Apple Inc. (AAPL) is Target of New Samsung Ad – Surprise!

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may not be at the top of the market share in the smartphone and tablet market, but it appears that rather than touting its own Galaxy Note 10.1 – the one device that the jury decided did not infringe on Apple patents in that epic U.S. court battle last month – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is going to act like the challenger to Apple’s throne in its new advertisement, which has reportedly been in production.

Although Samsung handsets, which run the Android operating system by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), dominate the mobile landscape (at least at this point, with Wednesday’s iPhone 5 launch perceived to be a game-changer), the South Korean company seems to be acting like the underdog in its new ad, which seems to take shots not as much at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) but at the loyal followers of the iDevices.  Though the commercial is still under wraps – some seem to think it will begin airing in the very near future to coincide with the iPhone/iPad release into the market, expected for later this month – the concept of the ad seems to evolve around a long line of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) customers outside a presumed Apple Store, waiting for the next iDevice (appears to be an iPad in the commercial), while some Samsung customers walk happily past, showing off their Galaxy Note 10.1 – as if to show what those Apple fanatics are missing out by waiting in line, when they could already be operating a tablet that is just as great.

Samsung might need to be careful when it focus-groups this ad, if it indeeds turns out like the concept. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might get ruffled in one way, but the fans might take the commercial as a slight – whereas Apple might just see this is Samsung realizing that it might lead in sales, but it knows or thinks of Apple as the king – as is generally perceived in some parts of the world.

It will be interesting to see how this ad plays out, and whether this actually reinforces the reputation of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as the innovator and the king of the mobile tech world. Certainly investors would like to see this campaign come out this way – especially investors like hedge-fund manager Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.