Sprint, a US mobile phone carrier, is targeting the iPhone with a new $100 Million advertising campaign for Samsung’s Instinct smartphone.

The first two commercials show an Instinct and an iPhone side by side, the first comparing the iPhone’s EDGE to the Instinct’s EVDO internet speeds.

The spot clearly shows that EVDO is faster than EDGE. Whilst the Instinct has loaded whatever website it is within about 20-25 seconds, the iPhone is still struggling to have it completely loaded by the end of the 45 second spot [though it appears the iPhone goes through some sort of redirect before loading the page, while the Instinct just loads the page. Also, the navigation buttons cover what appears to be a good 15mm on each side of the Instinct's already smaller screen, hamming up the interface.]

The second compares iPhone’s “triangulation” from cell towers to an actual GPS chip inside the Instinct. The iPhone shows what is about 2 blocks worth of streets, whilst the Instinct gives you a street corner location. The iPhone also loads its Maps app much faster than the Instinct, so they have to wait for a couple of seconds for it to catch up before they start trying to find your position.

I understand the thinking behind this kind of campaign, but marketing two features in May – for a phone that’s available in June – that are almost certainly going to be included in the next generation of iPhone due to be released in the next 6 weeks is just plain stupid.

Aside from the inane marketing of supposed advantages that are likely to become mooted, the other mistake Sprint/Samsung make here is showing their phone right next to the iPhone in the ads! All I was looking at the entire time was how much nicer the iPhone software looks, how much larger and brighter the iPhone screen is, and how much better, overall, the iPhone looks in comparison to the Instinct.

The Instinct may very well be a great phone, and a worthy competitor to the current iPhone, or maybe even the next generation iPhone as well, but based on these commercials, I would never know it.

$100 Million is a VERY expensive marketing campaign that – at least in its earliest stages – looks like it’s going to fail miserably. I’d rather they spend $100 Million making a better phone than a poorly executed marketing campaign.