Outside an Apple Store in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday afternoon a black bus with the words "WAKE UP" emblazoned on the side pulled up and a gang of some 50 protesters dressed in black poured out brandishing professionally-made signs bearing the Wake Up slogan in white letters on a black background. They converged on the store and began chanting to the startled faces behind its glass walls, "Wake Up! Wake Up!"

Wake Up is a catch line in a Samsung campaign to promote its Galaxy S III Android phone, which is expected to be in London next week. In recent video teases for the new phone, Samsung has also implicitly compared iPhone users to conforming .

Samsung Friday that it had anything to do with the event, which is being characterized by some media outlets as a flash mob. That seems to be a stretch, since the event appeared to be professionally orchestrated and lacked the spontaneity typically associated with flash mobs.

So far, whoever was responsible for the event isn't stepping forward. Some reports have connected Tongue, a local Australian ad company, to the event. A number of billboards with the Wake Up slogan have been sponsored by that agency which is behind a campaign to promote the S III in Australia.

Samsung's court battles with Apple over who is stepping on whose patents have been well publicized. Recently, though, it appeared the companies might be ready to sit down and settle their differences, albeit at the .