According to Reuters, Apple has finally won the patent infringment case it brought against Samsung since 2011.
As a result of the verdict from San Jose courtroom, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has awarded Apple with US$1 billion in damages.
This is a huge blow for Samsung and Android-based phones. According to analysts, this could even effect the entire Android mobile devices market, creating obstacles in Google’s quest to enter the mobile devices market as a hardware manufacturer and giving Windows it much awaited break to squeeze out a better share in the same market. But I don’t think so.
There are reasons for Android to succeed. One of the more critical success factor is that it is open source. The second factor is that smartphone is not really about hardware, it is about the software platform.
The world now has about 3 to 4 major smart mobile devices platforms (iOS,Android, Blackberry, Windows), at odds with the fact that generation Y and Z grew up knowing more than 4 mobile phone brands.
Earlier on Friday, a South Korean court found that both companies share blame for patent infringement, and ordered Samsung to stop selling 10 products including its Galaxy S II phone whilst banning Apple from selling four different products, including its iPhone 4.
The legal fight began last year when Apple sued Samsung in multiple countries, and Samsung counter-sued.
Lawyers from both tech giants presented internal emails, draw testimony from designers and experts, and put on product demonstrations and mockups to convince a jury.
From the beginning, Apple’s tactic was to present what it thought was chronological evidence of Samsung copying its phone.
Juxtaposing pictures of phones from both companies and internal Samsung emails that specifically analysed the features of the iPhone, Apple’s attorneys accused Samsung of taking shortcuts after realising it could not keep up. In short, they tried to present that Samsung had gone down the route of China’s very prosperous and thriving knock-off industry.
For the benefit of the doubtful, Apple is the inventor of modern-day smart devices under the leadership of Steve Jobs. It was during year 2005, shortly after the success of the iPod that Steve Jobs declared, ‘The mobile phone can eat our lunch!”
Jobs led the team with full-force commitment to create the iPhone and it was unveiled January 2007 at Macworld and went on sale 5 months later. By the end of 2010, Apple had sold ninety million iPhones
Samsung’s reaction to the verdict is that the loss defines the loss of the American consumer.
Samsung issued a statement, “It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices. It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies. Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer.”
Well, I have this to say for both companies. To Samsung, pay up your fines and stay on course – leverage on the power of open source platform and stay innovative. To Apple, do not forget your legacy of innovation and just embrace the competition.
