Samsung saw Steve Jobs' death as 'our best opportunity'

Court documents that came to light this week in the latest Apple-Samsung patent battle have revealed an interesting reaction to the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, with calls for iPhone attack adds coming just days after he passed away.

Emails uploaded by The Wall Street Journal show that shortly before Jobs died on October 5, 2011, Samsung executive Michael Pennington had mused about the possibility of asking Google to launch an anti-Apple campaign.

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"If it continues to be Samsung's position to avoid attacking Apple due to their status as a large customer, can we go to Google and ask them to launch a campaign against Apple, based on the many better Android options available in the market for Q4," he wrote.

Just two days after Jobs passed away, Pennington, who was vice-president of North American sales for Samsung, hit out at how the loss had boosted Apple. He called on the company to go after the iPhone, saying it was their "best opportunity":

"Unfortunately, Steve Job's [sic] passing has led to a huge wave of press coverage of Apple's and iPhone's 'superiority,' all created by the 'passionate, tireless, perfectionist...' The point here is that there is an unintended benefit for Apple, since the external messages by 3rd parties are all highlighting and/or supporting the consumer perception that Apple products are superior, since Jobs' [sic] was such a visionary and perfectionist. What consumer wouldn't feel great about purchasing a device developed by such a person."

"Sorry to continue to push this issue, but I have seen this far too long and I know this is our best opportunity to attack iPhone. If there is no consensus on the approach I initially proposed, I will stop pushing, but I would like to better understand our strategy so I can align with that."

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Todd Pendleton, Samsung's chief marketing officer in America, responded by confirming that it was proceeding with a plan of attack.

"We are working on a very aggressive strategy touting our advantages in hardware and software," Pendleton wrote, adding that the company would go forward with Pennington's recommendations.

In winter, Samsung launched its "Next Big Thing" anti-Apple ad campaign, which poked fun at the company's cult-like following. Internal emails from Apple later revealed that the successful campaign, which went viral, prompted Apple to consider changing ad agencies.

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Pennington has since left Samsung.

The latest patent trial started on March 31.