I'd tap that: Samsung ST550 teasing touchscreen?

By Rich Trenholm on 03 August 2009, 12:23pm

Samsung is trailing its forthcoming ST550 camera with the mysterious slogan 'Tap it. Take it. Love it', in one of those social-media campaign thingies ~~advertising executives~~ everybody gets so excited about these days.

A tap and take microsite is dedicated to teasing videos about the forthcoming smart camera range. The site contains a selection of users approaching and tapping the screen, which lights up, and follows the users as they dance, pose and preen.

The videos are split between some frankly weird-looking people gurning and some vaguely softcore webcam ladiez slinking about. What it means is anyone's guess.

A sharing widget invites you to conjecture on the slogan, to appear on Facebook or Twitter. Your suggestions are then scraped to appear on the microsite, with inevitable results: amid the clearly PR-seeded posts are plugs for Web sites, tittersome naughty words, and even a diatribe about bad customer service from Samsung. Honestly Samsung, did you learn nothing from Skittles and the Telegraph?

So what will the ST550 be all about? Some kind of touchscreen is a safe bet. Samsung has had touchscreen models for a while, but the tap part seems to suggest that you turn the camera on, or perhaps focus, by tapping on the screen, while the self-portrait style of the videos is also intriguing. We'll find out on 13 August.