Samsung Is Asking Winter Olympic Athletes To Cover Apple Logos During Opening Ceremony
by Brent Dirks
February 5, 2014
Samsung is making an interesting request to Olympic athletes. During the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, any phone branding that isn’t Samsung’s should be covered.
The Apple competitor has two reasons for the request. First, its one of the Olympic sponsors. And the company is also giving each athlete a Galaxy 3 Note phablet.
Slashgear was the first to report on the request, spotted on Bluewin:
Olympics sponsor Samsung is reportedly dropping Galaxy Note 3 smartphones in athletes' goodie-bags, though the gift comes with a catch: a supposed ban on any other device branding, iPhone or otherwise, during the opening ceremony. Details of the clamp-down, which is said to require the Apple logo on an iPhone be physically covered so that it's not caught on camera during the televised ceremony in Sochi, were spilled by the Swiss Olympic team.The “request” is only for athletes. But still, it does seem a little ludicrous. Athletes are officially banned from actively promoting any non-Olympic sponsor during the games because of the infamous “Rule 40.” Even so, it's a little hard to see how taking pictures with a personal iPhone is promoting the Apple brand. Any guess on how many Apple logos we’ll be able to spot during Friday’s event? I suspect it will be more than a few. For other recent Winter Olympics news, see: Yahoo Sports For iOS Is All Set For The 2014 Winter Olympics In Sochi, Russia, Ahead Of Sochi 2014, The IOC Releases The Olympic Athletes' Hub App For iPhone, and NYTimes For iPhone And iPad Updated To Offer Coverage Of 2014 Winter Olympics.
