Product test
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 – does our marketing team know more than the rumours?
by Dominik Bärlocher
Leaks: How unpublished material is used as a marketing tool
30.5.2018
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Thomas Kunz
An email makes me sit up and take notice. It seems as if a manufacturer is trying to pass off officially published information as a leak. A search for clues in the shallows of Marketing.
"Leaks : LEAGOO XRover：world's first Helio P23 rugged smartphone with full screen and 6+128 storage!"
This is the title of an email that fluttered into my inbox. I take notice and briefly interrupt the meeting with Category Marketing Manager Andrea Jacob to skim through the email. After all, leaks have been a hot topic ever since the day software engineer Gray Powell left the iPhone 4 prototype in a bar.
Rarely a phone comes onto the market without something being leaked first.
However, the Leagoo email is a completely different beast. It comes from the sender promotion@leagoo.com. In other words, from the manufacturer itself. From the manufacturer's marketing department, to be precise.
This raises a suspicion that has been preoccupying the smartphone scene for some time now. Are the leaks real? Are leaks used as a marketing tool? If so, who is doing it?
Analysing the mail
A story like this, especially with such obvious content, must be approached with caution. It is quite possible that someone is impersonating Leagoo, leaking the images and trying to damage the company. The easiest way to verify whether the email actually comes from Leagoo is to briefly analyse the email header.
A mail header is a signature attached to an email that contains technical data. A header reveals more about the sender than it would like to. In Microsoft Outlook, probably the most widely used mail client, you can view it as follows:
- Open the email in a separate window
- Click on "File" at the top left
- Click on "Properties" at the bottom
At the bottom you will see a window with the title "Internet Headers", which contains a lot of technical-looking blah-blah. Among other things, it tells you which server sent you the email, the sender's IP address and the sender's original address.
Important lines are:
Received: from DESKTOP-XXXERHS (unknown [116.7.99.XXX])
The line tells me the name of the computer in the network that sent me the email and its IP address. I have replaced some numbers with X to protect privacy. I can also deduce from this that the sender's computer is running a version of Windows, as Windows names computers on the network DESKTOP-something by default.
I can track the IP with an IP tracker and see where it comes from. The result
The IP comes from Shenzhen, China. On the official website of the manufacturer Leagoo we find a contact address:
Rm. 1206-1209 Huihai Plaza, Heping Rd.
Longhua District, Shenzhen 518000
Email: service@leagoo.com
The email address is relevant because it gives us information about the structure of the email addresses: $departmentName@leagoo.com. This is consistent with the following lines of the header
Received: from smtpbg321.qq.com (smtpbg321.qq.com [14.17.32.30])
..
From: "promotion@leagoo.com" promotion@leagoo.com
..
Return-Path: promotion@leagoo.com
qq.com is the main server of Tencent QQ, a messenger from the Chinese supplier Tencent Holdings Limited. Tencent also offers other communication solutions. Mail servers are conceivable.
This means that, according to the header, the email actually comes from Leagoo. As far as I can tell in the context of this research. You can forge a header, of course, but most people who simply want to spoof an email will give themselves away in the header sooner or later.
My verdict: The email comes from Leagoo.
So why a leak from the manufacturer?
All right, let's assume that the Leagoo leak is staged by the manufacturer. But why? Quite simply because it can attract attention. Leagoo is not alone in this. At least unofficially. If you're after leaks, Twitter is the place for you. The international scene of leakers gathers around the journalist Evan Blass, whose Twitter handle @evleaks already gives a lot of clues. Blass knows leaks that sometimes raise a few eyebrows.
In order for you to understand what I'm about to say, I have to let you in on a little open secret. I usually know in advance what a phone will look like and what it will be able to do. Since I know that, I can tell you that the leaks from Evan Blass are sometimes a bit dodgy. Evan Blass is usually right. He gets data before the launch of a smartphone. Usually at the same time or a little earlier than me.
But then strange things happen.
Let's take the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. I don't want to say that Samsung leaked data to Evan Blass, because the data can come from any source. The leak portal bgr.com often gets leaked data from accessory manufacturers who need to know what a phone looks like so that they can come up with cases and other things for the launch of the new phone. So, when I describe this case, it's pure speculation. But the suspicions are there.
A timeline.
21 July 2017: the world before the Note 8
In July 2017, we in the office knew that Samsung would be announcing something new. We didn't know what exactly for a long time. Because Samsung kept quiet for a long time. However, as we were not completely upside down, we realised that it would probably be the Note 8, as the Galaxy S8 was only launched a few weeks ago. But all we knew internally was a codename of a device.
On 21 July, I'll be writing about the rumours and leaks surrounding the phone. Because we're not the only ones expecting the Note 8.
All the leaks indicate that the Note 8 will have a stylus. However, there is debate about the dual cam. This is because Samsung has never installed a dual camera in a modern smartphone until the Note 8.
31 July 2017: The confirmation
On 31 July, we receive images from an official source. Plus some tech specs. In a folder, I receive pictures showing the Note 8 from all sides. Since 31 July, I know that the Note 8 has a dual camera
In the same folder I also find the following picture
It's this picture that amazes me. Not because the form factor is new, or because the picture is so beautiful. I'm amazed because of Evan Blass.
What's that about
I'm assuming that Evan Blass received the same pictures that ended up on my PC. So why isn't Evan Blass tweeting the pictures with the back of the phone? Why is he posting the one picture that doesn't reveal anything about the phone?
The form factor of the phone is not new, we first saw it a few months earlier with the S8. We don't see anything shocking, exciting or revealing in Blass' picture. Only the name is going around the world again, because the smartphone scene is watching Blass. When Blass leaks something, the phone is talked about worldwide.
15 August: Physical certainty
On 15 August 2017, I'm in London, looking at the Note 8 and testing the dual cam for the first time.
Evan Blass hasn't posted any pictures of the Note 8 since 31 July. Three days later, he leaked the full specs.
23 August: Review online
On 23 August 2017, my embargo ends. This means I can talk publicly about the Note 8. The media around the world will be talking about the phone with me. Reviews, hands-on videos and other content go online.
The leaks are superfluous.
The present in May 2018
Leagoo writes. You want to see pictures leaked. I have never had any contact with the company in my entire professional career, the email is addressed to me personally and not simply to derGanzeLaden@digitec.ch. In other words, Leagoo has thought about who they want to send the images to.
It's obvious that they want to use my work and that of the entire digitec editorial team to generate some buzz around their phone. I am also sure that Leagoo are not the only ones who have discovered leaks for themselves.
Because leaks can't just come from an employee leaking some information to his mate. Leaks can be just as much a part of a marketing strategy as a poster or a YouTube advert.
One person could tell me if he actually knows about leaks as a marketing strategy: Evan Blass. He answers the enquiry with the following lines.
Sorry, I prefer to avoid questions on this topic. Thanks for thinking of me, though.
"Sorry, I prefer to avoid questions on this topic. Thanks for thinking of me, though." <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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