact the theme’s publisher to have it taken down immediately. Apple has been openly opposed to the jailbreak community in the past, and this latest move hardly comes as a surprise.

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