Steve Jobs died for our sins. Samsung Super Bowl commercial edition.

This commercial I wanted to like. 

Samsung spent big on the Super Bowl and, I think, wasted their money.

I have never cared for the Samsung commercials that mock the Apple fanboys. Mostly because those people look nothing like the throngs I see everytime I venture into an Apple Store.

Plus, when you are selling the most, as Samsung currently is, mocking your competitor seems like a losing strategy. Why bring them into the mix?

But the primary reason I have not cared much for this Samsung hate-on-Apple ad campaign is because I think it's target is off, way off. There's plenty of Apple haters out there who no doubt love anyone that mocks Team Apple. My guess is, all the while sceeching that "APPLE IS A MARKETING COMPANY" they are easily swayed by, er, marketing.

But can marketing really be enough to get these haters and Android fanboys to buy Samsung?

Samsung spends almost no time on their actual product! They do not tell you why they are superior choice to Droid or HTC, for example, and I'm not sure if they even mention iPhone directly. It's like they're mocking Apple, but behind their back when they know Apple's not looking.

Seems weak.

Yet for their big, expensive, extended Super Bowl advertisement, I was certain they would step up their game. Instead, Samsung crashed and burned.

Not for trying. But because Steve Jobs was right.

A stylus means you failed.

For reasons I cannot fully understand, Samsung chose to blow their Super Bowl cash wad on the Galaxy Note. That big honking is-it-a-smartphone-is-it-a-tablet device that I seriously doubt anyone will actually pay for. 

But even that is not as big a failure as the stylus, which they so prominently feature -- and which they so laughably suggest would mesmerize the most hardened Apple fanboy.

I don't want to be a fanboy myself here. I am sure that for some people in some use cases, a stylus could be appropriate. I just don't believe the numbers of such people warrant a big media blitz.

Yet the stylus was the pillar upon which the commercial rested upon. All I could think about while watching was...Jobs was right.

I mean, *most* of the time you will not be using a stylus. Where does it go? In your pocket? I'm be terrified I'd puncture my scrotum. What happens if you lose it?

How much will a replacement cost?

Will app developers get lazy and lean on the stylus instead of building great apps that don't require you to pull out a stylus, magnify the screen, and write?

Prior to iPad, I assumed a stylus was necessary. Post-iPad I realized, as did everyone but Samsung, it is a failure. Exactly as Jobs stated. The negatives of its inclusion significantly outweigh the positives of exclusion.

And, yes, Android fanboys. If you buy this device, all the world will know its because you just want to be part of a cult and that you drop your hard earned cash on products just because some big company tells you to.